Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World

The Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World or IBPOEW is an African-American fraternal order modeled on the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. It was established in 1897. In the early 21st century, with 500,000 members and 1500 lodges in the world, the IBPOEW claims to be the largest black fraternal organization.

The Order claims descent from the Free African Society, the first formal black society in America, founded in 1787 as a mutual aid society by Absalom Jones and Richard Allen in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its formal organization as a separate Order, however, began in February 1897, when it was established in Cincinnati, Ohio, by city residents B. F. Howard and Arthur J. Riggs, a Pullman porter who had been born into slavery. The men had met in another association and wanted to establish a chapter of Elks; the white organization refused them admission. (Note: In 1972 the white-majority BPOEW opened admission to African Americans and other minorities.) Riggs had gained a copy of the BPOEW ritual and received the first copyright for it, establishing their organization in September 1898. This was a period of a rise in black fraternal associations, with men organizing to work in community and create strong networks.

The BPOE disputed their use of the ritual, but they held the copyright. In 1912 the Improved, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World was sued by the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks in the State of New York to keep them from using the "Elks" name. The New York Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the BPOE, Judge Barlett stating, "If the members desired the name of an animal there is a long list of beasts, birds, fishes which have not yet been appropriated for such a purpose." The decision was apparently ignored after the IBPOEW made a minor change in the letters on their seal.

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