Born: ca. 1735

Education: Self-taught

Died: December 4, 1807, Boston, MA

Called “the most famous black in the Boston area during the American Revolution and through the turn of the nineteenth century,” Hall was a pioneer. According to The Official History of Freemasonry among the Colored People in North America (1903), a Boston leather-dresser owned him in the 1740s. He learned his master's craft, joined the Congregational church, and taught himself to read and write. His master emancipated him in 1770 for his “steadfast service.” Hall probably mustered in the Continental Army, but this is uncertain. Still, he married, opened a leather shop, and opposed slavery. He urged free blacks to lead in liberating and uplifting their race.

Hall stressed a need for “beneficial endeavors” alongside black churches. In 1775 the St. John's Lodge of Freemasons refused him membership on racial grounds. But a British Army local lodge allowed Hall and fourteen others to create African Lodge No. 1, officially chartered in 1787. As the Grand Master of colored masonry, Hall prioritized black freedom, entreating fellow masons to embrace abolition, literacy, religious salvation, and thrift. In 1808, honoring his pioneering leadership, northern Negro masons renamed themselves Prince Hall Masons.