Hall, Prince

HALL, PRINCE. (1735?–1807). Abolitionist. Born in Bridgetown, Barbados, perhaps in 1735, Hall—though the son of an English artisan and a free black woman—was a slave of William Hall. In 1752 he went to Boston, joining the Congregational Church and gaining his official freedom in 1770, whereupon he opened a leather shop. In 1775 Hall and fourteen other African Americans organized a Masonic lodge in Boston, Hall serving as its "worshipful master" until his death. During the Revolution, Hall made leather drumheads for the Continental army, probably serving briefly as well, and he spoke out often in favor of the abolition of slavery. Hall and seven other African Americans petitioned the Massachusetts assembly in 1777 to end slavery in their state, pointing out the obvious hypocrisy of fighting for freedom while preserving slavery. The petition was sent on to Congress, which ignored it. During Shays's Rebellion in 1786, Hall's Masonic lodge volunteered to raise a militia company to aid the state in putting down the western Massachusetts uprising. Governor John Bowdoin, however, refused their offer. The following year Hall led a petition drive requesting the state to pay for black emigration to Africa, arguing that African Americans could never enjoy freedom in America. Again, Hall was ignored.

In 1788 Hall finally received a positive response to one of his petitions when he and his lodge, supported by Quakers and several clergymen, protested the abduction of free blacks by slave traders operating in Boston. With surprising speed, the state assembly banned the slave trade in Massachusetts in March 1788 and the state successfully negotiated the release of the kidnapped freemen from the French West Indian island of St. Bartholomew. Hall's petitions consistently threw the ideals of the Revolution back at the state's leadership, as when he pointed out in 1787 that, although they paid taxes, blacks did not have access to many public institutions, including the schools. In 1796 Hall opened a school for black children in his home to meet their educational need. Hall died in Boston on 4 December 1807.

SEE ALSO African Americans in the Revolution.?

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Wesley, Charles H. Prince Hall, Life and Legacy. Washington, D.C.: United Supreme Council, 1977.