Featured Black Masons 1920's Jazz Club !

Dumas père's grandmother Marie-Cessette was an enslaved woman from what was then Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), and she was described as Black African so she may have been born in Africa. His grandfather Marquis Alexandre Antoine Davy de La Pailleterie was a jackass who, after deciding to go back to France, sold Marie-Cessette and her three other children (two of whom were his daughters) to someone else on the island.

Dumas père's father, General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, did not take his father's name (instead using what is thought to be a name representing his mother) because his father demanded that he not use it if he was going to join the army as a private and not an officer (black noblemen had a difficult time claiming rightful titles).

Alexandre Dumas père very much considered himself mixed race and famously laid out this sick burn against a racist:

"My father was a mulatto, my grandfather was a Negro, and my great-grandfather a monkey. You see, Sir, my family starts where yours ends."

Y'all can see why any American African decent man would be proud to be in a club with his name.

General Dumas' life was incredibly interesting as well. He may have been the inspiration for The Count of Monte Cristo and the musketeers in the D'Artagnan Romances.

 

Great information Mirana-You can see why any gathering place for African Americans would find the name 'Dumas' glorious in the title for a social gathering place.
I also think you're right about General Dumas being the inspiration for The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers-my lord,look at that painting,looks like an illustration out of one of his books.
Amazing lineage !

 

To be exact, The Musketeers were (loosely) based on real men and much is known about Captain D'Artagnan, but I imagine the personalities, adventure, and political intrigues borrowed from what young Dumas must have heard his father tell stories about.

 

We named our huge,deaf and very sweet white cat D'Artagnan. Many pure white blue-eyed cats are deaf, genetic I guess ?

 

Just got this response from the Director of Collections & Exhibitions
at the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum & Library-
Thursday, July 31, 2025 Hilary Anderson Stelling wrote:

''What a great image!
From the headgear most of the men pictured appear to be members of Menelik Shrine (or Temple), Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (now often called AEAONMS). The name was popular for AEAONMS, so there appear to have been/are several Menelik Shrines. In the back row there is one man wearing a fez for a temple called “_amal”. I can’t make out all of the letters on that fez, unfortunately. There was a Menelik No. 36 chartered in Oakland, California, in 1906 .

Dumas Club was new to me. From a quick look at some newspapers (newspapers.com), this name described a group associated with Black Knights of Pythias, specifically for members of the uniform rank of that group (you can read some more about that aspect of the group here). In the 1910s and 1920s there appear to have been Dumas Clubs related to Knights of Pythias in different parts of the country (you came across Oakland and Seattle, I found notices of clubs in St. Louis and Indianapolis).

It is possible that membership of a AEAONMS Menelik Shrine and Black K of P overlapped, so it is possible that the inscription on the back of the image refers to the men in the image, but some supporting evidence would be needed to solidify that idea. Another possibility is that someone misidentified the affiliation of the men in the photograph.

Speculating, I wonder if the image may have been taken to commemorating a new building or location. The number of men in the picture suggests a group of officers or a committee, but I don’t see any jewels of office, etc.

Thanks for sharing this great image—if you are ever thinking of donating it to a museum, we would love to hear about it!

All the best,Hilary''

More to investigate ! Any input @Debora and any others ?

 

How kind of her to respond. As a next step, I suggest you contact the Oakland Menelik lodge directly. The email address is: www.meneliktemple36@gmail.com

Debora

 

Absolutely Debora-She was quick and put some effort into it. It's lovely to get that kind of response from a curator.
Yep-Menelik Temple's my next stop and thanks for the address.

 

News-Just (very hesitantly!) peeled back the lower part of the pics mat and found a photographers logo-'Aiko Studio,Seattle,WA'. This was a Japanese owned studio opened in the early 1900's, it was located a 4 minute walk from the Dumas Club.
I tried to email Oakland Menelik lodge #36 and got the Failure-Daemon failure notice twice,I'll try a phone call later.

 

Did you see this?

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/early-1900s-cute-chinese-or-japanese-boy-aiko

Debora

 

Thanks Debora for that referral.I'd love to nail down an ID for just one of our gents.
Here's an exterior pic of Club Dumas I was able to run down.It was on the second floor-the entrance was the small door just to the right of the print shop.
I need to talk to some Seattle music history buffs to see if this early 'Ragtime' club had an earlier incarnation as a 'house club' in the owners residence ? That'd be more of a match to the residence in the pic.
PS-Notice the Japanese names in the businesses flanking the Dumas' entrance.

 

Early 1910's, the typeface is almost psychedelic ! The orchestra played what they called 'Creole & Whang Doodle' ?

 

Howlin' Wolf - Wang Dang Doodle

 

https://www.udiscovermusic.com/playlists/wang-dang-doodle-blues-for-beginners/

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whangdoodle_Entertainers

and maybe ...
https://syncopatedtimes.com/the-original-creole-orchestra/

https://www.facebook.com/UofTJazz/p...-johnson-james-palao-norwoo/2991097750960008/

 

Great stuff 2many & Roaring-The newspaper referenced above mentions that Whang Doodles first (listed) performance was at an 'Emancipation exercises' event at 'Afro American Hall' in 1907. Here's the clipping-

Now I have to find exactly where Afro-American hall was & when exactly it was built.This might (???) give some clues as to where the front/back porch of the house in the pic was located.