PRINCE HALL'S MISSION : THE RISE OF THE PHYLAXIS SOCIETY

By Joseph A. Walkes, _7r. Kansas City, Midtown Printing & Publishing Company (for The Phylaxis Society) 1995 VIII + 322pp - Reviewed by Bro. R. A. Gilbert

Despite the recent recognition accorded by the United Grand Lodge of England to the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, very few English freemasons know anything at all about Prince Hall Freemasonry. For its history in detail they must look elsewhere, although elements of that history are woven into Bro. Walkes's book, but in his account of the Phylaxis Society the modern trials and tribulations of Negro Freemasonry in the U.S.A. are neatly encapsulated. The Phylaxis Society defines itself as « A society for Prince Hall Freemasons who seek more light and who have light to impart », but it is rather more than simply a masonic research society. Bro. Walkes's aim when he founded the society in 1973 was to provide, through its journal The Ph laxis, not only a forum for papers on the history of Prince Hall Freemasonry but also a focus for reasoned defence against attacks on its legitimacy. In this he has succeeded admirably, despite internal opposition and disgraceful attacks from members of some American Grand Lodges (including, it has to be said, some who were also members of this Lodge). Although Bro. Walkes does not claim any credit for it, there can. be no doubt that the work of the Phylaxis Society played no small part in bringing about the greatly improved relations that now exist between a growing number of American Grand Lodges and their Prince Hall counterparts. His first-hand story of its origins and growth is written with laudable honesty and objectivity and deserves to be widely known and read.

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