The Prince Hall Masons were first organized in Columbus as the Bradwell Lodge No. 4, in 1871. Bradwell later became Lewis Hayden Lodge No. 6, which still meets today. Since 1871, seven lodges have been established in Columbus, and some, including Mt. Pisgah Lodge No. 53, as well as several Eastern Star chapters, meet in the Prince Hall Masonic Temple, which was built in 1953, and is a center of Black civic and social life in Columbus.
Of historical importance, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke to a gathering of over 1000 people here on 1 July 1958, imploring the audience to meet “physical force with soul force“, in response to increasing racial violence. He was in Columbus following the murder by white store owner Luico Flowers of Dr. Thomas Brewer (1894-1956). Dr. Flowers, a local physician and Civil Rights leader, was an advocate of King v. Chapman, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that ended the white primary system in Georgia. This decision led to heightened KKK activity in the area, including a threat to bomb the Prince Hall Masonic Temple during Dr. King’s visit. Armed Prince Hall Masons kept vigil on the roof. Unable to harm Dr. King, the KKK bombed the home of Essie Mae Ellison, who had recently moved into a white neighborhood.
Two and one half millions black men and women between the age of 18&24 voted for Trump and millions more (blacks) didn’t vote at all. 🤔😢 I think it’s the result of not valuing or knowing one’s history, the one thing I admire about the Jews they never let themselves nor the world forget the holocaust and Americans of African descent must and should not allow themselves or the world forget “American Slavery” and what’s due/owe the descendants “reparations”
So sad that so many people got scarred with the seeds of racial conflicts for so many years. I am glad to see that we are so far beyond that these days. We are all much the richer for being able to see people as just people, and to experience friendship and cooperation among the races, leaving us all in a better place. I believe that is what God intended. We are just slow to recognize His will. But we still have a long way to go.