James R. Morgan III

James R. Morgan III is a graduate of Howard University in Washington, D.C. where he completed his undergraduate studies in Communications and Africana Studies. He is the recipient of the 2019 Dr. Charles H. Wesley Medal of History and the 2020 Phyllis Wheatley Book Award for Non-Fiction Biography. James is an active Prince Hall Freemason and as such he serves as Worshipful Grand Historian & Archivist of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of the District of Columbia. He has authored several scholarly writings on African American Freemasonry, fraternalism, and genealogy. He is also an Honorary Fellow and Life Member of the Phylaxis Research Society which body named him their “2022 Man of the Year”. James is an experienced genealogist and is a member of the James Dent Walker Chapter of the African American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS). He has presented at the 2016 International Black Genealogy Symposium and the 2019 National Conference of AAHGS. James serves as a member of the Advisory Board of the Bishop Henry McNeal Turner Project, a digital humanities project documenting the life and legacy of the project’s namesake. He is the author of the award-winning book: The Lost Empire: Black Freemasonry in the Old West (1867-1906). James was named as one of the first (of three) awardees of the inaugural Paul E. Sluby Sr. African American Scholarship by the Board for Certification of Genealogists. He is currently employed with the African American Civil War Museum as the Curation & Programming Consultant in Washington, DC, and a Senior Consultant with the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina. He is enrolled at Morgan State University in pursuit of a Master of Arts Degree in African American History.