Masonic Order of Liberia

The Grand Lodge of the Republic of Liberia is a fraternal organization based on the principles of Prince Hall Freemasonry.

Prior to 1980, its membership tended to consist of Americo-Liberians and it was influential within the ruling True Whig party from its founding until the coup of Samuel Doe in 1980, when much of its senior leadership was killed and the new military regime banned masonic activities in the country.

[3] In 1990, Samuel Doe in turn was murdered by Prince Johnson, one time ally of Charles Taylor, in an internationally televised display.

To prove that Doe was not protected by black magic, his ears were cut off, then some of his fingers and toes, and finally he was murdered by decapitation and buried (his body was later exhumed and reburied).

During the First Liberian Civil War, the Grand Masonic Temple in Monrovia was the scene of many battles,[4] and its ruins became home to thousands of squatters.