Grand United Order of True Reformers
Grand United Order of True Reformers was an African-American fraternal organization founded in 1873 in Alabama and Kentucky. Originally managed by deputies of the all-white, pro-temperance organization, the Independent Order of Good Templars, the Grand Fountain of the United Order of True Reformers, or the True Reformers, was re-organized c. 1875 by William Washington Browne in Richmond, Virginia. This organization existed as a business and a mutual-aid society during the era of Jim Crow segregation laws, and it supported the growing African-American middle class through economic opportunities and education, before its closure in 1934.
True Reformer Building, 1200 U Street Northwest in Washington, District of Columbia, D.C.
William Washington Browne
Rev. William Washington Browne was American Union Army soldier, and the founder of the Grand Fountain of the United Order of True Reformers. Browne was also a former slave, minister, and a teacher.
Portrait photograph of William Washington Browne