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Grand United Order of Galilean Fishermen

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The Grand United Order of Galilean Fishermen was an African American fraternal order founded in 1856. Open to both men and women, it provided members sick and death benefits.

History[edit]

The order was founded by Anthony S. Perpener, a Prince Hall Freemason and Grand United Order Odd Fellow, in Washington, D.C., in 1856.[1] Credit for founding the order is also given to Hemsley Nichols of John Wesley Methodist Church in Baltimore, Maryland.[2] The order claims a link to Scottish Rite Freemasonry.[1] It was one of the few fraternal orders open to both men and women in the nineteenth century.

The organization spread to Maryland in 1869 and became one of the largest African American fraternal organizations there with over 5,000 members in Maryland by 1890.[3] A Galilean Temple was built in Rockville, Maryland, in 1903 and established a cemetery in 1917.[3][4] A marker stands at the former location of the Temple.[5] The organization spread to Virginia in 1874 and established a bank and printing office in Hampton, Virginia, in 1901.[6] In 1885, the Fisherman's Hall was built in Charles Town, West Virginia, and is still in use today as a community center.[7] In 1902, the Order's Tabernacle No. 47 purchased a tract of land where the first Rosenwald School in Calvert County, Maryland, would be constructed in 1921.[8]

In 1897, there were 56,000 members and had a value of $125,000.[1]

Sketch of Navassa island (1889)

The order was a strong proponent of civil rights and in 1889, it raised funds to pay for the legal defense of the eighteen men convicted in the 1889 riot on Navassa Island.[9] The case, Jones v. United States (1890), went all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States. The case was lost, and the men were convicted of murder, but, due to organizing of Black organizations and communities, the sentence was commuted to prison time by President Benjamin Harrison.[10]

Symbolism[edit]

The emblems of the order include the fish, Passion cross, rose, and INRI of the eighteenth degree of the Scottish Rite.[1]

Further Resources[edit]

  • Grand United Order of Galilean Fishermen, Gideon Tabernacle, No. 14, Berryville, minute book, 19211934. 1 vol. Mss4G7629b at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture.[11]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d Stevens, Albert Clark (1899). The Cyclopædia of Fraternities; a compilation of existing authentic information and the results of original investigation as to more than six hundred secret societies in the United States. New York City: Hamilton Printing and Publishing Company. p. 235.
  2. ^ Skocpol, Theda; Oser, Jennifer Lynn (2006). "The Panorama of African American Fraternal Federations". In Skocpol, Theda; Liazos, Ariane; Ganz, Marshall (eds.). What a Mighty Power We Can Be: African American Fraternal Groups and the Struggle for Racial Equality. Princeton studies in American politics. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 35–37. doi:10.1515/9780691190518-005. ISBN 978-0-691-12299-1.
  3. ^ a b "Galilean Fisherman's Temple | Rockville, MD - Official Website". www.rockvillemd.gov. Retrieved 2024-07-03.
  4. ^ "Galilean Fishermen Cemetery, Montgomery Co., MD". www.usgwarchives.net. Retrieved 2024-07-03.
  5. ^ "Galilean Temple Historical Marker". www.hmdb.org. Retrieved 2024-07-03.
  6. ^ "Galilean Fishermen Consolidated Bank and Printing Office". Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved 2024-07-03.
  7. ^ "African American Heritage in Charles Town, WV". Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education. Retrieved 2024-07-03.
  8. ^ Kent, Michael Gayhart (2016-02-05). "The Common Good: Blacks in Secret Societies in Calvert County, Maryland". Our History, Our Heritage. Crownsville, Maryland: Maryland Historical Trust. Retrieved 2024-07-03.
  9. ^ The Navassa Island Riot. Baltimore, Maryland: The National Grand Tabernacle, Order of Gallilean Fishermen. 1889.
  10. ^ "Jones v. United States, 137 U.S. 202 (1890)". Justia Law. Retrieved 2024-07-03.
  11. ^ "Galt-Gwin". Virginia Museum of History & Culture.
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