Yosef Ben-Jochannan
Yosef Alfredo Antonio Ben-Jochannan | |
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Born | Claimed by Yosef Ben-Jochannan to be Gondar, Ethiopian Empire and by others to be Puerto Rico | December 31, 1918
Died | March 19, 2015 Bay Park Nursing Home, Bronx, New York City, U.S. | (aged 96)
Pen name | Dr. Ben |
Occupation | Writer, historian |
Subject | Egyptology |
Literary movement | Afrocentrism |
Notable works | Black Man of the Nile and His Family |
Notable awards | Honorary doctoral degree: Sojourner–Douglass College (Baltimore), Medgar Evers College (Brooklyn), Marymount College (Manhattan) |
Yosef Alfredo Antonio Ben-Jochannan (
Early life and education
Ben-Jochannan stated that he was born in Ethiopia to a Puerto Rican Jewish mother and an Ethiopian Jewish father.[3][4] Other sources say that he "was probably Puerto Rican but claimed to be of Ethiopian Jewish extraction."[5]
In March 2015, following his death, The New York Times reported, "[T]here is little evidence for that other than his own word; some peers, and even a family member, have privately expressed doubts."[3]
Ben-Jochannan's academic record is disputed, with claims he was educated variously in Puerto Rico, Brazil, Cuba, or Spain, earning degrees in either engineering and/or anthropology.
According to his obituary, Ben-Jochannan holds honorary doctoral degrees from Sojourner–Douglass College (Baltimore), Marymount College (New York), and Medgar Evers College (Brooklyn).[6]
The New York Times summarized the lifelong inconsistencies in his reported academic record:
Documents from Cornell University show Mr. Ben-Jochannan holding a doctorate from Cambridge University in England while, conversely, catalogs from Malcolm-King College list him as holding two master's degrees from Cambridge University. According to Fred Lewsey, a communications officer at Cambridge, however, the school has no record of his ever attending, let alone earning any degree. Similarly, the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez, where he also said he had studied, has no records of his enrollment. Indeed, it appears that Mr. Ben-Jochannan consciously falsified much of his personal academic history.[3]
Career and later life
Black Hebrew Israelites |
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Subgroups and denominations |
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People |
Accounts agree on little else other than that Ben-Jochannan was raised in the Caribbean and immigrated to the United States about 1940, where he reportedly worked as a draftsman and continued his studies. He later stated that in 1945, he was appointed chairman of the African Studies Committee at the headquarters of the newly founded UNESCO. He said he worked for them until 1970. However, UNESCO staff state that they have "no record of Mr. Ben-Jochannan ever having been employed by the United Nations." Ben-Jochannan also stated that he began teaching Egyptology at Malcolm-King College in Harlem in 1950, but this volunteer-run effort was not founded until 1968, when it started with 13 students.[7] He later taught at City College in New York City. From 1973 to 1987, he was an adjunct (part-time) professor at Cornell University.[8]
In 1977, Ben-Jochannan met Lucille Jones (Kefa Nephthy) and Ben Jones. They formed a study group. After studying with Ben-Jochannan, Kefa and Ben Jones started the community lecture series called the First World Alliance.
Ben-Jochannan was the author of 49 books, primarily on ancient
According to his obituary, Ben-Jochannan began his educational teaching in Harlem in 1967 at
During his career in the 1980s, Ben-Jochannan was well known for leading guided tours to the Nile Valley.[3] Ben-Jochannan's 15-day trips to Egypt, billed as "Dr. Ben's Alkebu-Lan Educational Tours," using what he said was an ancient name for Africa, typically ran three times a summer, shuttling as many as 200 people to Africa per season.[3]
Ben-Jochannan earned the respect of a later generation of black intellectuals.[3] Cornel West said he "was blessed to study at his feet."[3] Ta-Nehisi Coates, the son of Ben-Jochannan's publisher, praised him for teaching that history "is not this objective thing that exists outside of politics... It exists well within politics, and part of its job has been to position black people in a place of use for white people".[3]
In 2002, Ben-Jochannan donated his library of more than 35,000 volumes, manuscripts and ancient scrolls to the Nation of Islam.[11] In the years before his death, Ben-Jochannan lived in the Harlem section of Manhattan in New York City, in an apartment complex known as Lenox Terrace.
Ben-Jochannan married three times and had a total of 13 children.
Accusations of teaching pseudohistory
Ben-Jochannan has been accused of distorting history and promoting Black supremacy. In February 1993, Wellesley College European classics professor Mary Lefkowitz publicly confronted Ben-Jochannan about his teachings. Ben-Jochannan taught that Aristotle visited the Library of Alexandria. During the question and answer session following the lecture, Lefkowitz asked Ben-Jochannan, "How would that have been possible, when the library was not built until after his death?" Ben-Jochannan replied that the dates were uncertain.[14] Lefkowitz writes that Ben-Jochannan proceeded to tell those present that "they could and should believe what only Black instructors told them" and "that although they might think that Jews were all 'hook-nosed and sallow faced,' there were other Jews who looked Black like himself."[1]
African-American professor
Atheism
In his lecture "Why do you Believe in God" Ben-Jochanan explicitly stated his disbelief in God. He declared
Ben-Jochanan also stated: "I say the Black man has called upon Jesus Christ for so many years here in America, and now he starts calling on Mohammed and there are many who are calling on Moses, and at no time within this period has the Black man's situation changed, nor has the Black man any freedom. It is obvious that someone didn't hear his call or isn't interested in that call—either Jesus, Moses, or Mohammed."[17]
Selected bibliography
- African Origins of Major Western Religions, 1991. ISBN 978-0-933121-29-4
- We the Black Jews, 1993. ISBN 978-0-933121-40-9
- Black Man of the Nile and His Family, ISBN 978-0-933121-26-3
- Africa: Mother of Western Civilization. ISBN 978-0-933121-25-6
- New Dimensions in African History. ISBN 978-0-86543-226-0
- The Myth of Exodus and Genesis and the Exclusion of Their African Origins. ISBN 978-0-933121-76-8
- Abu Simbel to Ghizeh: A Guide Book and Manual, 1989. ISBN 978-0-933121-27-0
- Cultural Genocide in the Black and African Studies Curriculum. New York, 1972. OCLC 798725
- The Alkebulanians of Ta-Merry's "Mysteries System" and the Ritualization of the Late Bro. Kwesie Adebisi. 1981. ASIN B005FY5CQS
See also
- List of notable Puerto Ricans
- Institute for the Study of Academic Racism
- African diaspora
- Egyptology
References
- ^ a b History Lesson, pp. 67–69.
- ^ Gabriel Haslip-Viera, Taíno revival: critical perspectives on Puerto Rican identity and cultural politics, (Markus Wiener Publishers: 2001), p. 14.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Kestenbaum, Sam (March 27, 2015). "Contested Legacy of Dr. Ben, a Father of African Studies". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 9, 2021. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
Documents from Malcolm-King College and Cornell show Mr. Ben-Jochannan holding a doctorate from Cambridge University in Britain; catalogs from Malcolm-King College list him holding two master's from Cambridge. According to Fred Lewsey, a communications officer at Cambridge, however, the school has no record of him ever attending, let alone earning any degree. Similarly, the University of Puerto Rico Mayagüez, where he also said he had studied, has no records of his enrollment.
- ^ a b c d e "Yosef Ben-Jochannan | Biography". TheHistorymakers.com. 2008. Retrieved June 30, 2011.
- ISBN 978-1-136-86027-0. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
- ^ a b "Obituary and Program: Celebrating the Life of Dr. Yosef ben-Jochanan" (PDF). p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 3, 2016.
- .
- ^ "Dr. Yosef A. A. Ben-Jochannan". raceandhistory.com. Retrieved January 5, 2012.
- ISBN 9780933121409.
- ^ Mehler, Barry (1993). "African American Racism in the Academic Community". Institute for the Study of Academic Racism, Ferris State University. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved August 12, 2016.
- ^ Shabazz, Saeed (October 29, 2002). "Prized library bequeathed to the Nation". FinalCall.com. Retrieved June 30, 2011.
- ^ Martin Pratt, "Obituaries: Noted historian and scholar Dr. Yosef A.A. Ben-Jochannan has died", Rolling Out, March 19, 2015.
- ^ "Dr. Ben joins the ancestors". New York Amsterdam News. March 19, 2015. Retrieved March 19, 2015.
- ^ Robert T. Carroll (November 27, 1996), "Book Review | Not Out of Africa: How Afrocentrism Became an Excuse to Teach Myth as History" (review), The Skeptic's Dictionary.
- ISBN 978-0-19-509571-5.
Yosef Ben-Jochannan cleopatra.
- ^ "Famous Black Freethinkers and Atheists". The Infidel Guy Show. February 15, 2007.
- ISBN 0-595-28789-1.
External links
- Yosef A.A. ben-Jochannan (selected and edited by Itibari M. Zulu), "Philosophy and Opinions", Africology: The Journal of Pan African Studies, vol.8, no.10, February 2016, pp. 48–61.
- The Twin Towers of Afrikan Knowledge: Dr. Clarke and Dr. Ben Unearthed Africa's Truths
- Contested Legacy of Dr. Ben, a Father of African Studies
- Race and History page dedicated to "Dr. Ben"
- Burroughs, Todd Steven, "Dr. Ben, One of the Last 'People's Scholars' of Harlem, Joins the Ancestors", The Root, March 20, 2015.