Reclaiming and Proclaiming Our HistoryMaryland’s Prince Hall Legal Pillars for Justice

Bro. George W. F. McMechen and Bro. William Ashbie Hawkins

R.W. Seymour E. Chambers, Grand Historian Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Maryland

Before Thurgood Marshall, Johnnie Co chran or Ben Crump, the Black citi zens of Baltimore had George W.F. McMechen and William Ashbie Hawkins as their legal defense team for civil rights. These two forgotten legal-eagles were among the first Blacks to practice law in the state of Maryland, and used their knowledge of the law to knock down barriers for Blacks in the early 1900’s. At a time when Blacks in Baltimore were facing legalized housing segregation, and overt racism, McMechen and Hawkins use the courts as the battlegrounds to ensure that Blacks and the disenfranchised could avail themselves of their Constitutional rights. Not only were they men of distinction, they were both Maryland Prince Hall masons. This article will discuss the life and times of Bro. George W.F. McMechen and Bro. William Ashbie Hawkins and their historic significance in Maryland Prince Hall masonry, and Black Maryland history.

land Bar. It was at this time that he met and opened a law practice with Bro. William Ashbie Hawkins. The two worked together until Hawkins’ death in 1941.

Bro. George W.F. McMechen was born on October 29, 1871, in Wheeling, West Virginia, the only boy of six siblings. Bro. McMechen has the distinction of enrolling in the first class of Morgan College, formerly the Centenary Biblical Institute, in 1891. Morgan College would later become Morgan State University. In 1895, he became the first graduate of the College, and would later enroll at Yale Law School, and graduate in 1899. After graduating, McMechen began practicing law in Evansville, Indiana. He married Ana Lee Mason in 1900, and from this union they birthed four daughters. The family decided to move to Baltimore in 1904, and McMechen was admitted to the Mary-

George W.F. McMechen , courtesy of https://medium.com/@authorkeg/a-learning-moment-71bdb9f15bed

W. Ashbie Hawkins, courtesy of https://www.wikitree.com/miki/Hawkins-14657

Bro. McMechen was not only a lawyer in the Baltimore community, he was one of the city’s civic leaders. In 1915, he ran for the 14th Ward of the Baltimore City Council as a Republican, but was not successful. He had the honor to hold the seat of the Grand Exalted Ruler of the Elks of the World in 1919, serving two terms in office. In 1921, he joined Morgan College’s Board of Trustees, serving in that position until the College was purchased by the State of Maryland in 1939. He also served on the board that had governing responsibilities over the Morgan Christian Center on the campus. Bro. McMechen became the first Black member of the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners in 1944, and served in that capacity for six years. Baltimore Mayor Theodore McKeldin appointed McMechen to the Advisory Committee to the Baltimore Charter Revision Committee. Bro. McMechen was also a member of Sigma Pi Phi, and Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. Bro. McMechen was a member of Enterprise Lodge No. 3 of the Most Worshipful United Grand Lodge F.& A.M. of Maryland, the precursor of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Maryland. McMechen served as legal counsel to the Grand Lodge during the administration of Most Worshipful Grand Master Joseph P. Evans. McMechen and Ashbie worked together on a case that was heard before the Maryland Court of Appeals on January 15, 1918. The case came from the Circuit Court No. 2 of Baltimore City, where the Worshipful and McMechen, with their office located at 327 St. Paul Street in Baltimore.

Master of Enterprise Lodge No. 3 of the Most Worshipful United Grand Lodge of F. & A.M. of Maryland, brought a claim against Grand Master Evans and the Grand Lodge for removing him from office. The Court ruled in favor of the Grand Lodge stating “Before a member of a benevolent or fraternal association can obtain redress through the courts from the action of the association, he must take an appeal to its governing or superior body according to the rules and regulations of the society” Worshipful Gd. Lodge, Etc. v. Lee, 131 Md. 681, (Md. 1918). Bro. McMechen has a high school and a street named in his honor in the City of Baltimore. In 1972, Morgan State University erected George W.F. McMechen Hall, which housed the Earl G. Graves School of Business.

Like Bro, McMechen, Bro. William Ashbie Hawkins was a mover and shaker in Baltimore law and politics. Born to the Rev. Robert Hawkins on August 2, 1862, in Lynchburg, Virginia, Hawkins would receive his undergraduate education from the Centenary Biblical Institute, in 1885. The Centenary Biblical Institute would later become Morgan State University. This would be one of a few connecting points between McMechen and Hawkins. Another connecting point between McMechen and Hawkins would occur on March 14, 1885, when Hawkins married Ada M. McMechen, George’s sister. For seven years (1885-1892) he taught in the public-school system on Maryland’s eastern shore.

To say that Bro. Hawkins was a civil rights trailblazer would be an understatement. In the early 1900’s he became involved in the Niagara Movement. This organization which was chiefly founded by W.E.B. DuBois, and would later become the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Hawkins served as the treasurer for the Niagara Movement, and would become the legal counsel for the Baltimore branch of the NAACP. During this time, Bro. Hawkins would also serve as the legal counsel for the Afro-American newspaper, which was owned and operated by John H. Murphy, Sr. At this point in his career, the masonic networking cannot be understated. W.E.B. DuBois was a member of Widow Son Lodge No. 1 from Connecticut, and both Hawkins and Murphy were members of Enterprise Lodge No. 3 of the Most Worshipful United Grand Lodge of Maryland.

This matter made national news and drew the attention of concerned whites in their efforts to restrict Blacks from housing opportunities in their respective communities. In a December 25, 1910, article in the New York Times, entitled Baltimore Tries Drastic Plan of Race Segregation, Bro. McMechen states:

“Bro. Hawkins would enroll in the University of Maryland School of Law in 1889, becoming one of the first four Black students admitted to the University. At the University he experienced severe racism and isolation by the white students, faculty and staff. Due to racial hostilities, students in the University’s dental, medical, and law schools petitioned the faculty to deny the admission of Black students. Citing concerns for the safety and welfare of the school, the dean of the Law School expelled Hawkins and the other Black students in 1890. He would go on to pursue his law degree at Howard University, and graduated in 1892. After obtaining his law degree, Hawkins did not immediately start practicing. Eventually, he was admitted to the Maryland bar on January 29, 1897. The third connecting point between Hawkins and McMechen took place in 1905, when the two lawyers came together to establish the law firm of Hawkins

The class of colored people in this block which has occasioned so much excitement is a most respectable one. Three of the houses are boarding houses, in which there are no boarders but female teachers in the public schools. The fourth is occupied by a clerk in the Post Office, who has been there twenty years. As far as being peaceful and lawabiding citizens, I challenge the rest of the block to show its superiority over those four colored families. We did not move up there because we wished to force our way among the whites; association with them in a social way would be just as distasteful to us as it would be to them. We merely desired to live in more commodious and comfortable quarters.

”Both McMechen and Hawkins would challenge the constitutionality of the City ordinance. On behalf of his client and brother-in-law, Hawkins sued Baltimore City. Not only