Dawn of Light Masonic Lodge

It was organized during slavery or right after slavery. They went to England and got a Charter.

A lot of the times, like when folks could not get insurance and things like that, this organization helped them to be buried. So they had a burial thing before they had an insurance company, funeral homes and things of that nature, so that helped them out in that way. And it was a costly kind of thing. If somebody needed help in the community, these brethren would get together and help them because they had pledged fraternal…. John Lewis, who became the Grand Master of the Prince Hall Masons in Louisiana, he explained to those people that … their membership [would not] become lapsed because [the organization] paid for them. They kept them up financially. And when they were able, they came back and repaid. They retained their membership.

I don’t know the exact number, but I belong to every one that Black folks could join. I belong to the NAACP, and I belong to the Masons and I’m still a Mason. I been a Mason all my life, since I was old enough – and all the other Black organizations. I been a member of every one that Black folks had.