2020 Grand Lodge Leadership Conference: Journey the Length of the Light

MUTUAL RECOGNITION IN D.C. 20 YEARS AND COUNTING

MWB Willie Griffin (left) shakes hands with MWB Mansour Hatefi after the historic mutual recognition document is signed.

A DINNER TO REMEMBER

By Justin Rattey, Worshipful Master Hiram-Takoma Lodge No. 10

WB Justin Rattey In the center of the Takoma Masonic Center’s (TMC) lodge room (as in many lodge) rooms, is a marble checkered floor. Surrounded by a sea of blue carpeting, these black and white tiles are easy to overlook, but they support the altar, upon which rest the Great Lights of Freemasonry. Those tiles also support the three Lesser Lights, and perhaps countless presenters, performers, and other guests visiting the TMC. You would be forgiven if you did not think twice about those marble tiles after visiting the lodge hall.

The checkered floor has a rich, esoteric meaning, described and explained to us through ritual. This article is not about that meaning. It is about a dinner held in the TMC on Thursday, March 25, 1993. That historic dinner, hosted by Most Worshipful Grand Master George R. Adams, helped pave the way for a different combination of black and white: the recognition between the Grand Lodge, F.A.A.M., of the District of Columbia (DCGL) and the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia (MWPHGLDC).

Like the tile floor of the TMC lodge room, the March 25 dinner is easy to forget. But neither should be forgotten. As the black and white marble tiles support many of the most important artifacts in Freemasonry, it was that dinner in 1993 that supported the eventual unity of black and white brothers here in the District of Columbia.

In 1993, Hiram-Takoma Lodge No. 10 was led by Worshipful Brother Todd Duerhing. WB Duerhing also worked in the Office of the Grand Secretary at the time. Answering the phones there, he was often the first point of