Grand United Order of True Reformers
History
The Grand United Order of True Reformers began in 1873 in Alabama and Kentucky. It existed as an African American organization led by the all-White organization of the Independent Order of Good Templars. The organization was active in the temperance movement, and provided their members with sick and death benefits. William "Ben" Washington Browne was born in 1849 as a Black man into bondage on the Georgia plantation owned by Benjamin Pryor in Habersham County. He eventually escaped his enslavers during the American Civil War and joined the Union Army, followed by a discharge of service in 1862. Browne attended school in Wisconsin and became an ordained Methodist minister. For a period of time he taught and led church ministry in the south. He was an outspoken proponent of the temperance movement as a way to but his vision went beyond temperance. He wanted to create an all–African American economy of goods and services, independent of government assistance. Browne urged the formation of "fountains" to pool money and buy land. Browne attempted to apply for formal membership to the Good Templars but was denied. However, the Good Templars agreed to foster the separate affiliated all-black group called the United Order of True Reformers.