2-833-053 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

In 1775, Prince Hall and 14 other men of colour were made masons in Lodge #441 of the Irish Registry attached to the 38th British Foot Infantry at Castle William Island in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts. It marked the first time that Black men were made masons in America. A high backed wooden chair used at the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge of Massachusetts. The legs of the chair are rounded columns with decorative capitals and bases. The seat is a box design with small block supports on the underside. The high back of the chair has a decorative column on either side, the PR column is topped with a finial which seems to be missing from the PL side. The wood of the back itself has two identical decorative cutouts, pointed at each end. The very top of the chair is high and rounded with a significant protrusion at the peak. It is stained dark brown all over.