



A quietly historic event occurred this evening at Shades Valley Lodge No. 829 in Birmingham, Alabama. Brother Ronald King was raised to the sublime degree of a Master Mason.





No big deal, except perhaps for him, right? Happens every night in a lodge somewhere in the world.





Except that Brother King is the first man of color to be actually be initiated, passed, and raised in a lodge holden under the Grand Lodge of Alabama F&AM





According to the Shades Valley website, "The lodge was founded in September of 1921 and granted a charter December 1921. Since its inception, Shades Valley Lodge has been home to many of Birmingham, Alabama’s great men."





Those great men now include the current members and officers of that lodge for finally breaking the color barrier in one more grand lodge of the Old Confederacy. Shades Valley Lodge was already integrated, with several African American members who already held previous membership in other jurisdictions. But Brother King was the first to be IPR'd. Appropriately, the evening's visitors included Brother Victor Marshall and other members of Atlanta, Georgia's Gate City Lodge No. 2.





In this day and age it seems bizarrely anachronistic to announce events such as this, but Masonically, these brethren have indeed made an important step forward and shown others that the Earth did not stop turning on its axis, nor was the Moral Law broken in any way.





Congratulations to Brother King and his lodge brothers.



