Alabama Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia
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A01=Marilyn T. Peebles
Author_Marilyn T. Peebles
Category=JBSL
Category=JBSY
Category=NHK
Category=NHTB
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eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Product details
- ISBN 9780761858140
- Weight: 249g
- Dimensions: 158 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 17 Aug 2012
- Publisher: University Press of America
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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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.
Marilyn T. Peebles is a professor of history at Miles College in Fairfield, Alabama. She is also a content consultant and lecturer for Teaching American History Grant schools.
