Hall, Prince (1735?-1807), founded the first African American Masonic lodge in the United States. Hall’s lodge and other African American Masonic lodges founded later made up the first major voluntary association created by African Americans. Hall was also active in the antislavery movement and worked to promote education for African American children.
The exact date and place of Hall’s birth are uncertain. Many scholars believe that, at one time, he was a slave in Boston. After obtaining his freedom, Hall became a property owner and a leader of a Christian congregation in the Boston area. In 1775, Hall and 14 other free African Americans joined an all-white British Army Masonic lodge in Boston. The blacks formed a separate “African Lodge” after the Revolutionary War in America started. Hall’s group could not get an American Masonic charter, but it was chartered by English Masons in 1784. Hall died on Dec. 4, 1807.
