"It is very likely that the Negroes of the United States have a fairly correct idea of what the white people of the country think of them, for that opinion has for a long time been and is still being constantly stated; but they are themselves more or less a sphinx to the whites. It is curiously interesting and even vitally important to know what are the thoughts of ten millions of them concerning the people among whom they live. In these pages it is as though a veil had been drawn aside: the reader is given a view of the inner life of the Negro in America, is initiated into the "freemasonry," as it were, of the race." - What did the author(s) of this passage mean when they used the words "sphinx" and "freemasonry" to describe African Americans' relation to society?

The term 'sphinx' and 'freemasonry' is used to describe the life of African Americans in America.

Explanation:

The given passage is taken from 'The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man' by James Weldon Johnson. The book is narrated by an unnamed narrartor who chose to hide his origin of African American and live like a white American in  New York City.

In Preface, the narrator educates the reader that he is going to share the true face of the lives of African American in America. He used the words 'sphinx' to tell that African Americans were not considered less than a monster by Americans because of their color. By using thhe word 'freemasonry' the narrator is saying that America has created 'freemasonry' or the helping organization for Negro as formed for the race.

So, the connection that narrator is drawing by using the words is the relation between the society and African American in America. And the life of African Americans in America.

imparadis't in one anothers arms  

the happier eden, shall enjoy their fill  

of bliss on bliss, while i to hell am thrust,  

where neither joy nor love, but fierce desire,  

among our other torments not the least,  

still unfulfill'd with pain of longing pines;  

yet let me not forget what i have gain'd  

from their own mouths; all is not theirs it seems:  

one fatal tree there stands of knowledge call'd,  

forbidden them to taste: knowledge forbidd'n?  

suspicious, reasonless. why should their lord  

envie them that? can it be sin to know,

pandora was the poor unfortunate soul that was tricked into letting all of the evil of the world out of the pithos (any percy jackson fans out / box.