Official Souvenir Program of the 30th Annual Session and Victory Celebration...

Item Details

Chicago: N.P., [1929]. First edition. 30x22.5cm, [34]pp including printed, inner wraps. Illustrated with half tone photographs and ads throughout. Staple bound in card wrappers, illustrated and lettered in blue. Wrappers smudged and stained, rubbed along spine. Light moisture staining to lower corner throughout. Very good.

Illustrated souvenir of the Prince Hall Shriners’ thirtieth annual session and Victory Celebration, held at Chicago’s National Pythian Temple, August 11–17, 1929, following their landmark Supreme Court victory that June.  The gathering also included the triennial conclave of the Prince Hall Knights Templar and meetings of other affiliated Masonic bodies including the Order of the Eastern Star.  The booklet is profusely illustrated with portraits of participants in full regalia as well as advertisements for Black-owned businesses.

Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine v. Michaux, arose from a suit initiated by white Shriners in Houston in 1918 which sought to prohibit the Black order's use of its name, titles, emblems, and regalia.  The Supreme Court reversed the injunction on June 3, 1929.  Contemporary coverage of the Chicago event by the Chicago Defender noted Imperial Potentate Caesar R. Blake Jr's appeal for members to attend in celebration of their right to use the Shrine's emblems, and that the festivities would express "harmonies of liberty granted through a United States supreme court decision."  June 3rd is still celebrated by Prince Hall Masons nationwide as "Jubilee Day."

An incredibly important record of victory for African American fraternal autonomy, and with illustrations of the community who celebrated the triumph.