Prince Hall was born on September 12, 1748, in Bridgetown, Barbados. He was born to Thomas Prince Hall, an Englishmen, and a free black woman of French descent. In Barbados, the Hall family was a very well respected family and its members were known as “persons of excellent character.”

Prince Hall was seventeen years old when he arrived in Boston. Hall joined the Continental Army and was “one of a few blacks who fought at the battle of Bunker Hill.”

Hall was also known for his Lodge of Freemasons, the world's first lodge of black Freemasonry and the first society in American history devoted to social, political, and economic improvement of blacks. As master of the African Masonic Lodge, Prince Hall used his status to formulate and execute movements toward the political advancement and liberation of slaves. He is most notably linked to the drafting of Belinda Royall’s petition addressing the General Court in 1783. In addition, he drafted the 1777 petition for a Gradual Process of Emancipation for slaves and a 1787 petition For A Return to Africa Movement, as well as several others.

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