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[[image - black & white head shot of Alvin Reno, Imperial Auditor]]

[[image - black & white head shot of Le Roy Nichols, Imperial Auditor]]

[[image - black & white head shot of Melvin Anderson, Jr., Imperial Auditor]]


     A thumbnail sketch of Shrine history

On June 2, 1893, Palestine Temple was instituted as the first Temple in the Grand Council which was instituted and organized.

On June 10, 1893, Rofelt Pasha, an Arabian Prince in company with other oriental visitors, acting in accordance with a special deputation, caused illustrious John G. Jones to cross the HOT SANDS and conferred on him the SHRINE DEGREE, with power and authority to set up Temples and confer the degree of the Order.

From that date to September 1899, the history of the Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order Nobles Mystic Shrine is quite vague, with the exception that John G. Jones had an encounter with the United Supreme Council, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite for the Southern Jurisdiction and Symbolic Masonry in the jurisdiction of Illinois that resulted in his expulsion and the call of reorganization, issued by Isaac Holland of Pyramid Temple in September 1899.

With the reorganization, the Order was incorporated on November 13, 1901 and a charter issued in Washington, D.C. The formal reorganization had been accomplished at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania with representatives from Pyramid Temple, Pittsburgh, Pa., and about one hundred other delegates.

We have grown from seven to one hundred and eighty-six Temples. Even though our spirit was dimmed in 1916. When State and Federal Courts in Texas, Arkansas and Georgia issued permanent injunctions against our Order of the Mystic Shrine. The injunctions ofrbade [[forbade]] Negroes to were the fez, jewels and emblems of the Order.

Those old Nobles, however, had the fortitude and tenacity to take their case to the United States Supreme Court and on June 5, 1929, Justice Vandeventer read a unanimous decision of the Court, which struck down the injunctions and permitted Negroes to continue to practice Shrinedom without interruption from others. 

This nonprofit, fraternal Order has grown to over thirty-five thousand members with the organization of the Auxiliary Court of Daughters of Isis, constituted on August 27, 1926 under the Honorable Caesar R. Blake, Fr., Imperial Potentate.

We are extremely proud of our heritage of being non-violent and a benevolent, and progressive group of Nobles and Daughters spreading charity across the land in the millions of dollars each year. 

The present Imperial Potentate is John W. Edghill, the twenty-first Noble to head this Order, being elevated in 1972 in Washington, D.C.

The Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order Nobles Mystic Shrine of North and South America and its jurisdiction is incorporated as a charitable and fraternal organization.

The major programs of the order are those of service and benevolence.

The Ladies Auxiliary, The Daughters of Isis, is also a fraternal and charitable organization whose membership is composed of wives, widows, dauthters [[daughters]] and sisters of Shriners.

The Red Fez worn by Shriners is an old Afro-Arabic symbol of learning and prominence. Shriners wear several types of colorful regalias on parades and other occasions.

One of the pet projects of the Shrine is the Tuberculosis and Cancer Foundation, which was established in 1948. To date the Shriners have contributed some three million dollars to this Foundation, which has enabled it to make yearly grants to colleges, hospitals and research centers, for research in medicine, Tuberculosis and Cancer.

Another enthusiastically supported project of the Shriners is their Shrine Talent Scholarship Program established in 1950. Well over $200,000 has been raised by the Shriners for the purpose of assisting young people pursue higher educational levels. 

Shriners have also contributed over $100,000 to the Prince Hall Shriners Leagl [[Legal]] Research Fund for assistance to the NAACP. The Shriners have also given in excess of $20,000 to the United Negro College Fund, over $25,000 to the American Cancer Society, and $5,000 to the Urban League. They have also given well over $25,000 to NSSFNS, to assist college students in their educational careers.

The local programs of the Shriners is to support all programs of the National Order and to participate fully in the civic, political and social programs of their respective communities.

A must in local Shrinedom is qualifying and registering ourselves and five additional persons previously not qualified to become a voter.

The Mystic Shrine is actively engaged in Youth Programs in local communities, fighting drug addiction, drug abuse, crime and delinquency.

To help the economic growth and ecomony [[economy]] of the Black entrepreneur, the A.E.A.O.N.M.S has well over $200,000 on deposit in fifteen Black owned and operated Banks throughout the United State [[States]].

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ARABIC ORDER
NOBLES OF THE MYSTIC SHRINE


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