I challenge all Alpha Kappa Alpha (AKA) Sorors to go back to your roots, The Order Of The Eastern Star (O.E.S.). We are being overwhelmed by those “Finer Women” of Zeta Phi Beta, lol. We are the “First” We should be trendsetters; our sorority may not be what it is today, but for our Sisters and Brothers of The Masons and O.E.S.
Our ancestors hid out in those lodges and learned to read and write so that they could impact the future of our Race.
I need my Sorors to support the Order. We are the first of all female Sororities; yer, we are least represented and direct products of the first, Heroines of Jericho (HOJ) and O.E.S. orders established for women to enjoy the benefits that were already being enjoyed by “all white.”
Female Sororities. Our youth need you. All little girls are important whether they are 4.00 or 2.00 g.p.a. AKA sets the standards; our youth needs us. I challenge my Alpha Brothers to go back to their Roots. Your entire community of young people needs you!
Your Roots are Thurgood Marshall, Prince Hall, and Many others who were Master Masons.
The Son of A Carpenter gave His life for all mankind, not just gifted men and men and boys with a 3.5 GPA but all humankind. Jesus valued vocational scholars if he was a Carpenter’s Son.
Our “Let’s Work Workshop” woke this up in me. We give scholarships in support of children who excels in Academics, but we have students with God-given talents who are being left behind.
Thank You to(JGC) Jerusalem Grand Chapter, OES, PHA – FL, for honoring students who need help to attend two-year or vocational schools; these are just as important. JGC, you set the standard for the scar once again to include all of God’s Children.
Today, December 30, 2022, I challenge my Sorority to once again be the 1st of the Devine Nine to offer opportunities to assist children in the community to attend vocational programs and two-year college students in your community.
Encourage our pearls who may just want to be a secretary, a mortician, etc. Finally, my Devine 9 Sorors and Brothers, O.E.S., are being invaded by the Zeta Phi Betas.
My Dad shared with me how his mother died in her early thirties when he was 11 years old and how his four brothers and one sister were raised by their grandmother and his Aunts because their grandfather died young and their dad went off to war. My Dad said, “Daughter, it was Master Masons and Eastern Stars who taught us to read.
People of Color in America were not permitted to learn to read publicly. He said if it were not for my Uncle Steve Bright and my cousin, Red Piner, Gilbert Mack, and many others who were Master Masons in Ocala, Florida, I would not be the successful man that I am today. If your grandfather had not left Ocala and gone to New York to be free to earn wages for his family in the South, I would not be successful.
Master Mason’s Dad said, “Provide a place for us to hide and learn to read; I would not have been retired from the Army and retired from Chrysler.”
I was 19 years old, Dad said, married and stationed in Charleston, South Carolina, on the Navy Base. Joining the Order of The Eastern Star after being a starlight as a child, I knew I was all that. I started college because of all the role models in my life. I called my father in Detroit to tell him, Daddy, I am an Eastern Star. His first question to me was, what is the name of your grand lodge?
He said, daughter, you are on the wrong side of the fence; you must correct that immediately. I said Dad, what are you talking about? He said no problem; someone will contact you; you must get this right. I am sending you copies of my information; when they contact you, you give them copies of these documents, and they will guide you from there.
He shared with me that his grandfather had escaped Rosewood to Daytona Beach, Florida, because of PRINCE HALL MASTER MASONS. Florida, he said, was poisoned with hatred, and the Brothers identified the “Uncle Toms” ( Brothers of brown skin who were selling them out to the white slave owners that men and women were hiding and learning to read) being a person who loved history, I became very interested in what my Dad had said to me, I knew that I had to abandon international masonry and join the Eastern Star under my father who was a Prince Hall Mason. For 45 years, I have followed in my father’s footsteps. I support Prince Hall because he is the reason I enjoy the fruits of my Dad’s labor. My Dad, on his deathbed, said to my husband, you are not just a son-in-law; you are a son, you are my brother; thank you for taking care of my daughter. She has strong genes like her grandmother. Her grandmother was part Indian and part African, which is a strong combination. She is smart, strong-willed, gifted, and relentless about her faith. You balance her out. He said I am ok leaving her with you.”
He said, “You took care of her and have been by her side throughout this process; you are my Brother. That one is just like her mother, smart and fierce.” I walked away crying. I knew his death was imminent.
After my father slept away to be with the Lord at the age of 90, almost five years ago, my husband told me, “Your dad told me the story of how Masons made him a better man.” He told me your father deserves his Masonic Rites, but your mom would not give the Brothers time to finish it. She rushed the funeral, which was too close to Christmas; the Brothers were unavailable.
One Day, my Dad will receive his final rites as a Master Mason. He loved the Lord; He attributed all of his success to Prince Hall Masonry.
I will always support my PHAmily, honoring my Prince Hall Masonry Ancestry. The Masonic Craft is in my bloodline; it is my heritage. If any of you check, you will find the link to your lineage that supports a story like mine. I do not care what the Divine 9 says; as enslaved people, people born in America without Prince Hall Masonry, we would not enjoy the luxuries we do today. Free black men led slaves to the halls and other secret places so that they could learn to read. What my Dad said to me is my foundation and his truth.
My sources are and were real-life Master Masons who have been through the rinks so that I can be me. Unapologetically Raw! As my Brother Terry Weems says, this is Nasty But Necessary.