@Regrann from @carolinaoddfellows - “A leading principle of our Order is its firm hope in the future…looking forward to the time when love, not fear, shall rule the human breast…the #GrandUnitedOrderofOddFellows makes no discrimination.” –Charles H. Brooks.... Born in Paducah in 1859, Brooks grew to embody the very definitions of brilliance and success. He began teaching at age seventeen, and by the age of twenty-three had been appointed the principal of the Runkle Institute, one of the earliest state supported high schools for African-Americans in Kentucky. Seeking bigger challenges and opportunities, Brooks left Paducah in 1889 and moved to Washington D.C. to work in the Pension Bureau Office. While in D.C., he not only completed his degree in bookkeeping, but also entered law school at Howard University. Such was the respect for his character, that upon graduation from law school in 1892 he gained admission to practice before the Supreme Court of the District. Brooks served the #OddFellows for ten years, and followed that career by operating his own real estate and insurance firm in Philadelphia. He stayed socially active with organizations like the National Negro Business League and the Reliable Mutual Aid and Improvement Society. Brooks died in 1940 at the age of 81 and is buried beside his wife in Oak Grove Cemetery, back home in Paducah.....https://mclib.net/blogs/history/?p=573 #kentuckyhistory #Oddfellowship #3links #flt #GUOOF #guoofof #blackhistory -