Martin Delany, Unapologetic African
“I thank God for making me a man, but Delany thanks Him for making him a Black man.” — Frederick Douglass
James R. Morgan III is a graduate of Howard University where he majored in Mass Communications and Africana Studies. Mr. Morgan’s research primarily focuses on the African American fraternal experience in the nineteenth century and genealogy. He is a Prince Hall Freemason and currently serves as the Grand Historian & Archivist of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia. He is the Chapter Archivist for the James Dent Walker Chapter of the African American Genealogical and Historical Society (AAHGS), and a member of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALAH) as well as the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations and the Sons & Daughters of the United States Middle Passage Hereditary Society (SDUSMP). Mr. Morgan is seated on the Advisory Board of the Bishop Henry McNeal Turner Project, a digital humanities project dedicated to the study of its namesake. Mr. Morgan has spoken at several major conferences including the International Black Genealogy Symposium, AAHGS National Conference and RootsTech.
He has penned and contributed to several published works including his highly acclaimed debut book The Lost Empire: Black Freemasonry in the Old West (1867-1906) which was awarded the 2019 Dr. Charles H. Wesley Medal of History, the 2020 Phillis Wheatley Book Award for Non-Fiction Biography and the 2021 International AAHGS Book Award for Regional History. He has also served as an editor and consultant for several other book projects pertaining to African American fraternal history. Mr. Morgan can be found on YouTube as a panelist on both “The Prince Hall Think Tank” and “Black Pro Gen Live”. He currently serves as the Curation & Programming Consultant with the African American Civil War Museum. He is currently pursuing a Master of Arts from the African American Studies Program at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland where he also serves as a Graduate Research Assistant.
“I thank God for making me a man, but Delany thanks Him for making him a Black man.” — Frederick Douglass
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