Hall - Copp's Hill Burial Ground - Boston, MA
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 42° 22.047 W 071° 03.378
19T E 330681 N 4692623
A polished granite broken column headstone marks the grave of Prince Hall.
Waymark Code: WMC58E
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 07/27/2011
Views: 13
Prince Hall was a major figure in the Boston African-American community. His birth is unrecorded but he was believed to be born in 1746 in Barbados in the West Indies.
During the Revolutionary War he urged the both enslaved and freed blacks to join the effort to free the American colonies from British control. It is believed that he convinced John Hancock to be allowed to join the Continental Army and was one of a few blacks who fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
During this time, he was active in petitioning the government for the abolution of slavery (1777), the exclusion of blacks from public schools (1787), the abolution of the slave trade (1788), and the kidnapping of free black men from Boston (1788).
In 1775 he founded the African lodge of the Honorable Society of Free and Accepted Masons of Boston. Thus, Prince Hall is recognized as the Father of Black Masonry in the United States. Historically, he made it possible for Negroes to be recognized and enjoy all privileges of free and accepted masonry.
Prince Hall is buried in Copp's Hill Burial Ground along the Freedom Trail in the north end of Boston. His grave is situated near a large tree and marked by a broken column; a monument erected 88 years after his death by Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Massachusetts.
Headstone/Monument Text:
1746 1807
Prince Hall
Erected By
M. W. Prince Hall Grand Lodge
F. & A.M. of Massachusetts
June 24th A.D. 1895
M. W. = Most Worshipful
F. & A.M. = Free and Accepted Masons
Website with More Information: Not listed
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