Join us  first Wednesday of every month at 1:30 PM for Senior Wednesday at the Museum of World Treasures!

Event Details

• Date: Wednesday, September 2nd, 2026
• Time: 1:30 PM
• Location: Museum of World Treasures [Get Directions]

Program Fee

• Museum Members: Free
• Non-Members: $4 +tax

Become a Museum Member

Attending Information

• Open to all ages
• No need to register; simply walk in!
• Light refreshments provided.

Talk title

Imperial Brothers: Freemasonry and Fraternity in the French Colonial Empire

Freemasonry, a fraternal order dedicated to ritualized friendship, moral discipline, and mutual aid, was a common feature of life in France’s colonies by the mid-eighteenth century. After providing an historical overview of Freemasonry in the French colonial empire, this talk explores how Freemasons attempted to reconcile their philosophy of universal fraternity with colonial racism, inequality, and difference. In the eighteenth century, Freemasons in the French empire largely supported slavery and limited masonic membership to elite white men. By the mid-nineteenth century, however, many masons had embraced abolitionism and begun to initiate men of color into the order. The talk traces this transformation and reflects on what it might teach us about institutional dynamics of inclusion and exclusion within and beyond Freemasonry.  

Speaker BIO - nOAH pINKHAM

Noah Pinkham is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Kansas where they research and teach the history of modern France and its colonial empire. Their current research explores how Freemasonry helped to sustain—and sometimes challenge—colonial hierarchies of gender, race, and class in the eighteenth and nineteenth-century French empire. Dr. Pinkham received their PhD in European History from Harvard University in 2025. They also hold an MA in History from Harvard University and a BA in History and French Language and Literature from Pomona College.