Qui était Prince Hall

Merci à John Hairston pour son commentaire précis, j’ai pu échanger directement avec lui par mail aujourdh’ui. Comme le précise GEPLU, je n’ai pas donné ces indications biographiques sur Prince Hall dans mon livre (contrairement à ce qui figure dans l’article par ailleurs fort sympathique de présentation de mon livre sur le présent blog): j’ai été extrêmement prudente, et apparemment avec raison en faisant état des différentes hypothèses formulées à l’égard de la date de naissance et d’initiation de Prince Hall, mais en disant que rien n’était prouvé. Il n’y a donc aucune contradiction entre ce que j’ai écrit et ce que note avec raison John. Je lirai son livre avec grand plaisir.

Apparemment Cécile Revauger n’a pas en mains les mêmes faits historiques que ceux de
JL Hairston au sujet de Prince Hall. Cela commence bien…

There is much to be desired in this article, as much of it is based on misinformation.

My name is John L. Hairston, and I am a member of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Washington State, Harmony Lodge #2 of Seattle, WA.
I am the Editor of the Masonic blog, The Quill and The Sword, and a life member of the Phylaxis Society, which is the premier Research Body for Prince Hall Affiliation.

Let’s look at some of the errors and bring correction to them.

1. Prince Hall did not arrive in Boston in 1775, he was actually freed from slavery in 1770 by his owner, William Hall, and was residing in Boston at that time. It has been stated that Prince Hall came to America around 1750. Although we have no verification of his arrival, we do know that he was most definitely in Boston Mass in 1770, as we do have the records of his manumission papers to verify that he was in Boston before 1775.

2. Prince Hall’s father was not British, that is a myth that was perpetuated by William Grimshaw. There is no verifiable records of his father or mother, and therefore we cannot make statements as to his father’s ethnicity or nationality.

3. The records of African Lodge No. 1 show that there was no initiation in 1775, but March 6, 1778. We are in possession of a copy of the actual handwritten minutes, accounts and letter of African Lodge and Prince Hall dating 1778-1849. None of the first 15 members of African Lodge No. 1 were initiated in 1775, and neither was African Lodge organized in 1776, but rather 1778. The myth of 1775 was created and promoted by those who did not have access to the records of that Lodge. I will be publishing a book this next month entitled: Landmarks of our Fathers: A Critical Analysis of the Start and Origin of African Lodge No. 1. The website is listed below:
http://landmarksofourfathers.com/

I am also attaching a link to my Masonic Blog:
http://quillandsword357.blogspot.com/

4. There was no African Grand Lodge established in 1791. The African Grand Lodge was established in 1827. The name later changed in 1848. African Lodge operated like a mother Lodge from 1797-1827, when they finally declared independence from the charter that was granted them in 1784 by the Grand Lodge of England, and assumed the power of a Grand Lodge. This is reflected in the records.

The term, « Grand master » was used by African Lodge to be synonymous with Worshipful Master.

Much of the misinformation is the continuous citation of authors who were not privy to the actual records of African Lodge as a primary source.

My book will utilize the records to correct much of the information that was promoted by even Prince Hall authors.

Je ne suis « entré » en Maçonnerie qu’en Février 1969, c’est-à-dire après le retrait de la France de l’OTAN (1964 ou 1965) – La Loge du GODF de Vitry-le-François (51300) avait reçu les militaires U.S. membres de PRINCE HALL pendant leur présence en garnison à l’Hopital Militaire U.S. de la ville.
Mes Frères plus âgés me disaient la joie éprouvée par ces Maçons noirs reçus sans discrimination par leurs Frères Français – L’un d’entre eux avait même laissé une « chaîne + ou – « hi-fi » (à l’époque) en don gratuit à notre Loge « ALMAS LES VERTUS REUNIES ». Il devait être Capitaine de la Military Police, m’a-t-on dit.