American Fraternal Alliance

The American Fraternal Alliance (AFA) is an umbrella group of fraternal orders in the United States. It was founded as the National Fraternal Congress of America in 1913, in Chicago[1] and adopted its current name in 2011.[2]

History

The origins of the AFA go back to November 17, 1886 when a congress of sixteen fraternal orders representing 535,000 members met in Washington DC. The original meeting was called by the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the pioneer fraternal insurance society, to establish uniform insurance legislation in all states. The meeting formed a permanent organization, the National Fraternal Congress.[3]

On March 21, 1901 several fraternal orders created the rival Associated Fraternities of America in Chicago.[4] It was created "as a protest against the workings" of the NFC. The two groups re-merged in 1913 as the National Fraternal Congress of America.[5][6]

Another group the competed with the NFC for a time was the American Fraternal Congress, which was organized in Omaha, Nebraska in 1898. This group differed from the NFC in that it only allowed orders that had adopted the legal reserve system to be members.[7]

The NFC adopted a Uniform Bill for state insurance regulations in 1893. In 1910, with the assistance of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners it promulgated the Mobile bill, which was modified in 1912 as the New York Conference bill. It also created a mortality table in 1899.[8]

Publications

The NFC published a magazine, Fraternal Monitor and an annual Statistics, Fraternal Societies.[9]

Membership

The current members of the AFA include:[10]

And in Canada:

See also

References

  1. Alan Axelrod International Encyclopedia of Secret Societies and Fraternal Orders New York; Facts on File, inc 1997 p.179
  2. Milestones in History
  3. Alvin J. Schmidt Fraternal Orders (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press), 1930, p. 82.
  4. Schmidt p.46
  5. Milestones in History
  6. Aexlrod pp.24, 179
  7. Schmidt p.46
  8. Schmidt pp.226-7
  9. Schmidt p.227
  10. Member Societies
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