Editing Order of the Eastern Star (section)

==History==
[[File:Oes GGC color.PNG|thumb|General Grand Chapter logo]]
[[Image:OES Birthplace.jpg|thumb|Signage at the Order of the Eastern Star birthplace, the Little Red Schoolhouse]]

The Order was created by [[Rob Morris (Freemason)|Rob Morris]] in 1850 when he was teaching at the [[Eureka Masonic College]] in Richland, Mississippi. While confined by illness, he set down the principles of the order in his ''Rosary of the Eastern Star''. By 1855, he had organized a "Supreme Constellation" in New York, which chartered chapters throughout the United States.

In 1866, Dr. Morris started working with [[Robert Macoy]], and handed the Order over to him while Morris was traveling in the Holy Land. Macoy organized the current system of Chapters, and modified Dr. Morris' ''Rosary'' into a ''Ritual''.

Similarly to [[Freemasonry]], the Order of Eastern Star was not open to African Americans. [[Prince Hall Freemasonry]] was formed in 1784 and the first [[Prince Hall Order of the Eastern Star]] chapter was founded on December 1, 1874, titled, Queen Esther Chapter, No. 1, and established in [[Washington, D.C.]] by Thornton Andrew Jackson.<ref>{{cite web
|url= http://www.jabron.net/oeshist.htm
|access-date= 2007-10-25
|title= Origin and History of the Adoptive Rite Among Black Women
|first= Jessie Mae
|last= Ayers
|work= Prince Hall Masonic Directory
|publisher= Conference of Grand Masters, Prince Hall Masons
|year= 1992
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070922140413/http://www.jabron.net/oeshist.htm
|archive-date= 2007-09-22
|url-status= dead
}}</ref>

The "General Grand Chapter" was formed in [[Indianapolis, Indiana]] on November 6, 1876. Committees formed at that time created the ''Ritual of the Order of the Eastern Star'' in more or less its current form.<ref name=OESCal>{{cite web
|url= http://www.oescal.org/2005/2005RobMorris.htm
|access-date= 2007-10-01
|title= Rob Morris
|publisher= Grand Chapter of California
|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070928205954/http://www.oescal.org/2005/2005RobMorris.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive -->
|archive-date= 2007-09-28
|url-status= dead
}}</ref>