All Men Free and Brethren: Essays on the History of African American Freemasonry

[T]his is an impressive volume that resourcefully draws much useful and persuasive interpretation from scant sources. In many ways, black Masonry is indeed an excellent metaphor for the history of African American activism.

Bruce Dain, Journal of American History

"The book successfully serves two masters by showcasing new directions in the scholarship while also including a detailed chronology, definition of Masonic terms, and extensive endnotes.... Essay collections are inherently difficult. This one manages to provide both a useful primer on African Masonry while also showcasing excellent recent scholarship.... That the book also highlights new scholarly directions in religion, gender, and racial identity only adds to its merits" ?Matthew Hetrick, American Studies

This book will be of most interest to scholars of Freemasonry in the United States. It certainly provides new and important information about various Masonic communities and deepens our understanding African American Masons' relationships to broader communities.

Nova Religio

This is a very welcome edited collection that taps into the current thirst for serious histories of American freemasonry. It represents a real boon to further scholarship, urging us to think in new ways about freedom and social agency for African Americans within the Masonic context from the revolutionary era up until the late 1920s. Especially useful are the four appendixes containing three key Prince Hall or African American Masonic texts, an explanatory glossary of Masonic terms, a list of contact details for Masonic repositories, and a further list of Prince Hall Grand Lodge information. Anyone interested in how African American freemasonry links to the main narratives on abolition, emancipation, and Reconstruction will find much of tangible use here.

American Historical Review

This remarkably useful book explores an aspect of US history long-overlooked by historians of both historical freemasonry and the African American experience. Summing Up: highly recommended.

Choice