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

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

Author: Marilyn T. Peebles

Publisher: University Press of America

Published: 2012-08-16

Total Pages: 71

ISBN-13: 0761858156

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The Knights of Pythias fraternal organization was founded in 1865 by an Act of Congress. When African American men were denied membership, they created their own organization in Vicksburg, MS, in 1880. Its founder, Thomas Stringer, believed that fraternal organizations could provide the black community with business networks, economic safety nets, and political experience at a time when Jim Crow laws were being constructed all around them. In Birmingham, Alabama, these Pythians became the cornerstone of an African American business community that included the first black-owned and operated bank in the state. They provided burial, life, and disability insurance for members and became a source of civic pride and racial solidarity. When their right to exist was challenged, they took the case to the Supreme Court in 1912 and won. This strategy would be used decades later in Brown v. Board of Education.


Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town

Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town

Author: Stephen Leacock

Publisher: New Canadian Library

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 0771093977

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Affectionately combining both the idyllic and ironic, Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town is Stephen Leacock’s most beloved book. Set in fictional Mariposa, an Ontario town on the shore of Lake Wissanotti, these sketches present a remarkable range of characters: some irritating, some exasperating, some foolhardy, but all endearing. Painted with the skilful brushstrokes of a great comic artist, the delightful inhabitants of Mariposa represent the people of small towns everywhere. As fresh, funny, and insightful today as when it was first published in 1912, Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town is Stephen Leacock at his best – colourful, imaginative, and thoroughly entertaining.


Secret Ritual and Manhood in Victorian America

Secret Ritual and Manhood in Victorian America

Author: Mark Christopher Carnes

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 1989-01-01

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 9780300051469

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In this study of American 19th-century secret orders, the author argues that religious practices and gender roles became increasingly feminized in Victorian America and that secret societies, such as the Freemasons, offered men and boys an alternative, male counterculture.


Symbolism of the Eastern Star

Symbolism of the Eastern Star

Author: Shirley Plessner

Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing

Published: 2019-07-23

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 1789126991

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This book by Shirley Plessner, which was first published in 1956, was compiled in response to numerous requests for informative material about the symbols, terms, and stories of the Order of Eastern Star. The Order of the Eastern Star is a Masonic appendant body open to both men and women. It was established in 1850 by lawyer and educator Rob Morris, a noted Freemason, but was only adopted and approved as an appendant body of the Masonic Fraternity in 1873. The order is based on teachings from the Bible, but is open to people of all religious beliefs. It has approximately 10,000 chapters in twenty countries and approximately 500,000 members under its General Grand Chapter. “This book contains a complete discussion of the whole biblical account from which the teachings of the Order of Eastern Star are derived. Like all such interpretations, no effort is made to establish it as the one and only interpretation. Each discussion is a collection of ideas which are designed to assist the reader in forming his own conclusions concerning each selection. This book also contains the Bible passages from which our symbols, emblems, terms and stories have been taken. All of the information in this book has been alphabetically arranged to make this information readily accessible. “Use this book to find the answers to your questions about the symbols, emblems, terms, and legends associated with the work of our Order.”


Fraternally Yours

Fraternally Yours

Author: Peter Swift Seibert

Publisher: Schiffer Publishing

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780764340604

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A look at the rich and diverse heritage of American fraternal societies from the late 1800s through present times. Focusing upon larger organizations of the golden age, this book covers the basic symbols and emblems of groups as diverse as the Freemasons, Odd Fellows, Redmen, Knights of Columbus, Elks, Knights of Pythias, and even the Ku Klux Klan. Usually couched in mystical symbolism, here find images of actual medals and regalia along with period photographs and imagery from trade catalogs. Fraternally Yours opens the secretive door of fraternal societies to everyone.


Freemasonry in Context

Freemasonry in Context

Author: Art DeHoyos

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 378

ISBN-13: 9780739107812

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In Freemasonry in Context: History, Ritual, Controversy editors Arturo de Hoyos and S. Brent Morris feature work by renown Masonic scholars. Essays explore the rich and often times controversial events that comprise the cultural and social history of Freemasonry.