This site is meant for anyone who wants to learn more. Both individual users and historical societies or archives are welcome to download PDFs or refer people to this website. Perhaps you are curious because a grandparent or great-grandparent was a member of a group you want to better understand. Or perhaps you are a student or scholar of U.S. history or African American history, or someone who works at a historical society or archive that has materials that need explanation and context. Whatever the reason for your interest, this site is freely available to you. Users can view and download the full Directory of all orders currently included on the site, as well as the introductory and organizational PDFs. The PDFs at this site are copyrighted as scholarly assemblages by Theda Skocpol, Harvard University, and most include notes and full citations to relevant materials used from published sources or from collections held by museums or historical societies.
Anyone who knows more about Black fraternal orders or has additional relevant source materials is encouraged to send a message to the site administrator. Dozens of already-known Black fraternal orders, including major ones like the (already well researched) Prince Hall Masons, remain to be profiled for this site, so new profiles will be added to the site from time to time. In addition, existing organizational profiles will be updated or corrected as necessary, especially when new source materials are found.
Each organizational profile on this site has a date that indicates when the most recent version was completed or updated. Some additional primary documents and images personally owned by Theda Skocpol will also be added to the site in the future, so interested users can download them for their own use in teaching, discussions, or research. If you are curious about the possible availability of a specific source, feel free to make an inquiry.
