The Fraternal Brotherhood was one of the many fraternal and mutual aid organizations that arose in the United States during the golden age of fraternalism. Unlike most such societies in that era, it accepted men and women as members on an equal footing. In March 1914, Emma R. Neidig was elected as its Supreme President, the first woman to head such a mixed-gender fraternal organization. Neidig had been Supreme Vice President of the organization since 1898, two years after its founding in 1896 in Los Angeles, California.