INSIDE THE SECRET SOCIETY

Eerie pics show abandoned Masonic church filled with rotting coffins and altars built for African-Americans banned from mixing with whites

CREEPY pictures show inside an abandoned black Masonic temple in the American Deep South.

The Coloured Masonic Temple in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, was built in 1922.

A dusty podium once used to make speeches sits disused inside this abandoned Masonic temple in the US

An empty coffin can be seen lying on the floor with its lid ominously open inside the seven-storey building

An old ornate piano sitting coated in dust looks like it has not been played for many years

A hub of activity throughout the period of racial segregation in the US, the building was used by African-Americans – who were banned from mixing with their white fellow-masons.
The seven-storey structure played a pivotal role in the civil rights movement across America throughout the first half of the 20th Century.
It was the longtime headquarters of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) and their legal team.
In 1956 the doors of the NAACP’s office were locked by order of Judge Walter Jones who banned them from operating in Alabama.
Following a long series of court battles, the organisation was finally allowed to operate from the building again in 1964 – eight-years after the original ban.
And it was a shelter for the period’s famed Freedom Riders – who defied segregation laws on interstate buses in the 1960s.

The temple also acted as a community business centre for black professionals and boasted facilities that were central to the city’s black community.
The huge building includes and a library, a 1,500-seat auditorium and ballroom.
But it has sat largely unused for years and has fallen into a state of disrepair since it was abandoned.
Eerie images show the dusty painted doors bearing the names of doctors who used to inhabit the building.

Old doors still bear the names of doctors who once had offices in the Coloured Masonic Temple

Black business owners like lawyers, doctors, dentists and others were once based in the building

An old room looks as if it was once used to hold meetings for members of the black masons

Once-grand decorations on the building's walls and ceilings bear the insignia of the Freemasons — Once-grand decorations on the building’s walls and ceilings bear the insignia of the Freemasons

An old portrait of Booker T. Washington, a famous black educator and advisor to the US president

Other creepy snaps show a dust-covered piano – and even an empty coffin lying on the floor with its lid ominously open.
An old portrait can also be seen adorning the wall, showing black educator and advisor to the president Booker T. Washington, after whom the building’s library is named.
The photos were taken by an urban explorer known only as Abandoned South East using a Canon T3i Rebel DSLR.

The huge seven-floor building boasts a library, a 1,500-seat auditorium and even ballroom

This booklet, dated from July 1953, bears the insignia of the masons

The temple acted as a business centre and featured facilities that were central to the city's black community — The temple acted as a business centre and featured facilities that were central to the city’s black community

Old style doors in the building have frosted glass windows in them with names overlaid

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BeulalandBlog

Wednesday 1 March 2017

Eerie pics show abandoned Masonic church filled with rotting coffins and altars built for African-Americans banned from mixing with whites

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