Notable Masons

Athletics

Jesse Owens, Olympic Champion; King David Lodge No. 100, Illinois
Ralph H. Metcalfe, Olympic Champion
Scottie Pippen, NBA Champion
Sugar Ray Robinson, Boxing Champion
Shaquille O’Neal, NBA Champion; Widows Son Lodge No. 28, Boston
Marshall Faulk, NFL Player/Hall of Fame; Southern Cross Lodge No. 112, East St. Louis (IL)
Vincent Jackson, NFL Player & son of Most Worshipful Grand Master Terence Jackson Mountain Post Military Lodge No. 26, Colorado Springs

Civics

Julian Bond, NAACP National Chairman; St. James Lodge No. 4, Atlanta
Thomas Bradley, Mayor of Los Angeles, California
Emanuel Cleaver, Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri; Eureka Lodge No. 170, Kansas City (MO)
Dwight Evans, PA State Representative; Star in the East Lodge No. 55
Medger Wiley Evers, NAACP Field Secretary
Chaka Fattah, Congressman; Light of Elmwood Lodge No. 45, Philadelphia
Wilson Goode, First Black Mayor of Philadelphia; Sons of Light No. 120; Philadelphia
Augustus F. Hawkins, US Congressman California
Benjamin L. Hooks, Former Executive Director NAACP
Vincent J. Hughes, State Rep. 1987 – 1994, Senator 1994 – present; Mt. Lebanon Lodge No. 9, Philadelphia
Rev. Jesse Jackson, Civil Rights Activist; Harmony Lodge No. 88, Chicago
Kweisi Mfume, Former President and CEO, NAACP; Mount Olive Lodge No. 25, Baltimore
Charles B. Rangel, US Congressman, New York; Joppa Lodge No. 55, New York City
Rev. Al Sharpton, Civil Rights Leader; Jurisdiction of New York
Carl B. Stokes, First Black Elected Mayor, Cleveland, OH
Louis Stokes, US Congressman Ohio
John Street, Mayor of Philadelphia; Philadelphia Lodge No. 74, Philadelphia
Michael C. Watson, President & CEO, Absalom Jones Foundation
Lawrence Douglass Wilder, First US Black Governor, Mayor of Richmond, VA; East End
Lodge No. 233, Richmond.
Andrew Young, U.N. Ambassador, U.S. Congressman, Former Mayor of Atlanta; St. James Lodge No. 4, Atlanta.
Wellington Webb, Former Mayor, Denver, CO; Mt. Evans Lodge No. 7, Denver.
Nelson Mandela, South African President, Nobel Peace Prize; Nelson Mandela Lodge #843, Cape Town (South Africa)
John Lewis, congressman, civil rights leader, original “Freedom Riders”; H. R. Butler Lodge No. 23 in Atlanta.

Civics

James Forten, Abolitionist/Manufacturer
Richard D. Gidron, President, Dick Gidron Cadillac
Thurgood Marshall, Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court
A. Phillip Randolph, Founder/ First President, International Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

Education

W.E.B. DuBois, Educator/Author/Historian
Benjamin Mays, Educator/Former President Atlanta University
Booker T. Washington, Educator/Founder Tuskegee Institute
Charles H. Wesley, Educator/Author/Historian

Entertainment

Egbert Austin “Bert” Williams, Actor/Comedian
Richard Pryor, Comedian; Richard Brown Lodge No. 22, Peoria, IL
Nat King Cole, legendary jazz musician
William “Count” Basie, Orchestra Leader/Composer
James Herbert “Eubie” Blake, Composer/Pianist
Nathaniel “Nat King” Cole, American Pianist and Singer
Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington, Orchestra Leader/Composer
Lionel Hampton, Orchestra Leader/Composer
William C. Handy, Composer

Exploration

Matthew Henson, Explorer

Freemasonry

Samuel T. Daniels, Grand Master of Maryland for Three Decades
A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. 33°, Campbell-Wash-Joppa Lodge No. 37, Philadelphia
Harry A. Williamson, Author/Masonic Historian

Religion

Richard Allen, Founder/First Bishop, AME Church
Elijah Muhammad, Founder of the Nation of Islam

Literature

Timothy Thomas Fortune, Journalist
John H. Johnson, Publisher EBONY and Jet Magazines
Robert Sengstacke Abbott, Founder/Publisher of the Chicago Defender
Alex Haley, Author of Roots

Military

Daniel “Chappie” James, Jr., General U.S. Air Force

Masonry is the world’s wide fraternal organization. It is based on the belief that each man has a responsibility to help make the world a better place.