Masonic Variations: Prince Hall and Women’s Freemasonry

Smaller jurisdictions have typically arisen where there were disagreements on the basics of admission policy. Prince Hall was a free-born African American who, along with fourteen colleagues, was initiated into a Military Lodge under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Ireland in 1775. Military Lodges are mobile by nature, and when the Lodge duly moved away, Hall and his fellows were given permission to continue meeting, but not to perform initiations.

In 1784, the group applied for a Warrant of Charter from the Grand Lodge of England, and formed African Lodge #459. In 1813 however, after the rectification of English Masonry, the newly-formed UGLE moved address and withdrew a lot of its activities world-wide. African Lodge #459 was left with no means of contact with its former Grand Lodge, and was removed from the UGLE rolls for non-payment of dues.

With nowhere else to turn, African Lodge restyled itself African Grand Lodge #1 (not to be confused with any of the Grand Lodges in Africa, of course) and continued operating. The widespread racism at the time made it very difficult for African Americans to get membership in white-dominated Lodges, and the movement – now known as Prince Hall Freemasonry – flourished. It remains very strong today. Although considered ritually regular, the Prince Hall Grand Lodges are only slowly being accepted as regular bodies.

There are two big stumbling blocks that the Prince Hall movement faces for recognition, and neither of them have anything to do with racism any more, save perhaps in a very few intransigent areas in the deep south of the USA. One is that the formation of African Grand Lodge #1 was undoubtedly irregular, and under Masonic canon that means the other Grand Lodges it has created are also irregular; the other is that the Prince Hall Grand Lodges all impinge on the sovereign territory of older Grand Lodges. However, it is also widely recognised that Prince Hall Masonry developed because there was nowhere else for its brothers to turn at the time. The Prince Hall Grand Lodges are slowly winning acceptance across Anglo Freemasonry, bit by bit, and it seems just a matter of time before they are entirely regularised.

The Fred U. Harris Prince Hall Lodge by the unabonger

Women’s Freemasonry has likewise been a thorny issue. When Freemasonry first developed – in the 18th Century – there was a tacit assumption amongst its members that women just wouldn’t be interested. There are a couple of early records of fully regular lodges with female members, and one of the earliest forms of the ritual workings includes the designation ‘He or Shee’ in reference to the candidate, but for the most part, the women of the time were too downtrodden to factor. The 19th Century was the real flourishing of society-wide sexism though, and as it approached, the requirement that Freemasons be male was recognised as a formal Landmark.

When the Grand Orient d’ France reorganised its charter in 1877, it indicated to all parties that it was alright to be separate from ‘regular’ Masonry. Two international mixed-sex jurisdictions were formed fairly swiftly, called Le Droit Humain and The Order of International Co-Masonry. Both are still fully active world-wide. The Grand Orient and all affiliated Continental Grand Lodges swiftly granted them full recognition, along with any national female-only Grand Lodges that sprung up. A completely separate but similarly-aimed women’s organisation called the Order of Weavers developed, and that too has spread.

Anglo Freemasonry still does not formally recognise female or mixed-sex Grand Lodges on the grounds that it would mean breaking charter; the resistance to such a move is now concentrated in North America. However, UGLE openly accepts that female and mixed-sex jurisdictions are indeed a full part of Freemasonry, just not under the UGLE banner. Their announcement, in March 1999, plainly states “Freemasonry is not confined to men”, with just the simple proviso that “this Grand Lodge does not itself admit women”.

Two female Grand Lodges based in England – The Honourable Fraternity of Ancient Freemasons (which is becoming international, with Lodges in Spain and Gibraltar) and The Order of Women’s Freemasons – and one mixed-sex Grand Lodge have been recognised by UGLE as fully regular apart from the sex of their membership; a declaration that may well herald the approach of full recognition. Note also that the female groups and the mixed-sex group also do not formally recognise each other, for the same reasons of charter. All the groups are in regular informal contact on matters of mutual concern. There are also Women’s Grand Lodges in many European countries. In North America, Women’s Freemasonry is still meeting resistance. Rather than joining a female jurisdiction – the Women’s Grand Lodge of Belgium has four Lodges in the USA – it is more common for interested women to join a group called The Order of the Eastern Star, which is open to Masons and to women who are related to a male Mason.

There are scores of other tiny self-styled Grand Lodges. Some of these appear to be protest movements against a specific policy of a mainstream Grand Lodge, and tend to be short-lived; others are active scams, degree mills designed to milk money out of prospective Masons. In general, if a supposedly Masonic body is not recognised by any Grand Lodge within Anglo, Continental, Prince Hall Freemasonry, Co-Masonry and Women’s Freemasonry, it should be treated with extreme caution.