Freemasonry is one of the worlds oldest fraternal organizations. It is a society of men concerned with moral and spiritual values. Members are taught its precepts by a series of ritual dramas that follow ancient forms and employ the symbolism of stonemasonry. Assuming its present form in England during the 18th century, Freemasonry came to America with the colonists, and Freemasons have played many roles in American history.

When the author first inquired about the admission of African Americans to Masonic lodges, he was told: They have their own lodges. He later learned that white Masons...

In The Durhams of Fairfield: An African American Geneaology, Robert L. Uzzel traced his wife Debra's roots to the slaves of the family of Robert Winfield Durham. Evidence indicates that Gobi, the patriarch of the Durham family, along with his wife Mary and five older sons, were slaves in Fairfield County, South Carolina and that Gobi died there. Mary gave birth to their youngest son, Isaac Durham, in 1860 near Fairfield, Texas, where their five older sons (who came with their masters to Desoto Parish, Louisiana) had settled by 1870. The six Durham brothers- Belton, Allen, Minor, Christopher,...

A masterful account of Eliphas Levi, one of the most celebrated Kabbalistic authors of all times.The influence Levi exerted on such esoteric movement leaders as A.E. Waite; Madame Blavatsky; Papus; Aleister Crowley; Rudolf Steiner; Max Heindel; H. Spencer Lewis; Paul Foster Case and others is explored as well as remarkable insights into Levi's life and times.One entire chapter, devoted to Masonic legend Albert Pike, analyzes Pike's "Morals and Dogma" revealing entire sections Pike took verbatim from the works of Levi. This is a powerful and essential book by a respected Masonic and esoteric...