List of North American ethnic and religious fraternal orders

Below is an annotated list of North American ethnic and religious fraternal orders.

Ethnic

African American African Blood Brotherhood Afro-American Order of Owls Afro-American Order of Red Men Christian Knights and Heroines of Ethiopia of the East and West Hemispheres - This organization was incorporated in the probate court of Mobile County, Alabama, in 1915. The unique name was noticed by several publications including Law Notes, the Sacred Heart Review and the Fortnightly Review.Sacred Heart Review New Series. vol. 54, no. 14, p. 221.Fortnightly Review Vol. XXII #21 November 1, 1913 p.660 Colored Brotherhood and Sisterhood of Honor - Founded in Franklin, Kentucky, in 1886 as a social and mutual benefit society. Listed in the 1890 census. Extinct by 1923.Preuss, Arthur, A Dictionary of Secret and other Societies. St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co. 1924 p.93 Colored Consolidated Brotherhood - a mutual benefit society headquartered at Atlanta, Texas. Listed in the 1890 censusPreuss p.93Stevens p.131 Fraternal Order of Hawks - Also called the Improved, Benevolent Order of Hawks, this was an African American order that may have been modeled on the Fraternal Order of Eagles. Known to be active in Virginia and Oregon.What to See and How to See it: Hand Book and Guide, Containing Valuable Information about Portland and Vicinity: Together with an Account of the Lewis and Clark Expedition Multnomah Print. Company, under auspices of Portland Chamber of Commerce, 1905 p.115Theda Skocpol et al. What a Mighty Power We Can be: African American Fraternal Groups and the Struggle for Racial Equality Princeton University Press, 2006 p.336 no.76 Grand United Order of Odd Fellows in America and the women's auxiliary, Household of Ruth Grand United Order of True Reformers - Founded in 1873 in Kentucky and Alabama, an African American fraternal organization that was White-led by the Independent Order of Good Templars. Grand Fountain of the United Order of True Reformers – Founded in c. 1875 in Richmond, Virginia, by the Rev. William Washington Browne.Axelrod p.17 It reached the 70,000 members by 1900, and by that time had also contributed $2 million in benefits and relief.Schmidt, Alvin J. Fraternal Organizations. Westport, CT; Greenwood Press 1980 p.333 Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Independent Benevolent and Protective Order of Moose Independent Order of Good Samaritans and Daughters of Samaria - Founded September 14, 1847, as a temperance order in New York City by I. W. B. Smith. It was an authorized branch of the white Grand United Order of Good Samaritans which had been founded that March. Had initiated over 400,000 members by 1897. It was described as having educational as well as mutual benefit aspects including sickness, death, disability, and old age benefits. In 1897 the Order had lodges in every US state and England. Its logo was a dove and olive branch enclosed in a triangle with the words Love, Purity, and Truth emblazoned on them. This symbolized perfection, equality, and the trinity. The Orders headquarters were in Washington, DC.Stevens pp.402-3 Improved Order of the Shepherds and Daughters of Bethlehem - Founded in 1910 in Richmond, Virginia. Independent Order of Immaculates of the United States of America - Founded June 23, 1872, in Nashville, Tennessee, by W. A. Hadley. Evolved from Young Men's Immaculate Association but was different in that it was patterned after secret fraternal orders and that it admitted men and women. Had about 5,000 members in 1897. Headquartered in Nashville.Stevens p.141 Independent Order of Saint Luke - Based in Richmond, Virginia. Had 49,498 members at the end of 1921.Fraternal Monitor Vol. XXXII #8 March 1922 p.18 Attempts to reach it in 1923 were unsuccessful.Preuss p.192 International Order of Twelve Knights and Daughters of Tabor Knights of Peter Claver - Founded in 1909 by members of Most Pure Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Mobile, Alabama, as a Black Catholic fraternal order, as Blacks were barred from the Knights of Columbus due to their race. Among the founders were The Rev. John H. Dorsey (the second Black Catholic priest ordained in the US), several White priests, and three Black parishioners. Knights of Pythias of North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia and the women's auxiliary organization, Order of Calanthe Mosaic Templars of America Order of Galilean Fishermen - Founded in 1856 in Baltimore, Maryland, by Hemsley Nichols. One of the oldest orders of its kind, by 1897 it was also one of the wealthiest with $125,000 in lodges, land, personal property and bonds. By that time it had 56,000 members in lodges "from New England to the Gulf." Men and women were admitted. The Order paid sick and death benefits which in 1897 were $5 per day for sickness and $300 to $400 for death. Claimed to be of Masonic origin, its emblem used a fish, cross rose and the letters INRI, similar to the 18th degree in Scottish Rite Masonry.Stevens p.235 Local lodges were called "Tabernacles."Preuss p.93 cites cyclopedia 2nd ed. p.235; La France antimaçonique Vol. XXVII #28 p.329 July 10, 1913 active into the 1980s.Alan Axelrod, International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders. New York; Facts on File, Inc. 1997 p.100 Prince Hall Freemasonry and the auxiliary groups, Prince Hall Order of the Eastern Star and Heroines of Jericho. Also, splinter groups such as National Grand Lodge Free & Accepted Ancient York Masons Prince Hall Origin National Compact USA Supreme Camp of American Woodmen United African Brotherhood - Organized in Clinton, Texas. Attempts to contact by mail in the late 1890s failed.Stevens p.192 United Brothers of Friendship - Founded August 1, 1861, by young local students in day or night schools. In 1868, on the advice of their teacher, W.H. Gibson, the society reorganized. Many chapters were formed in Kentucky, and a statewide Grand Lodge was formed in 1871. After establishing chapters outside Kentucky a National Grand Lodge was formed. W.H. Gibson served as the first State Grand Master for five years and as National Grand Master for four years. Unofficial female auxiliaries were called the Sisters of Friendship until 1878 when the organization formed the official Sisters of the Mysterious Ten, organized in local Temples. In 1878 the Order had about 4,000 members. That was the year they decided to establish another auxiliary, the Knights of Friendship, based on the story of David and Jonathan. In 1892 the UBF had 100,000 members in 19 states and 2 territories with 30,000 in Missouri alone. It was known to be active in Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Kansas, Colorado, Washington, Canada, the West Indies and Africa. While predominantly black, the order had white members. There was evidence that the Grand United Order of Odd Fellows had something to do with its founding.Stevens pp.288-9 United Knights and Daughters of America - Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Reportedly had many members in the Midwest. Attempts to contact the order in 1923 were unsuccessful.Preuss p.465 does not give any sources Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League

American Indian Alaska Native Brotherhood Brotherhood of North American Indians - Founded by Richard C. Adams of the Delaware Tribe of Oklahoma on December 5, 1911, in Washington, DC. Membership was open to people of Indian blood. Those married to Indians, the President of the United States, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and other public officials could become honorary members, without vote. The Brotherhood advocated giving Indians the right to vote and granting them citizenship, the placement of Indian children in public school, more Indians working at the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Indian representation in Congress. The national convention in Washington would elect 20 national chiefs, a Great Sachem, a Chief Historian, and a Great Chaplain.Crum, Steven. "Almost Invisible: The Brotherhood of North American Indians (1911) and the League of North American Indians (1935)". Wíčazo Ša Review, Vol. 21, No. 1 (Spring, 2006), p.44 The Brotherhood collapsed in 1913.Crum p.48 Daughters of Sacajawea - Organized in the 1920s, possibly as the New York City chapter of the Teepee Order of America. Both groups were founded by Red Fox Francis St. James, which created difficulties, as he was intolerant of Catholics and blacks, so Catholic Indians and those that had black ancestry opposed his groups. In 1926, Princess Chinquilla, a Cheyenne woman, was the "Great Sacajawea" of the group and worked with St. James to create an Indian cultural center in New York, but the project fell through.Todd Leahy and Raymond Wilson, Historical Dictionary of Native American Movements. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow p.46 Loyal Order of Tecumseh - Founded by Arthur C. Parker as a society within the Society of American Indians to provide a common ground for those with greater and lesser degrees of Indian blood. Members of the group held no voting privileges, so they could not affect the outcome of the parent group. The Order evolved into other fraternal groups during the 1920s.Leahy and Wilson p.100 Teepee Order of America - Founded in 1915 by Red Fox Francis St. James, an alleged Blackfoot Indian. Open to Indians and non-Indians from the US, Canada, and Latin America, it excluded blacks and European immigrants. Originally similar to the Boy Scouts of America in appealing to youth and "focusing on Indian activities and ceremonies that were romantic in nature." It was a Pan-Indian group, but not as successful as the Society of American Indians, though there was some membership overlap. It advocated for Native American citizenship and questioned the efficacy of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.Leahy and Wilson p.161

English Order, Sons of St. George - Organized after the Civil War by Englishmen in the anthracite coal-mining region of Pennsylvania to counter the Molly Maguires. The organization "took permanent shape" at Scranton in 1871. Membership was open to "Englishmen, their sons, and grandsons, wherever born". Beneficiary membership was limited to those between 18 and 50; those over 50 were allowed honorary membership. The Order required belief in a Supreme Being, reverence for the Holy Bible, and loyalty to one's adopted country. By 1896 the order had about 35,000 members in the United States, Canada, and Hawaii. Ritual based on the legend of St. George included a "language of words, signs and grips" that the member learned upon initiation which could identify him to other members of the order. The Orders emblem was St. George conquering the dragon. The system of sick benefits varied by the lodge and the inclination of members. There was also a funeral benefit for members and their wives and a benevolent fund for brethren and "any worthy Englishman in distress". Some lodges also provided physicians and medicine for sick members. There was also a female auxiliary, the Daughters of St. George, but it was not officially recognized by the Supreme Lodge. In 1923 the Order was accused of promoting pro-British propaganda in textbooks used in New York by a representative of Mayor John Francis Hylan.Preuss pp.380-1 Sons of England Benevolent Society - Fraternal order for Canadians of English descent.

French