Governor Charlie Baker proclaimed June 24, 2021 Prince Hall Day, honoring one of Massachusetts’ most prominent Black abolitionists.

Hall, born in 1738, spent the first 32 years of his life enslaved, where he taught himself to read and write before he was freed in 1770.

Best known as the founder of the Prince Hall Freemasons, the nation’s oldest continuous fraternal order, Hall spent the rest of his life working to improve the lives of Black Americans and Bostonians, according to Manny Pires, a Freemason who has studied Hall’s life.

On Friday, freemasons gathered at the Prince Hall Lodge in Dorchester to celebrate the governor’s declaration.

“Our organization is about brotherly love and brotherhood and loving one another,’’ Grand Master Timothy R. Downes said. “So what it means for me personally is not an object. . . I share this with all my brothers.’’

Downes proudly showed the governor’s proclamation to community members gathered in the lodge’s basement. Pires recalled the remarkable events of Hall’s life.

“Prince Hall is indeed a founding father of this nation, and Prince Hall Freemasonry is one of the most enduring tributes to his legacy, but not the only tribute to his legacy. His intellectual capacity was equal to his humanity and his compassion,’’ Pires said.

After his emancipation, the 32-year-old Hall saw that the majority of the influential men in Boston at the time were Masons, and he founded a society open to Black people, Pires said. During the Revolutionary War, Hall petitioned George Washington to permit emancipated Black men to fight in the Continental Army. This led to approximately a quarter of Washington’s soldiers being free Black men, according to Pires.

Later, he petitioned the state’s General Court to found a school for Black children, which was approved. When progress in founding the school was slow, Hall went ahead and founded the school in his own home, where demand was so high that it moved locations twice due to the number of Black children eager to learn, according to Pires.

Pires said Hall’s contributions to the nation deserve recognition. He credits Hall’s legacy with inspiring the Civil Rights Movement.

“Every aspect of the Civil Rights Movement in the history of this country somehow involved Prince Hall masonry and thus intricately is tied to Prince Hall himself. . . it was said very aptly by [former Cambridge Mayor] E. Denise Simmons, before we had a [Dr. Martin Luther] King, we had a Prince [Hall].’’

The declaration of Prince Hall Day is significant to Massachusetts Freemasons, but especially Black Freemasons. To attendee David Eastmond, Hall’s recognition was special since it coincides with Juneteenth becoming a federal holiday last week.

“Years ago [Juneteenth] was just Black people,’’ he said. “White folks never knew about this, but we knew about it... Prince Hall was just in the Black culture [before, but] now [Prince Hall Day] just opens up [more] platforms that contribute to society.’’

Diana Bravo can be reached at diana.bravo@globe.com.