The Alabama Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia

Download or read book The Alabama Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia written by Marilyn T. Peebles and published by University Press of America. This book was released on 2012-08-16 with total page 71 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.