Past Most Excellent Grand High Priests
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Rueben S. Mitchell (1897-1900) |
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L.J. Banks (1901-1904) |
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George W. Parker (1904-1905) |
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John G. Riley (1905-1953) |
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Fred Alexander (1954-1979) |
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Carey P. Bentley (1979-1980) |
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Cleveland J. Mackey (1980-1987) |
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Charles T. Maxwell (1988-1994) |
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Johnny McCray (1994-2003) |
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Carl Finerson (2003-2009) |
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Henry B. Parker, Jr. (2009-2014) |
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Eugene C. Johnson (2014) |
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Henry B. Parker (2014) |
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Lewis S. Thurston (2014-2018) |
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Enoch Mobley (2018-2021) |
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Walter P. Russell (2021) |
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Enoch Mobley (2021-2022) |
John Gilmore Riley was born in 1857, when slavery was a way of life and educational pursuits for blacks were illegal. In 1881 he began teaching at Lincoln Academy, one of three freedmen schools built during the Reconstruction era in Florida to provide secondary instruction to blacks. In addition to his career as an educator, he also distinguished himself as a leader in business and was Grand High Priest of the Royal Arch Masons of Florida. John G. Riley died in 1954. The house he built for his family in 1890 stands today as a testament to the rich, cultural heritage of African-Americans.