Comments About A Sigma Who Is Also A Prince Hall Mason Singing "Phi Beta Sigma Got Soul" Along With Another Sigma

Equites Dei Training Solutions, Nov 22, 2011

Kappa Iota Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma, 2011

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases a 2011 YouTube video of two brothers from the historically Black Greek letter fraternity Phi Beta Sigma singing a portion of their song "Phi Beta Sigma Got Soul". One of those brothers wears a necklace with the Prince Hall Mason square symbol.

This post presents information about Prince Hall Masons and also presents information about Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. In addition, this pancocojams post presents selected comments from the discussion thread of this showcase video.

The content of this post is presented for historical, cultural, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners. 

Thanks to the composer of this song and thanks to the brothers who are featured in this video. Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the producer of this video on YouTube.

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INFORMATION ABOUT PRINCE HALL MASONS
From https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/prince-hall-masons-1784/
"The Prince Hall Masons are the oldest and largest group of Masons of African origin in the world. Today there are forty Grand Lodges of Prince Hall Freemasonry in the United States, Canada, the Bahamas, and Liberia. These Grand Lodges preside over more than 5,000 lodges. All of them claim descent from the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Massachusetts which is traced back to the African Lodge No. 459.

Prince Hall, a native of Bridgetown, Barbados, West Indies, was freeborn on September 12, 1748, the son of Thomas Prince Hall, an Englishman, and a free colored woman of French heritage. In 1765, at the age of 17, Hall worked for his passage on a ship to Boston where he became a leatherworker. Eight years later, he had acquired property and was eligible to vote.

On March 6, 1775, Hall, who was a minister with a Methodist Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, joined fourteen other free blacks of Boston who all became Masons at British Army Lodge, No. 58, then attached to one of General Thomas Gage’s regiments stationed in Boston. Hall and the other newly initiated Masons were granted the authority to meet as a separate lodge, to march in parades, and to bury their dead. They were not granted permission to confer degrees or perform any other Masonic work.

Nine years later on March 2, 1784, Hall petitioned the Grand Lodge of England, asking for a warrant for a charter that they had been denied by the white Masons of Massachusetts. The warrant was approved and Hall established the first lodge of African American Masons in North America known as African Lodge No. 459.

Although the status of the African American Masons improved, they were not considered a “full” Masonic lodge until 1787 when Prince Hall received a charter from the Grand Lodge of England, the mother of all Freemasonry. In 1787, African Lodge No. 459 became African Lodge No. 1 with Prince Hall as its leader. The Masons were independent of the United Grand Lodge of England. They created separate jurisdictions comprised of mostly African American members. In 1791, the Prince Hall Grand Lodge was founded to govern the three then existing black Masonic lodges with Prince Hall as its first Grand Master, a position he held until his death in December 1807. Black Freemasonry evolved from the establishment of this Grand Lodge.

Due to prevalent racism and segregation in North America, it was impossible for African Americans to join most mainstream Masonic lodges until the late 20th century. Yet, because Prince Hall Mason lodges were African American, North American Grand Lodges denounced Prince Hall Lodges and Prince Hall Masons, deeming them illegitimate and refusing to recognize their authority. Until 1865 most Prince Hall lodges were in the North, but after the Civil War, black Masonry quickly spread across the South, often led by Northern-born Masons who became active in Reconstruction politics.

From Reconstruction until 1900, Prince Hall Masonry remained a highly prestigious but small fraternity. In the early twentieth century the membership rapidly expanded, lessening its exclusivity. Although all Masonic Lodges today are theoretically racially integrated, white Grand Lodges in Mississippi, Florida, Arkansas, Louisiana, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, and West Virginia still do not recognize Prince Hall Grand Lodge members as legitimate Masons. Nonetheless, the Prince Hall Masons include tens of thousands of black and some non-black members throughout the United States, Canada, the Bahamas, and Liberia."
-snip-
Pancocojams Editor's Note:
Men can be members of a masonic organization (and their female relatives can be members of their female affiliated organizations) without being students of a college / university.

In contrast, men or women can't be members of Greek letter organizations unless they are currently students of a college / or graduates of a college or university.

As documented by this showcased video and selected comments that are quoted in this pancocojams post, a man can be a Mason before he becomes a member of a historically Black Greek letter organization or afterwards.

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/02/general-information-about-prince-hall.html for a 2024 pancocojams post entitled "General Information About Prince Hall Masons & Prince Hall Shriners (2024 Update)"

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INFORMATION ABOUT PHI BETA SIGMA FRATERNITY
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phi_Beta_Sigma
"Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. (ΦΒΣ) is a historically African American fraternity. It was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C., on January 9, 1914, by three young African-American male students with nine other Howard students as charter members. The fraternity's founders, A. Langston Taylor, Leonard F. Morse, and Charles I. Brown, wanted to organize a Greek letter fraternity that would exemplify the ideals of Brotherhood, Scholarship and Service while taking an inclusive perspective to serve the community as opposed to having an exclusive purpose. The fraternity exceeded the prevailing models of Black Greek-Letter fraternal organizations by being the first to establish alumni chapters, youth mentoring clubs, a federal credit union, chapters in Africa, and a collegiate chapter outside of the United States. It is the only fraternity to hold a constitutional bond with a historically African-American sorority, Zeta Phi Beta (ΖΦΒ), which was founded on January 16, 1920, at Howard University in Washington, D.C., through the efforts of members of Phi Beta Sigma.

The fraternity expanded over a broad geographical area in a short amount of time when its second, third, and fourth chapters were chartered at Wiley College in Texas and Morgan State College in Maryland in 1916, and Kansas State University in 1917. Today, the fraternity serves through a membership of more than 200,000 men in over 700 chapters in the United States, Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. Although Phi Beta Sigma is considered a predominantly African-American fraternity, its membership includes college-educated men of African, Caucasian, Hispanic, Native American, and Asian descent. According to its Constitution, academically eligible male students of any race, religion, or national origin may join while enrolled at a college or university through collegiate chapters, or professional men may join through an alumni chapter if a college degree has been attained, along with a certain minimum number of earned credit hours.

Phi Beta Sigma is a member of the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC)"...

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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD ABOUT THE SIGMA WHO IS ALSO A MASON

From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnAwk7zgVVM
These comments are given in relative chronological order and are numbered for referencing purposes only 

1. @datguyro, 2011
"GOMAB Square!!!"
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"GOMAB" is a secret Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity reference. "Square" /G\ and light (that is found in a number of comments below) are Prince Hall Mason references. 

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2. @eternaldeacon, 2011
"Chills down my Sigma Spine - and saw that light my double brotha /G\......!"

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3. @bootloco, 2012
"So Mote It Be...Bruh.../G\"

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4. @dar2see1, 2012
"I see ya square......Travel light

Noble Sidewinder Miller......"

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5. @IAmYourVoiceover, 2012
"I see you Square #Mason"

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6.  @travelingman1914, 2012
"I see ya Frat with all that Light on!"

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7. @ohyrah, 2012
"I see your light.  To the east and skee wee!"

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8. @IAmYourVoiceover, 2013
"I see you Square /G\ - I'm a Brother of another Greek org, but I have a lot of love for this song"

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9. @jerryhenderson2657, 2013
"See you shining bro /G\"

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10. @buddieluve, 2013
"I see you Li/G\ht.."

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11. @charleswallace8693, 2014
"I see ya square."

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12. @camillegoode8222, 2015
"Greeting & Salutations my Masonic Brother. I saw your light on so I just wanted to say Howdy from the Great State of Texas."

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13.  @MasterTizzle318, 2016
"i see ya Square!!!"

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14. @thurmondsmith1476, 2016
"Where u hail square!!! lol"

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15. @MujahidAli-ve1sy, 2016
"I see you Square!!"

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16. @dred314stl. 2017
"I see you Square/ G\"

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17. @AlphaDoug1914, 2018
"GOMAB FRAT! I see you square!"

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18. @bobbyd.sykesjr.309, 2018
"I [emoji of two eyes open] you Squ/G\e, greetings from King Hiram #7 A.F.&A.M. Little Rock, Arkansas"

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19. @Sin-G, 2018
"/G\ Phi...I see you Square,  GOMAB'

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20. @patrickmcgowan1214, 2018
"Respect from a \G/ and Omega Gamma Delta!"

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21.  @thomaspressley6762, 2019
"I see you /G\ and frat. GOMAB!!!"

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22. @JCR888, 2019
"I see that light"

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23. @marvinmccoy8180, 2020
"I see you Square. Love it brothers"

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24. @baytowne, 2023
"I see you Double /G\OMAB

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25. @sedrickgibson1775, 2024
"2B1Ask1 /G\ My Brother I see your light 2024"

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