Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-24-2017
Department 1
Civil War Era Studies
Abstract
"On last Wednesday night, Lincoln's Birthday," the Star and Sentinel reported in 1908, "a colored lodge of Elks was instituted in Xavier Hall this place with 45 members." The Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World was originally formed as an African-American fraternal organization in the 1890s after a white elks lodge in Philadelphia denied local black men membership. By 1908, the organization was quickly working its way through Pennsylvania. And now Gettysburg had "Colored Elks," working as a social safety net for the black community of the Third Ward. They provided aid to the sick and the grieving, loans and death benefits. (excerpt)
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Recommended Citation
Rudy, John. "Historical Society has tools to dig deep." Gettysburg Times (July 24, 2017). pp. B6.
Included in
African American Studies Commons, Public History Commons, Social History Commons, United States History Commons
Comments
This article appeared in the Gettysburg Times as part of the Adams County Historical Society's "Historically Speaking" column, July 24, 2017.