The Knights of Pythias fraternal organization was founded in 1865. African American men were denied membership and created their own organization in 1880. In Birmingham, Alabama, these Pythians became the cornerstone of an African American business community as well as a source of civic pride and racial solidarity.

The Knights of Pythias fraternal organization was founded in 1865 by an Act of Congress. When African American men were denied membership, they created their own organization in Vicksburg, MS, in 1880. Its founder, Thomas Stringer, believed that fraternal organizations could provide the black community with business networks, economic safety nets, and political experience at a time when Jim Crow laws were being constructed all around them. In Birmingham, Alabama, these Pythians became the cornerstone of an African American business community that included the first black-owned and operated bank in the state. They provided burial, life, and disability insurance for members and became a source of civic pride and racial solidarity. When their right to exist was challenged, they took the case to the Supreme Court in 1912 and won. This strategy would be used decades later in Brown v. Board of Education.

Large-format pictorial poster illustrating the people and places involving the Twenty-second Biennial Session of the Knights of Pythias. Includes a program of the week-long series of events, and portraits of Knights of Pythias African American and white officials: Sir S.W. Green (Supreme Chancellor), Honorable Ernest G. Tidrington (Supreme Vice Chancellor), General R.R. Jackson (Commander-in-Chief of the Uniform Rank), Sir Lee Crawford (Grand Chancellor for the State of New York), Brigadier General R.R. Johnson of New York, and Bessie R. Johnston (Grand Worthy Chancellor for the State of New York, and the only woman pictured). Includes illustrations of Harlem institutions involved: a proposed Pythian Temple for 144th Street and Lenox Avenue, Rush Memorial Church on 138th Street ("where the Supreme Lodge Session will be held"), Abbysinian Baptist Church (Temporary Headquarters), and the Mother Zion A.M.E. Church on 137th Street ("151-153 W. 136th Street, where Supreme Court Session will be held")