The Universal Language of Freemasonry - ArchiMeD - Johannes ...

102
Chapter 3 - Overview of Rites
[...] [I]n their attempt to raise the intellectual level of the Craft and to
bind the Craft together, many states have embarked upon journalistic
ventures. These constitute yet another form of enterprise. Working on
the magazines, members have been able to learn to exercise their
knowledge of editing, writing, reporting, organizing, and distributing.
Often the editors of the Masonic journals have been noted and
experienced black newspapermen who have worked on major black
'secular' papers. 280
Last but not least, business administrators were, so to speak, trained by
Masonic lodges. They were needed to run Prince Hall banks, farms, homes,
presses, etc. Freemasonry thus functioned as a city within a city, offering various
job opportunities that were not confined to Masonic life but also served for egoboosting
or career aspirations outside the Craft. Black middle class men could
act the part of judges, jurors, prosecutors, legislators, businessmen, journalists,
correspondents, and publishers. Their newly acquired skills certainly not only
gained them respect within the fraternity, but also by the white society.
Besides endowment departments, many Grand Lodges have also run old
age or orphan homes, banks or credit unions, farms, commercial
buildings and printing presses. All of these projects have required able
business administrators. For the Masons who occupy these positions,
the fraternity performs two major functions: first, providing an outlet for
the entrepreneurial desires which the larger white society creates and
then frustrates, and second, providing training in business techniques
which ultimately may be useable in the black community outside of
Masonry. 281
And since Prince Hall Masonry, like the Caucasian institution, has several
auxiliary orders for women and youths, for example the Heroines of Jericho,
practically the same social advantages were granted to those. As far as the high
numbers of unemployed blacks are concerned, the American fraternity in some
places has tried to meet this problem by creating agencies to arrange for jobs:
"Some Masonic lodges, Grand and local, have found that employment bureaus
are yet another way to give substance to their ideal of Masonic charity" 282 :
280 Ibid, p. 158.
281 Ibid, p. 130.
282 Ibid, p. 153.
[...] [I]n 1960, the Grand Master of California told the fraternity that he
believed employment agencies supported by the Grand Lodge should be
set up in strategic places in the state and an employment opportunity
foundation established to support and implement fair employment
practices. The head of Illinois Masonry, Ashby Carter, in the late 1940s
and early 1950s, while not directly involved in creating employment