Maps

As a part of the research I am doing, I am in the process of creating a map showing locations for African American fraternal and benevolent lodges across the state.  I started it originally to keep track of the different lodges I was finding.  Zeemaps is a free service that allows you to build a map.  You can add as much or as little information to the pinpoints as you wish. I generally just add the name of the lodge, approximate location, and the source of my information.  For a handful of sites, I have uploaded a picture as well. I am way behind on the photo upload.

For many, many of the lodges (far more than I wish), I only have the name of the town in which the lodge was located.  That is certainly true for the GUOOF lodges, as I came across a history of the organization which listed every single lodge in the United States up through 1902.  The book is called The Official History and Manual of the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows and can be founded here on Google Books. Sources such as this have been incredibly helpful for documenting lodge numbers and town locations.

For some lodges, I was able to find an approximate location by using old Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps.  This maps occasionally label the African American lodges in a town.  Using the old map, would then look at modern maps and Google Earth to try to determine if the building still exists.  In some cases, such as the GUOOF lodge in Pulaski, I was fortunate to find the building.  Others are a matter of guesswork.  Others, such as Benevolent Hall in Nashville on South Cherry Street in 1888, no longer exist.

Cropped image from the 1888 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Nashville, Sheet 6b, Volume 1 showing the location of Benevolent Hall.

The  most frustrating part of doing this work is the way the landscape of Tennessee has changed over the last 100 years.  Urban renewal, TVA, and the demolition of older neighborhoods, particularly ethnic neighborhoods, have all contributed to the demolition of much of our historic fabric.  However, on the bright side, trying to find historic lodge buildings is a challenge, and I love nothing more than a good challenge.

Sons & Daughters of Cyrene

Front Page of the Constitution for the Sons and Daughters of Cyrene.  It was printed in Nashville in 1915 by the National Baptist Publishing Board.

I first stumbled across the Sons and Daughters of Cyrene a few years ago while going through a court file at the Rutherford County Archives. They were a successor group to the Working People’s Labor and Art Association (WPLAA), a benevolent group founded in Nashville in 1890. In c. 1914, the WPLAA decided to change their name to the Sons and Daughters of Cyrene (what that name signifies I am not sure), perhaps in part to attract a “higher” class of member. The decision split the WPLAA lodge in Murfreesboro, with the two sides suing each other for control of the lodge building (located on West Main Street) and the bank account. The two sides accused the other of no longer holding up the ideals of the organization, of drunkenness, and various other misdemeanors. Looking through the court file in the Rutherford County Archives, it appears this dissatisfaction with the name change was not confined to Rutherford County.

This week, the archivist at Rutherford County contacted me to let me know that he had found a constitution for the Sons and Daughters of Cyrene in a different court case. I had seen copies of the constitution for the WPLAA, but not the Sons and Daughters. When I told him that I had not, he scanned a copy and brought it over to me. Without the kindness and assistance of various archivists throughout the state, this research would be much harder.

The constitution for the Sons and Daughters of Cyrene is very similar to the constitution for the WPLAA. This came as no surprise, as the Sons and Daughters are the successor group to the WPLAA. The preface begins, "The Negroes of America have long felt the need of an Association whose principles would protect their social, moral, agricultural and commercial interests...The aim of the Association is to elevate, unite, and give employment to the Negro youth, to establish and encourage charitable undertakings, to encourage and foster trades, trade schools and any enterprise that will guarantee the Negro a livelihood, make his labor in demand in all avenues of life, and to be of practical utility to race and state." This fits very much into the self-improvement ethos of the early twentieth century, and has a Booker T. Washington-esque ring to some of the language.

Like most constitutions for benevolent and fraternal groups, much space is devoted to describing how the organization is to be governed and the by-laws of the group. While it does not provide a listing of the various Sons and Daughters of Cyrene lodges across the state, it does provide a great insight into the structure of the organization.

To qualify for membership, males had to be at least 16, of sound body and mind, and have good moral character. Female members must be at least 14, and also of sound mind, body, and moral character. Juveniles could join who were older than 3, and met the same criteria as adults. The insistence on being of sound body probably ties in to the sickness benefits paid by the group to its members.

Speaking of sickness benefits, they were not paid to the member if the illness was caused by alcohol. The constitution states, "No benefits shall be allowed him who disables himself by actual negligence or the use of alcoholic drinks on the part of the disabled member or for venerable [sic] diseases."

One interesting clause of the constitution dealt with employment. It reads, "It shall be the duty of every member to do what lies in his power to aid his brother when out of employment and help in other things which seem to aid in the development of the race."

As with several other African American benevolent groups, the Sons and Daughters of Cyrene are no longer in existence.

Introduction to the Constitution.