Image of six rows of men and women sitting and standing in a meeting hall. Men in front holding a banner. Banner: YORK MASONIC GRAND LODGE B’HAM AUG.11.48. M.W.G.M.REV. W.L. TURNER (?) G. SECY. E.T. SWIFT. Date: 8/11/1948.

This image is one of 156 black and white photographs by R. Lee Thomas, an African American photographer active in the early twentieth century in the southern United States. Thomas’ work provides photographic documentation of southern black social life, primarily religious and labor groups, circa 1946-1949. The majority of the photographs depict groups from Birmingham, Alabama, and adjacent areas. His imprint contains the caption: Made by R. Lee Thomas, Mound Bayou, Mississippi, The Oldest Negro Town in America.