The life and the works of Prince Hall (1735-1807)

Introduction

Freemasonry in the United States of America and especially the Prince Hall is a phenomenon worth studying for its various implications, including its current position as the most influential country and sets the tone at the global level.

Since the focus of our paper is the Prince Hall Masonry or Masonry of Blacks in the United States for this purpose it is necessary to examine some historical variables, which in one way or another contribute to enriching what we intend to study. Accordingly, we will touch briefly only those aspects that are closely related to the topic. This era was the age of enlightement where Prince Hall was a saviour to the Black Masons in America.

The Life and Work of Prince Hall

Prince Hall (1735 - 1807) was an Abolitionist, civic leader (civil rights activist), and founder of what the future would be the Prince Hall Grand Lodge. Prince Hall is considered the founder of Black Masonry in the United States and today is known as Prince Hall Freemasonry. The date and place of birth of Prince Hall is not known for sure. Some say that he was born in England, others in Massachusetts or even in Barbados.

The stories told of his youth seem to have been invented by his biographers direct, particularly by William H. Grimshaw in 1903. Massachusetts state documents show that the slave William Hall freed a man named Price Hall on April 9, 1765, but cannot exactly link it to any person as according to the records of the time there were no fewer than 21 men with same name who lived in Boston. Therefore it is difficult to know if Prince Hall was born free or freed, namely a freed slave (Walkes, pp. 363). What is known is that owned and registered voter in Boston, who worked as an abolitionist and civil rights activist, who fought for laws to protect free blacks in Massachusetts, of abductions perpetrated by slave traders, who campaigned to get schools for black children and founded one of the schools at home.

The first feature of interest is found in its history, since it is linked from the beginning to our Augusta Order. The Founding Fathers, who shaped the Independence and the foundation for governing the United States of America, a number were Masons. This too has a lot of strange if you stick to the time in which it took place Independence. We are talking about the Age of Enlightenment, during which spread throughout Europe and therefore in the New World the principles of Free thought. As these ideas were opposed to the regime established and mainly clergy, intellectuals in the Western world embraced Freemasonry as ideal for the development of his person and for enhancement of their bourgeois world against the aristocratic Old Regime. In this context and in line with the colonial spirit that allowed any man to reach a certain position regardless of his crib, became general among the wealthy American ...