Architecture of Grace

Secret Societies

Explore lodges, orders, codes and legends: what the records show, and how to test a claim. Grades K–12.

Course contents Start at the beginning
  • 17units
  • 34chapters
  • 371lessons
  • 5grade bands

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Grades K–2

3 units · 6 chapters · 47 lessons

All lessons in this band
Clubs, Secrets and Staying Safe
Clubs
What Is a Club?; Safe Secrets and Unsafe Secrets.
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Signs, Symbols and Secret Codes
Codes
Pictures That Talk; Our Own Secret Code.
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Builders and Helpers
Lodges
The Stone Builders; Lodges That Help.
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CourseSocial StudiesHistory, civics, geography and economics, every band.CourseWorld CulturesHow people live together around the world, K–12.

Grades 3–5

4 units · 8 chapters · 87 lessons

All lessons in this band
Mystery Rites of the Ancient World
Ancient
The Mysteries of Eleusis; Mithras and Pythagoras.
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The Knights Templar
Knights
Monks Who Were Knights; Arrested on a Friday.
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Lodges and Orders in America
America
Prince Hall and African Lodge; Joiners: Odd Fellows, Eastern Star and Knights of Columbus.
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Codebreakers
Ciphers
Codes on Stones and in Books; The Copiale Cipher and the Art of Memory.
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CourseWorld ReligionsThe great traditions in their own words, K–12.CourseWorld CulturesHow people live together around the world, K–12.CourseSocial StudiesHistory, civics, geography and economics, every band.CourseU.S. History 6–8The story of the United States, as a full course.

Grades 6–8

4 units · 8 chapters · 94 lessons

All lessons in this band
From Stonemasons to Freemasons
Freemasonry
Guilds, Lodges and the First Grand Lodge; Freemasons and the American Founding.
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Orders Around the World
World
Poro, Sande and Ekpe in West Africa; The Heaven and Earth Society.
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America Fears the Secret Societies
Fear
The Disappearance of William Morgan; Know-Nothings and Anti-Secret Crusaders.
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The Black Hand and the Chicago Outfit
Crime
Letters Signed With a Black Hand; Torrio, Capone and the People Who Took Them Down.
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More to explore on this band

CourseU.S. History 6–8The story of the United States, as a full course.CourseSocial StudiesHistory, civics, geography and economics, every band.CourseWorld CulturesHow people live together around the world, K–12.CourseWorld ReligionsThe great traditions in their own words, K–12.CourseSports HistoryHow games got their fields, rules and leagues, K–12.

Grades 9–10

3 units · 6 chapters · 72 lessons

All lessons in this band
The Real Illuminati and the Legend After
Illuminati
Weishaupt's Order, 1776–1785; Barruel, Robison and the Birth of a Legend.
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The Klan and the People Who Fought It
Hate Orders
Terror in the Reconstruction South; The Second Klan and Those Who Exposed It.
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The Mafia on Trial
Mafia
From Sicily to America; Breaking the Silence.
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More to explore on this band

CourseWorld CulturesHow people live together around the world, K–12.CourseSocial StudiesHistory, civics, geography and economics, every band.CourseU.S. History 6–8The story of the United States, as a full course.

Grades 11–12

3 units · 6 chapters · 71 lessons

All lessons in this band
Forgeries and Fakes
Forgeries
The Protocols: Anatomy of a Forgery; Planted Papers: Dossiers Secrets, MJ-12 and Alternative 3.
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Real Government Secrets
Documented Secrets
MKUltra and the Church Committee; COINTELPRO and Operation Northwoods.
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Bill Cooper and the Conspiracy Age, and Capstone
Capstone
Bill Cooper: A Life and a Ledger; Capstone: Test a Claim.
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More to explore on this band

CourseWorld CulturesHow people live together around the world, K–12.CourseWorld ReligionsThe great traditions in their own words, K–12.CourseU.S. History 6–8The story of the United States, as a full course.CourseSocial StudiesHistory, civics, geography and economics, every band.

Practice every day

Ten short lines a day: key words, places, people and dates from the history of secret societies.

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What the course covers

The course studies secret societies from the record. The youngest readers learn about clubs, codes and symbols, and which secrets are safe to keep and which must be told to a trusted grown-up. Grades 3–5 meet ancient mystery rites, the Knights Templar, American lodges and codebreaking. Grades 6–8 study Freemasonry, initiation societies around the world, America's fear of secret groups, and the Black Hand in Chicago. High school studies the real Illuminati and the legend after it, the Klan and the people who fought it, the Mafia on trial, forgeries, real government secrets, and Bill Cooper. Students sort each claim as documented, disputed or shown false. Crime and hate groups are taught only in grades 6–12, with victims and resisters at the center. Every lesson ends with three checks answerable from its reading.

Sources

Every fact is checked against records: trial papers, lodge minutes, court cases and hearings. Legends are named as legends. Crime and hate groups are taught in grades 6–12 only. Everything is original text written for this course.

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