Description
Book SynopsisThe Knights of Pythias fraternal organization was founded in 1865 by an Act of Congress. When African American men were denied membership, they created their own organization in Vicksburg, MS, in 1880. Its founder, Thomas Stringer, believed that fraternal organizations could provide the black community with business networks, economic safety nets, and political experience at a time when Jim Crow laws were being constructed all around them. In Birmingham, Alabama, these Pythians became the cornerstone of an African American business community that included the first black-owned and operated bank in the state. They provided burial, life, and disability insurance for members and became a source of civic pride and racial solidarity. When their right to exist was challenged, they took the case to the Supreme Court in 1912 and won. This strategy would be used decades later in Brown v. Board of Education.
Trade ReviewIn this book, Professor Marilyn Peebles provides an accurate and concise history of the African American Knight of Pythias in the United States generally and in Birmingham, Alabama, particularly. The writing is clear and interesting. She has contacted the proper sources and thereby her research is excellent. I highly recommend it to persons who want an increased knowledge of the importance of fraternal organizations in the segregated African America community. -- Wilson Fallin, Jr., author of The African American Church in Birmingham and Uplifting the People:Three Centuries of Black Baptists in Alabama, professor of history, University of Montevallo
Marilyn T. Peebles has reawakened our memories of the Pythian purpose: The aim of the Pythian Order is to put into the home a good husband and father, into the community a good neighbor, and into the state a good citizen. -- Willie A. Casey, Deputy Supreme Chancellor for State of Alabama
Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgements Chapter I: Founding of the Knights of Pythias Chapter II: Founding of the Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia Chapter III: Founding of the Alabama Grand Lodge Chapter IV: Alabama Pythians at the Turn of the Century Chapter V: Pythians’ Supreme Court Fight Chapter VI: Expansion of the National Organization Chapter VII: The Era of Oscar Adams, Sr Chapter VIII: The Pythians since World War II Appendix: The Pythian Bathhouse Bibliography
