Alabama Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia : a Brief History.

ISBN:

9780761858157

Title:

Author:

Peebles, Marilyn T.

Personal Author:

Peebles, Marilyn T.

Publication Information:

Lanham : University Press of America, 2012.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (71 pages)

Contents:

Preface; Acknowledgments; Ch01. Founding of the Knights of Pythias; Ch02. Founding of the Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia; Ch03. Founding of the Alabama Grand Lodge; Ch04. Alabama Pythian sat the Turn of the Century; Ch05. Pythians' Supreme Court Fight; Ch06. Expansion of the National Organization; Ch07. The Era of Oscar Adams, Sr.; Ch08. The Pythians since World War II; Appendix. The Pythian Bathhouse; Bibliography; Index.

Local Note:

eBooks on EBSCOhost

Corporate Subject:

Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. Alabama Grand Lodge.

Subject Term:

African Americans -- Social life and customs.

African American fraternal organizations -- United States -- History.

SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Discrimination & Race Relations.

SOCIAL SCIENCE -- Minority Studies.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

http://ezproxy.angliss.edu.au/login?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&AN=634874

Publication Date:

2012

Publication Information:

Lanham : University Press of America, 2012.

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
305.896073 23	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

Bound With These Titles

On Order

Summary

The 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.

Author Notes

Marilyn T. Peebles is a professor of history at Miles College in Fairfield, Alabama. She is also a content consultant and lecturer for Teaching American History Grant schools.