[AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN FREEMASONRY]. Small collection of 8 silver gelatin photographs (including 4 duplicates) depicting formal events at an African-American chapter of the Prince Hall Order of the Eastern Star (Masonic organization for Women) in Los Angeles

[Los Angeles, CA], 1959. Good. A quantity of 4 original photographs plus 4 duplicates, all b/w and measuring 8" x 10" (two prints have pin-holes, one is worn and creased, another quite worn and creased). RARE ASSEMBLAGE OF PHOTOGRAPHS OF MEMBERS OF AN UNKNOWN (LOS ANGELES?) CHAPTER OF THE PRINCE HALL ORDER OF THE EASTERN STAR, A MASONIC GROUP CREATED IN 1874 FOR AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN.

BACKGROUND: In colonial America, blacks were not admitted into Masonic Lodges until 1775, when abolitionist Prince Hall (1735-1807) and 15 other blacks were initiated into Boston's Lodge No. 441 of the Grand Lodge of Ireland; however, their ability to participate (truncated) as full Freemasons was limited. In response, Prince Hall created the African Lodge No. 1 in 1784, chartered upon the authority of H.R.H. The Duke of Cumberland, Grand Master of the Mother Grand Lodge of England. In 1847 the African Grand Lodge was renamed Prince Hall Grand Lodge in honor of "the father of African Freemasonry."

Meanwhile, women completely prohibited from becoming Freemasons until 1850, when the Order of the Eastern Star was founded as an appendant body of the Masonic Fraternity. Owing to the fact that African-American women were excluded from it, the Prince Hall Order of the Eastern Star, of which Rosa Parks was a member, was created in 1874. Then, as now, members are distinguished by strict adherence to the principles of equality and civil rights.

"The role of African American fraternal organizations in black civic engagement has been largely overlooked by scholars of African American history" (Katherine Lynch, African American Fraternal Associations and the History of Civil Society in the United States, 2004). Fraternal organizations of men and women in the African American community helped foster solidarity, build identity, and encourage collective action. African Americans were more likely than whites to form fraternal orders and to sustain them, using them to guard members against unemployment, poverty, and discrimination.

Our photographs were taken in the 1950s and convey the enthusiasm and pride of the members. There are four photographs plus four duplicate prints: three of the photographs appear to have been taken onstage in the same auditorium, judging from the same florescent light fixture which hangs from above on two rods. The participants include women and men in formal attire, some of whom wear fraternal sashes and flower chains. The fourth photograph is an altogether different setting, and the reason for its inclusion in the present collection is unclear. Here, twenty-eight women dressed in business attire cheerfully gather around a long table on which are placed several documents; one of the women is holding a pen, suggesting an occasion of some administrative significance.

On the verso of one of the prints is the stamp of Maceo B. Sheffield (1897-1959), an African-American actor based in Los Angeles who appeared in "the majority of race films made in California" according to his IMDb entry. The versos of six other prints are stamped "Junius Johnson, 4215 Naomi Ave, Los Angeles," the location of a home in Central-Alameda, then (as now) a low-income and almost exclusively minority neighborhood.

Because three of the four photographs were taken by two different Los Angeles photographers (one of which was certainly African-American) it is likely that the present Order was active there. However, we have been unable to identify this particular Order with certainty, a rewarding challenge that await future researchers. We wish to note that the Order's flag in one of the photographs does not conform to the standard emblem of the Order of the Eastern Star (or Prince Hall Order of the Eastern Star). While the top two points of the five-pointed star depict Adah (the sword and veil) and Electa (a chalice), in place of the Volume of the Sacred Law in the center are six cloth stars, one of which has clearly fallen off (!)

OF PARTICULAR INTEREST TO HISTORIANS OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN WOMEN'S FRATERNAL ORGANIZATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. (Inventory #: 4212)