The Origins of Freemasonry in Liberia

The Arrival of the Pioneers (1822)

In 1822, the Pioneers landed on the shores of West Africa, on what was to become, twenty-five years thereafter, a free, sovereign, and independent state known as The Republic of Liberia. Among the group were a few craftsmen, hailing from Colored Lodges in the United States of America, working under the Prince Hall Grand Lodge Constitution of Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.

Prince Hall and the Birth of Colored Masonry in America

The Dispensation establishing the first Negro Masonic Lodge in the United States was issued on July 3, 1785, to Prince Hall, Boston Smith, Thomas Sanderson, and several other brethren residing in Boston, New England.

This Dispensation was issued under the command and authority of His Royal Highness Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumberland, Grand Master of the Most Ancient and Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons in England, dated September 28, A.L. 5784.

A pamphlet issued by the authority of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of A.F. & A.M. of Illinois, U.S.A. describes Prince Hall as follows:

“Prince Hall, a Mason and a preacher in the 18th century, we behold him preaching to crowded audiences composed mostly of slaves and their owners. He was born on September 12, 1728, at Bridgetown, Barbados, British West Indies. His father, Thomas Prince Hall, was an Englishman, his mother a free woman of French descent. In February 1765, he walked his way on a vessel bound for America and arrived in Boston in March 1765. When he stepped on the shores of New England, he was 17 years old; at the age of twenty-five, he had saved a small sum from his earnings, which he invested in real estate. He was widely known as a genuine Christian and a faithful friend.”

On March 6, 1775, Prince Hall and fourteen other freed colored citizens of Boston were initiated into Masonry in a British Lodge, No. 58, A.F. & A.M., under the Grand Lodge of England.

On July 3, 1785, Prince Hall dedicated to God and to the memory of the Holy Saints John of Jerusalem the first Lodge of Colored Masons in North America. He later served in the Revolutionary Army (February 1776) under Captain Benjamin Bellingham. After the war, he married Miss Phoebe Baker. On December 7, 1807, Prince Hall passed away after a four-week illness, surrounded by his Brothers and friends.

The Establishment of Craft Masonry in Liberia

The Pioneer Fathers, engrossed with the grave problems of permanent settlement, deferred the formal establishment of Craft Masonry. For over forty years, their energies were directed toward expanding the Settlement into a Colony, then into a Commonwealth, and finally into a Free, Sovereign, and Independent State.

Eventually, the surviving Masons felt the time had arrived to formally organize Craft Masonry in Liberia, so that the Golden Tenets and Principles of the Order could be effectively promulgated and practiced by Liberians.

A Dispensation was issued by Deputy Grand Master Thomas Amos to Bros. Ashbury F. Johns (W.M.), James C. Minors (W.), John H. Chivers (J.W.), and others, empowering them to establish Oriental Lodge No. 1 in Monrovia. Similar Dispensations were granted for Saint Paul’s Lodge No. 2 in Clay-Ashland and Saint John’s Lodge No. 3 in Monrovia.

The Formation of the Grand Lodge of Liberia (1867)

In early 1867, notable figures including Thomas Amos, Joseph Jenkins Roberts, Beverly P. Yates, Charles B. Dunbar, John N. Lewis, John H. Chivers, James C. Minor, John Seys, James M. Priest, Samuel C. Glasgow, William S. Anderson, and Gabriel Moore assembled in solemn convention in Monrovia.

After two weeks of deliberation, they delegated all Masonic power in the jurisdiction to Rev. Brother Thomas Amos, as Deputy Grand Master, for the purpose of establishing a Grand Lodge.

On September 22, 1867, the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Liberia was constituted and consecrated by the three subordinate Lodges:

• Oriental Lodge No. 1 (Monrovia)
• St. Paul’s Lodge No. 2 (Clay-Ashland)
• St. John’s Lodge No. 3 (Monrovia)

First Grand Officers

• Thomas Amos – Grand Master
• Ashbury F. Johns – Deputy Grand Master
• Beverly A. Yates – Senior Grand Warden
• Hilary R.W. Johnson – Junior Grand Warden
• Gabriel Moore – Grand Treasurer
• John N. Lewis – Grand Secretary

Other appointed Grand Officers were also named.

Declaration to the Masonic World

The Grand Lodge of Liberia announced its establishment in the following words:

“We are Masons, true and loyal, having the interest and prosperity of the Fraternity at heart and being desirous of diffusing its genuine principles broadcast, have constituted and set up a Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in and for the Republic of Liberia, and ask the sympathy and recognition of the Craft throughout the Globe.”