Primus Hall

Primus Hall (February 29, 1756 – March 22, 1842) was born a slave. He was the son of Prince Hall, an abolitionist, Revolutionary War soldier and founder of the Prince Hall Freemasonry.

In 1798 he established a school for African American children in his home and after the school was moved to the African Meeting House, he raised funds until 1835 for the school. Like his father, he was a recognized leader in the African American community.

Having been given to Ezra Trask as a baby, he was also known as Primus Trask, but within the Boston community known to be the son of Prince Hall.

He was "bound out" to Ezra Trask, an Essex County shoemaker, as a baby or an infant. An arrangement was made to teach Primus to be a shoemaker, and at the age of twenty-one he was set to obtain his freedom. Instead, before that happened, due to diagnosed health issues Hall was given his "freedom with full liberty for me to transact any of all business of every kind." Until 1776 he worked as a truckman and farmer in the Salem, Massachusetts area.

He was a Revolutionary War soldier, having enlisted at the age 19 in the 5th Massachusetts Regiment. His father encouraged enslaved and freed blacks to serve the American colonial military. He believed that if blacks were involved in the founding of the new nation, it would aid in the attainment of freedom for all blacks. Although the colonial army did not initially accept African American soldiers, after the British Army allowed black men to join the army in exchange for their freedom, the Continental Army relented. It is believed, but not certain, that Hall's father was one of the six "Prince Halls" from Massachusetts to serve during the war.

Hall first went with the 5th Massachusetts regiment to Winter Hill, Massachusetts. There, his company "waited out the Siege of Boston." In New York, the regiment fought in the White Plains and Harlem Heights battles. They also fought in Trenton and Princeton, New Jersey. After one year, Hall re-enlisted and fought in Saratoga, New York and was there for the Surrender of General Burgoyne.

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