The Knights of Peter Claver organization was founded in 1909 in Mobile, Alabama. It is the largest African American Catholic lay organization in the United States. The organization was founded by the Josephites, a Catholic order whose mission was to serve Catholic African Americans. Josephite leaders were concerned that the Church would lose its African American members to other organizations, such as the Elks and the Masons, who had black lodges, if they did not have their own fraternal Catholic organization. By 1910, the Knights of Peter Claver had branches in Norfolk and Richmond, Virginia; Nashville, Tennessee; and several towns in Mississippi. They later spread to the North as well and became a national presence by 1946. The Knights were not initially active in the fight to desegregate the Catholic Church. One man, Marcellus Dorsey, was expelled from the order when he wrote articles criticizing racial segregation in the Church. By 1939 the Knights began to oppose segregation. They created a committee to support black priests and refused to send black priests to Africa, instead wishing to keep them in the United States to support the domestic black Catholic community. During the civil rights movement, the Knights also worked with … Continue reading Knights of St. Peter Claver (1909- )