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Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia

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Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia
Founded1880; 144 years ago (1880)
Vicksburg, Mississippi
TypeFraternal benevolence society
AffiliationIndependent
StatusActive
EmphasisAfrican Americans
ScopeNorth America
Members200,000+ lifetime
Headquarters
United States

The Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, also known as the Colored Knights of Pythias or the Knights of Pythias, is a fraternal organization in the United States. The Knights of Pythias, founded in 1864, did not allow African Americans so this group formed on its own. The organization was established in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1880 by Thomas W. Stringe and others.

The organization followed the organizational structure of many other fraternal organizations with a national Supreme Lodge, Grand Lodges at the state level, and local lodges regionally. Historically, the organization provided its members with death and sick benefits.

History

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The Knights of Pythias, founded in 1864, did not allow African Americans and so this group formed on its own.[1] The Knights of Pythias of North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Oceanica was established in Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1880 by Thomas W. Stringer, along with Thomas M. Broadwater, A. E. Lightfoot, George A. Place, W. D. Starks, Claybourne Julian.[2][3] This became the Lightfoot Lodge No. 1.[3] Its purpose was friendship and to relieve suffering.[3] Membership was open to all races and included Blacks and Asians.[4] Stringer was its first Supreme Chancellor.[4]

There are competing accounts for how the founders learned the rituals from the Knights of Pythias. Descriptions range from some of the men who could pass as white joining the white organization and then bringing the rituals back or a white member of the Knights of Pythias sharing the rituals with Stringer and the others.[4][5][6] The organization quickly spread under Stringer's leadership. Its name was later changed to Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia.

The Colored Knights of Pythias were prominent in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[7] By 1897, the Knights of Pythias had 40,000 members, with grand lodges in twenty states, the West Indies, and Central America. It distributed US$60,000 worth of benefits annually.[8]

Order of Calanthe, the women's auxiliary to the Knights of Pythias, was established in Louisiana in 1883 and was open to the family of Colored Knights of Pythias members. Calanthe was the wife of Pythias in the Greek legend Damon and Pythias.

In 1891, the Supreme Lodge paraded through New York City with a contingent of seven hundred Sir Knights in full uniform.[9] In 1905, there were eight lodges in New York state and 340 members. The New York branch's second annual convention in the state was held in Brooklyn.[10] The Grand Lodge of Michigan was organized on September 22, 1922, in Detroit, Michigan, with J. Will Cooper as the first Grand Chancellor.[11]

A lawsuit was filed in Georgia challenging the organization's use of the Knights of Pythias name and paraphernalia.[12][13] The suit was a focus of concern at the group's National Convention held in Kansas City, Missouri in 1909.[14] The white Pythians of Georgia finally lost in the Supreme Court in 1912 and both groups were allowed to use the name.[4]

The Colored Knights of Pythias had nearly 200,000 members in the 1920s; this was the height of the group's enrollment.[7] It had strong membership in Florida; as high as one in six Black men.[15] After World War I, the Florida organization required members to pay poll taxes and register to vote in the 1920 election.[15] In Quincy, Florida, this drew the ire of the Ku Klux Klan which burned the Knights' group's lodge and killed as many as thirty and sixty Black men.[15]

In the 1950s, the Knights of Pythias began admitting Black members.[4] However, both the White and Black Knights members had declined during the Great Depression and never recovered.[4] In some cities the two groups merged.[4] However, the Washington, D.C. lodged did not accept a Black member until 1989.[16] As of 2015, the Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia still existed but in extremely reduced numbers.[4]

Symbols and traditions

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Like the Knights of Pythias, the Colored Knights of Pythias' motto is “Friendship, Charity, and Benevolence”.[16][7] It followed the organizational structure of many other fraternal organizations with a national Supreme Lodge, Grand Lodges at the state level, and local lodges regionally. Its lessons and rituals were based on the ancient Greek legend of the friendship of Damon and Pythias.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, members marched in public parades wearing military-style uniforms.[7]

Knights of Pythias Temple, Dallas, Texas

Temples

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The Colored Knights of Pythias constructed buildings called temples to house each lodge. The temples provided space for lodge meetings and frequently provided office space for African American professionals and the fraternal society's insurance business.[17]

Chicago was chosen for the Supreme Temple in1906. Frank Hunter was chosen to design a Grand Lodge by the group's Indianapolis branches. It was dedicated in 1911 and remains standing at 701-703 North Senate. The Indianapolis Recorder was a tenant.[1]

A former lodge in Waxahachie, Texas is now home to Ellis County African American Hall of Fame Museum and Library.

Other notable Colored Knights of Pythias temples include:

Notable members

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Further reading

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  • Constitution and By-laws of the Grand Lodge Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia (1912)[21]
  • Constitution and Grand Statutes of the Grand Lodge Colored Knights of Phythias (1921)[22]
  • Peebles, Marilyn T. The Alabama Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia; A Brief History. University Press of America, 2012. ISBN 978-0-7618-5815-7.
  • Williams, E. A. Williams; Green, Smith W.; and Jones; Joseph L. The History and anual of the Colored Knights of Pythias N.A., S.A., E.A., A. and A. Nashville, Tennessee: Knights of Pythias Supreme Lodge, National Baptist Publishing Board, 1917.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Browne, Tiffany Benedict (February 11, 2016). "Then & Now: "Colored" Knights of Pythias, 701-703 North Senate".
  2. ^ a b "Through Collective Effort: The Success of S. W. Green & the Knights of Pythias". September 11, 2018.
  3. ^ a b c "History". Grand Lodge Knights of Pythias, Jurisdiction of Florida. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Nerney, Sarah (December 16, 2015). "A Knight Unlike Any Other: John Mitchell Jr. & The Knights of Pythias - The UncommonWealth".
  5. ^ Peebles, Marilyn T. (2012). The Alabama Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia: A Brief History. University Press of America. ISBN 9780761858140.
  6. ^ Browne, Tiffany Benedict (2016-02-11). "Then & Now: "Colored" Knights of Pythias, 701-703 North Senate | Historic Indianapolis | All Things Indianapolis History". Historic Indianapolis. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  7. ^ a b c d "Colored Knights of Pythias helmet". Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Discover Magazine. August 12, 2018. Retrieved August 16, 2024 – via Virginia Museum of History and Culture.
  8. ^ Stevens, Albert Clark (1907). The Cyclopedia of Fraternities: A Compilation of Existing Authentic Information and the Results of Original Investigation As to More Than Six Hundred Secret Societies in the United States (2nd ed.). New York City: E. B. Treat & Co. pp. 238, 263–66. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
  9. ^ Stevens, Albert C. (1899). The cyclopaedia of fraternities: a compilation of existing authentic information . . . of more than six hundred secret societies in the United States. New York City, N. Y.: Hamilton printing and publishing company. p. 266.
  10. ^ "Colored Knights of Pythias meet in Downtown Brooklyn 1905". The Standard Union. 1905-07-18. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  11. ^ "Historical program for the dedication of the Pythian Temple of the Grand Lodge and Court of Michigan, 1952 September 21 · digitalVGW". digitalvgw.omeka.net. Retrieved 2024-02-16.
  12. ^ Dittmer, John (December 12, 1980). Black Georgia in the Progressive Era, 1900-1920. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-00813-9 – via Google Books.
  13. ^ "CRESWILL v. GRAND LODGE KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS OF GEORGIA, 225 U.S. 246 (1912) | FindLaw".
  14. ^ Liazos, Ariane; Ganz, Marshall (2004). "Duty to the Race: African American Fraternal Orders and the Legal Defense of the Right to Organize". Social Science History. 28 (3): 485–534. JSTOR 40267853.
  15. ^ a b c McNulty, Jennifer (February 27, 2005). "New book documents first statewide civil rights movement in Florida". UC Santa Cruz News. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  16. ^ a b Bell, Thomas (February 21, 1990). "D.C. Knights of Pythias Hope to Eliminate Color Barrier". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  17. ^ a b c "Grand Lodge of the Colored Knights of Pythias, Texas". U.S. National Park Service. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  18. ^ "The New Granada is reborn again in the Hill District, with history in mind".
  19. ^ Fisher, Alison (22 November 2022). "Walter T. Bailey's National Pythian Temple Fragment, Chicago, Illinois".
  20. ^ "D.C. KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS HOPE TO ELIMINATE COLOR BARRIER". Washington Post. 2024-01-01. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2024-08-16.
  21. ^ Constitution and By-laws of the Grand Lodge Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. 1912.
  22. ^ Constitution and Grand Statutes of the Grand Lodge Colored Knights of Phythias. 1921.
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