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Record Group Number: 900000
Series/Collection Number: N2016- 2
Creator: Riley, John G. 1857-1954.
Title, Dates: John G. Riley Masonic charters, 1887, 1902, 1908, 1946, 1974.
Amount: 5 items
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Organization/Arrangement: Chronological.
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Biographical/Historical:     John Gilmore Riley (1857-1954) was a prominent educator and civic leader in Tallahassee, one of the few African Americans in the city to own property at the turn of the 20th century. Barred from most educational institutions due to his race, Riley was educated by his Aunt Henrietta and became a teacher in Wakulla County in 1877. From 1893 until his retirement in 1926, Riley served as principal of the Lincoln Academy (later Lincoln High School), the first high school in Tallahassee for Black students. Riley worked with the NAACP advocating equality and justice for African Americans and protesting lynching throughout the south.

    As documented in the original Masonic Charter, members of the Most Excellent Union Grand Chapter Holy Royal Arch Masons of Florida (a national African American fraternal organization) convened on February 15, 1902, and established the St. James Chapter Number 26 as a subordinate of the Grand Chapter in Tallahassee, selecting Riley as its first Most Excellent High Priest. Riley held the position for 45 years.
Summary:     The collection contains Masonic charters issued to John G. Riley. The first, dated February 15, 1902, validates his election as the first Excellent High Priest of St. James Chapter Number 26. A second charter establishes the Venus Court No. 65 of the Heroines of Jericho, which is an honorary or side degree conferred on Royal Arch Masons, their wives and daughters, in 1908. Two charters are Letters Patent of Perpetual Constitution, which established the John G. Riley Consistory, No. 207 in 1946 and reorganized it in 1974.
Finding Aids: Folder listing available. 0
Additional Physical Form: The 1887 charter has been digitized and is available on the Florida Memory web site: https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/341153
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Electronic Records Access: https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/341153
Subject Access Fields: Riley, John G. 1857-1954. (John Gilmore),
Freemasons
Royal Arch Masons.
Freemasonry Lodges Florida
Charters. aat
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