Published Monthly by The
Phylaxis Society Public Affairs Office
and Masonic Information Center
February 1999
The Phylaxis Society sorrowfully announce the passing of Sovereign Grand Commander Dr. Samson Julius Bennett, Sr. of the United Supreme Council, A.A.S.R. Southern Jurisdiction, PHA., USA. He died on Monday, January 18, 1999. He was also Grand Master of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Alabama.
He served as Grand Master from 1967 until his death. He was a member of Golden Square Lodge No. 340-A. Birmingham, Alabama. Lieutenant Grand Commander Edgar Bridges, Sr., Grand Master of the Most Worshipful Stringer Grand Lodge F. & A.M. of Mississippi (PHA) will serve as Grand Commander. Sarah "Sadie" Delany, 109, who, along with her late sister, Dr. Annie Elizabeth "Bessie" Delany, co-authored the best-seller Having Our Say, recently died in her sleep at the Mount Vernon, NY home she had shared with her sister since 1957. Their father, Henry Beard Delany, a man born into slavery, became the first elected Black Episcopal Bishop in the United States, and served the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of North Carolina as Grand Chaplain. Sadly we report that Bro. Rev. Henry J. Lyons of St. Petersburg Lodge No. 109 in Florida and President of the National Baptist Convention, USA is standing trial on state charges of racketeering and grand theft. He faces a similar trial on federal charges in the spring. It has also been reported that though the National Baptist Convention, USA said it had 8.5 million members, the organization's mailing list never exceeded 15,000, a former assistant for the group's president testified. Allegedly the group claimed to encompass 33,000 churches, but its own list showed between 5,000 and 7,000 churches. Bonita Henderson, Rev. Lyons' former administrative assistant, alleges that he had created a phony list of church members. She reported that she used the directory to store millions of names, addresses and phone numbers on floppy disks to sell to a life insurance company that thought it Was getting the convention's mailing list. The insurance company paid $400,000 for the membership list which included a Ku Klux Klan grand dragon. A direct mail company it is alleged paid $1 million based on the claim that the convention had 8.5 million members. If the Democrats regain control of the House of Representatives, Bro. Charles Rangel, Joppa Lodge No 55, New York City, will become the first Black chairman of the Ways and Means Committee. Rev. Leon Sullivan 33
" will once again lead the fifth African-American Summit which will be held in Ghana, May 15-22 with representatives of many U.S. government agencies involved in the Third World expected to attend. Sullivan, pastor of the Zion Baptist Church and founder and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Opportunities Industrialization Centers, received the Gold Medal of Achievement Award in 1969, from the United Supreme Council, A.A.S.R.,Northern Jurisdiction. Black Republicans led by co-chair Lionel Hampton of Boyer Lodge No. 1, New York City, have done the exploratory work in advancing Elizabeth Dole for the GOP presidential slot. The official nomination of Bro. Thurgood Marshall 33" by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1967 as the first Black Supreme Court Justice will be a key item for the National Archives which will display the Justice's legal papers for Black History Month in Washington, D.C. In the History of the United Supreme Council, A.A.S.R.. Northern Jurisdiction, its author, Joseph A. Waikes, Jr. records the letters from the Sovereign Grand Commander George E. Bushnell 33" of the white Supreme Council, Northern Masonic Jurisdiction in support of Bro Marshall nomination to the Supreme Court.A new guide to the Masonic world Volume I - The Americas by Kent Henderson and Tony Pope, an honorary Fellow of the Phylaxis Society has been released in Australia by Global Masonic Publications. The guide gives a listing of all of the Grand Lodges in America, as well as all of the Prince Hall Grand Lodges, with a history of each. the number of lodges, members, special notes for visitors, e-mail addresses and web pages, and other tid bits of information. The book also list some of the various Black groups claiming to be Masonic, but gives very little information on them. It Is a most interesting boo k, which all Prince Hall Freemason's will want to own. Helpful to the authors were members of the Phylaxis Society, Tommy Rigmaiden FPS, Executive Secretary, Bro. Stephen Hill FPS, Director, Non-Prince Hall Commission and Joseph A. Walkes, Jr., President. The Phylaxis Society C.O.F.P. Book Department will be selling the books through its Director: Bro. Sid Breckenridge, Sr. FPS,- 1318 North Hawthorne; Tacoma, Washington 98406-1820 for approximately $25.00.
The newest book offered by Research Lodge No. 2 A.F.&A.M. (Caucasian) is Our Masonic Presidents by L. Randall Rogers. They include Harry Truman, Andrew Johnson; Warren G. Harding (who some say was Black),- Theodore Roosevelt (untold story is the fact that the NCO's of the I0th Cav Buffalo Soldiers had to save him and his so called Rough Riders from being slaughtered in their charge up San Juan Hill in Cuba), James A. Garfield-, James Buchanan, Andrew Jackson; James K. Polk, William McKinley; William Howard Taft; Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Gerald R. Ford. Jr.; James Monroe and George Washington. The book does not explore the dislike that many African-Americans held for some of these men, nevertheless, it is a very Interesting book, and the Phylaxis Society recommends it to its members. Research Lodge No. 2 can be reached at Post Office Box 3643, Des Moines, Iowa 50322. Phylaxis President, Joseph A. Walkes, Jr. is an honorary life member of this lodge.