African American Fraternal Orders

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Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996
From: David Fahey
Subject: African American fraternal societies query

May I ask for suggestions about secondary and primary sources for the following African American fraternal societies: the Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, and the United Brothers of Friendship and Sisters of the Mysterious Ten. I am familiar with the old in-house histories (C. H. Brooks on the Odd Fellows, E. A. Williams and others on the Pythians, and W. H. Gibson on the United Brothers). I also am interested in sources for the Independent Order of St. Luke but know more about them. Has the biography of Maggie Lena Walker by Gertrude W. Marlowe been published? I saw a reference to it as forthcoming a couple of years ago but nothing since.

David Fahey (Miami Univ., Ohio)

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Date: Thu, 8 Aug 1996
From: Brian Kelly

re: black fraternal orders
I have done a good deal of research regarding black fraternal orders in the Birmingham District coal mines for my dissertation, "'Up Against It': Interracial Unionism in the Alabama Coalfields, 1908-22." The fraternal orders were quite popular among black miners in the coal camps, though they were generally directed by "uplifters" - middle class blacks from Birmingham, businessmen, preachers, etc. Their popularity probably had much to do with the death and sickness benefits they offered (especially after the UMW had been routed in 1908), though a number of astute observers have noted their importance as institutions of racial pride and black self-government. Coal operators generally approved of the orders, and considered them an asset in securing employee loyalty, though during strikes in 1908 and again in 1920, meetings were suspended to prevent black strikers from assembling, and sharp schisms emerged between the middle class leadership and black unionists in the camps.
The most important source for the black fraternal orders in northern Alabama during this period is undoubtedly the _Birmingham Reporter_, a black-owned newspaper which served as the official order of the Pythians, the Colored Odd Fellows, the Woodsmen and a number of other groups. It was edited by Oscar Adams, a dyed-in-the-wool accomodationist and someone who had a very close relationship with the steel and coal companies in the area. It should be available through ILL. Also, the Birmimngham Public Library has the personal papers of Oscar Adams, who after 1927 (+-) became head of the Pythians nationally. I haven't looked closely at them since they're beyond the period I'm researching, but you might find some interesting material. Marvin Whiting at the BPL is every archive rat's dream-come-true.
One of the interesting conclusions I've been able to draw from the material is that the disruption of WWI sent the orders in the B'ham District into decline. Finanical crisis sent a number of black-owned businesses to the wall. The exodus of blacks from the region removed a previously captive audience from the uplifters. And the return of the "new Negro" from Europe led to new militancy outside the ranks of established organizations. In my case, all of this contributed to the reemergence of interracial unionism in the coalfields.
Good luck.
Brian Kelly
Brandeis University

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Date: Fri, 9 Aug 1996
From: David Fahey

Many thanks to Brian Kelly for his suggestions based on his dissertation research at Brandeis. May I ask him for his email address (which was not part of the post)? Although black fraternal orders seldom are studied for their own sake, they get attention in community studies. Researchers who patiently read through local black newspapers can't avoid the various lodges. There is a chapter on fraternal orders, for instance, in Joe William Trotter, Jr., Coal, Class, and Color: Blacks in Southern West Virginia, 1915-32 (1990). In 1994 I edited an old biography of the True Reformer leader Wm Washington Browne (by D. Webster Davis, 1910) under the title The Black Lodge in White America. (The title is meant to suggest African American response to white supremacist segregation.) Although my introduction focuses on Browne and his True Reformer insurance society, it provides references to what literature I could find about black fraternal lodges in general.

David Fahey (Miami Univ., Ohio)

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Date: Fri, 9 Aug 1996
From: Steve Longenecker

Although you did not mention the more common lodges--Elks, etc.--in your post, I want to drop a quick line about fraternal orders in Selma, Ala., which is, after all, a fairly well-known place. Primary sources on this are available in the Ralph Smeltzer papers at the Church of the Brethren Archives in Elgin, Ill. Harvard has them on microfilm as well. You will find a breezy mention of them in my book, Selma's Peacemaker, published by Temple U Press.

The Smeltzer papers contain highly subjective comments from participants in the orders. They are not official records but very interesting reading.

You have a fascinating topic. In Selma, at least, the orders were not the foci of unity and harmony, but instead were one more example of the divisions within the black community. Too much talent, too many egos and too much frustrated leadership crowded into a few small organizations. Good luck.

Steve Longenecker Bridgewater College


Brian Kelly writes:
I can be reached at "kelly@binah.cc.brandeis.edu." one other interesting point about black fraternal lodges in the Deep South. I recall finding an article in one of the Birmingham papers which discussed a lawsuit being brought against the colored Knights of Pythias by the white KofP barring blacks from using the title, etc. Quite a comment on the depth of race divisions at the time.

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Date: Sat, 10 Aug 1996
From: David Fahey

Many thanks to Steve Longenecker, Brian Kelly, and (in a private post) Rebecca Sharpless. My selection of black fraternal societies was the result of my agreeing to write several articles for Nina Mjagkij's Encyclopedia of African American Associations (Garland). In addition to the ones for which I requested help I am writing on the True Reformers (my BLACK LODGE IN WHITE AMERICA, 1994, book) and the black Good Templars (my TEMPERANCE & RACISM: JOHN BULL, JOHNNY REB, AND THE GOOD TEMPLARS book, to be published by Kentucky later this year). For the Elks there is a dissertation that compares the white and black orders: Charles Edward Dickerson II, "The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World" (Rochester, 1981). Although most scholars acknowledge the importance of fraternal orders in the African American community in the late 19th, early 20th centuries, there has been little research except as incidental to community studies.

Most black fraternal organizations provided insurance to members, and sometimes the fraternal orders reorganized as insurance companies. For instance, the Grand United Order of Moses, organized in 1903 at Charlotte Court House, Virginia, was reorganized in 1956 as the Moses Life Insurance Association. I don't know whether it survives.

David Fahey (Miami Univ., Ohio) faheydm@muohio.edu