Yosef Ben-Jochannan: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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| name = Yosef Alfredo Antonio Ben-Jochannan

| image = Dr Ben.jpg

| caption = Ben-Jochannan lecturing in [[Brooklyn]], circa {{Circa|1990s.}}

| pseudonym = Dr. Ben

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1918|12|31}}

| birth_place = Claimed by Yosef Ben-Jochannan to be [[Gondar]], [[Ethiopian Empire]] and by others to be [[Puerto Rico]]

| death_date = {{death date and age|2015|3|19|1918|12|31}}

| death_place = Bay Park Nursing Home, [[The Bronx|Bronx]], New York]] City, U.S.

| occupation = Writer, historian

| education =

| alma_mater =

| awards = Honorary doctoral degree: [[Sojourner–Douglass College]] ([[Baltimore]]), [[Medgar Evers College]] ([[Brooklyn]]), [[Marymount Manhattan College|Marymount College]] (New York[[Manhattan]])

| period =

| genre =

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}}

'''Yosef Alfredo Antonio Ben-Jochannan''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|b|ɛ|n|_|ˈ|j|oʊ|k|ən|ən}}<!--"Pt 15/15 Dr.Clarke vs. M. Lefkowitz-The Black Athena Debate" at 5:43-->; December 31, 1918 – March 19, 2015), referred to by his admirers as "'''Dr. Ben'''", was an American writer and historian. He was considered to be one of the more prominent [[Afrocentricism|Afrocentric]] scholars by some [[Black Nationalism|Black Nationalists]], while most mainstream scholars, such as [[Mary Lefkowitz]],<ref name="History Lesson, pp. 67–69">''History Lesson'', pp. 67–69.</ref> dismissed him because of the basic historical inaccuracies in his work, as well as disputes about the authenticity of his educational degrees and academic credentials.<ref name="Haslip">Gabriel Haslip-Viera, ''Taíno revival: critical perspectives on Puerto Rican identity and cultural politics'', (Markus Wiener Publishers: 2001), p. 14.</ref>

==Early life and education==

Ben-Jochannan statedclaimed thatto he washave born in [[Ethiopia]] to a [[HistoryPuerto ofRicans|Puerto theRican]] Jewsmother inof Puerto[[Yemeni RicoJews|Puerto RicanYemeni Jewish]] motherorigin and an [[Beta IsraelEthiopians|Ethiopian Jewish]] father.<ref name="contested" /><ref name="hm">{{citeOther websources |url=https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/yosef-ben-jochannan-41say |title=Yosefthat Ben-Jochannandespite {{!}}claiming Biographyto |work=TheHistorymakers.combe |year=2008of [[Ethiopian Jews|access-date=JuneEthiopian 30Jewish]] extraction, 2011}}</ref> Other sources say that he "was probably Puerto Rican but claimed to be of Ethiopian Jewish extraction."<ref name="Parfitt">{{cite book|editor1=Tudor Parfitt|editor2=Emanuela Semi|title=Judaising Movements: Studies in the Margins of Judaism in Modern Times|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-86027-0|page=95|url=https://wwwbooks.google.com/books?id=7cxdAgAAQBAJ|access-date=June 2, 2014}}</ref> A ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' article published after Ben-Jochannan's death said: "[T]here is little evidence for that other than his own word; some peers, and even a family member, have privately expressed doubts."<ref name="contested">{{cite news|last1=Kestenbaum|first1=Sam|title=Contested Legacy of Dr. Ben, a Father of African Studies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/nyregion/contested-legacy-of-dr-ben-a-father-of-african-studies.html|quote=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.|access-date=March 30, 2015|work=The New York Times|date=March 27, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309013134/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/nyregion/contested-legacy-of-dr-ben-a-father-of-african-studies.html |archive-date=March 9, 2021 }}</ref>

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."<ref name="contested">{{cite news|last1=Kestenbaum|first1=Sam|title=Contested Legacy of Dr. Ben, a Father of African Studies|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/nyregion/contested-legacy-of-dr-ben-a-father-of-african-studies.html|quote=Documents from Malcolm-King College and Cornell show Mr. Ben-Jochannan holding a doctorate from [[University of Cambridge|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.|access-date=March 30, 2015|work=The New York Times|date=March 27, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309013134/https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/29/nyregion/contested-legacy-of-dr-ben-a-father-of-african-studies.html |archive-date=March 9, 2021 }}</ref>

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.<ref name="hm" />{{unreliable source?|date=May 2014}} In 1938, he is said to have earned a BS in Civil Engineering at the [[University of Puerto Rico]]; this is disputed as the registrar has no record of his attendance.<ref name="contested" /> He stated that in 1939 he earned a master's degree in Architectural Engineering from the [[University of Havana]], Cuba.<ref name="hm" /> He also claimed to have earned doctoral degrees (PhD) in Cultural Anthropology and [[Moors|Moorish History]] from the University of Havana and the [[University of Barcelona]], Spain, respectively,<ref name="hm" /> and advanced degrees from [[Cambridge University]] in England.<ref name="contested" /> Both Barcelona and Cambridge say that he never received a degree from either university and, furthermore, Cambridge University said it had no record of Ben-Jochannan ever attending any classes there.<ref name="contested" />▼

▲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.<ref name="hm">{{cite web |url=https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/yosef-ben-jochannan-41 |title=Yosef Ben-Jochannan {{!}} Biography |work=TheHistorymakers.com |year=2008 |access-date=June 30, 2011}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=May 2014}} In 1938, he is said to have earned a BS in Civil Engineering at the [[University of Puerto Rico]]; this is disputed as the registrar has no record of his attendance.<ref name="contested" /> He stated that in 1939 he earned a master's degree in Architectural Engineering from the [[University of Havana]], Cuba.<ref name="hm" /> He also claimed to have earned doctoral degrees (PhD) in Cultural Anthropology and [[Moors|Moorish History]] from the University of Havana and the [[University of Barcelona]], Spain, respectively,<ref name="hm" /> and advanced degrees from [[Cambridge University]] in England.<ref name="contested" /> Both Barcelona and Cambridge say that he never received a degree from either university and, furthermore, Cambridge University said it had no record of Ben-Jochannan ever attending any classes there.<ref name="contested" />

According to his obituary, Ben-Jochannan holds [[Honorary degree|honorary doctoral degrees]] from [[Sojourner–Douglass College]] (Baltimore), [[Marymount Manhattan College|Marymount College]] (New York), and [[Medgar Evers College]] (Brooklyn).<ref name="epmgaa.media.lionheartdms.com">{{cite web|url=http://epmgaa.media.lionheartdms.com/news/documents/2015/04/14/drbenprogram.pdf|title=Obituary and Program: Celebrating the Life of Dr. Yosef ben-Jochanan|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303225329/http://epmgaa.media.lionheartdms.com/news/documents/2015/04/14/drbenprogram.pdf|archive-date=March 3, 2016|url-status=dead|page=2}}</ref>

''The ''New York Times'' article also discussedsummarized the lifelong inconsistencies in his reported academic record:

{{Cquote|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.<ref name="contested" />}}

==Career and later life==

{{Black Hebrews}}

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.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1080/00091383.1973.10568459 | volume=5 | title=Malcolm-King College: Harlem's Higher Education Volunteers | year=1973 | journal=Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning | pages=42–44 | last1 = Egerton | first1 = John}}</ref> He later taught at the [[City College of New York|City College]] in New York City. From 1973 to 1987, he was an [[adjunct (part-time) professor]] at [[Cornell University]].<ref name="race">{{cite web|url=http://www.raceandhistory.com/Historians/ben_jochannan.htm|publisher= raceandhistory.com|title= Dr. Yosef A. A. Ben-Jochannan |access-date= January 5, 2012}}</ref>

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 [[Nile Valley]] civilizations and their influence on Western cultures.<ref name="hm" /> In his writings, he asserts that the original Jews were from Ethiopia and were Africans. He says that the Semitic (Middle Eastern) Jews later adopted the Black Jewish faith and its customs.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uvbF_RaqCSoC|title= We the Black Jews|first= Yosef|last=Ben Jochannan |publisher=[[Black Classic Press]] |year= 1993|isbn= 9780933121409}}</ref> He further accused the Semitic Jews of using special powers to "manipulate and control the Mind of the World" and claimed that Holocaust education is a form of brainwashing.<ref name="Mehler">{{cite web |title=African American Racism in the Academic Community |first=Barry |last=Mehler |publisher=Institute for the Study of Academic Racism, Ferris State University |url=https://www.ferris.edu/isar/academic-controversies/mehler.htm |date=1993 |access-date=12 August 2016 |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303231425/http://www.ferris.edu/isar/academic-controversies/mehler.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

According to his obituary, Ben-Jochannan began his educational teaching in Harlem in 1967 at [[Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited|HARYOU-ACT]]. He worked as an [[adjunct professor]] (1973–1987) at [[Cornell University]] in the [[Cornell Africana Studies and Research Center|Africana Studies and Research Center]], then directed by [[James E. Turner (Africana studies scholar)|James Turner]]. Ben-Jochannan also taught at other institutions, including [[Rutgers University]]. In 1977 he accepted an honorary faculty position with the [[Israelite Rabbinical Academy]] at Beth Shalom Hebrew Congregation in Brooklyn.<ref name="epmgaa.media.lionheartdms.com" /> (See [[Capers Funnye]].) Ben-Jochannan appeared several times on [[Gil Noble]]'s [[WABC-TV]] weekly [[Public affairs programming|public affairs series]] ''[[Like It Is (public affairs program)|Like It Is]]''.

During his career in the 1980s, Ben-Jochannan was well known for leading guided tours to the Nile Valley.<ref name="contested" /> 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.<ref name="contested" />

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==Accusations of teaching pseudohistory==

Ben-Jochannan has been accused{{By whom|date=November 2022}} of [[pseudohistory|distorting history]] and promoting [[Black supremacy]], [[anti-white racism]], [[anti-Semitism]] and [[pseudoscience]]. 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.<ref>Robert T. Carroll (November 27, 1996), [http://www.skepdic.com/refuge/lefko.html "Book Review | ''Not Out of Africa: How Afrocentrism Became an Excuse to Teach Myth as History''"] (review), ''The Skeptic's Dictionary''.</ref> 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."<ref name="History Lesson, pp. 67–69"/>

African-American professor [[Clarence E. Walker]] wrote that Ben-Jochannan not only confused [[Cleopatra VII]] with her daughter [[Cleopatra VIII]] and stated she was black, but also wrote that "Cleopatra VIII committed suicide after being discovered in a plot with Marc Antonio [Mark Anthony] to murder Julius Caesar." This would be highly problematic, considering Julius Caesar was assassinated 14 years before [[Cleopatra VII]]'s suicide.<ref>{{cite book|last=Walker|first=Clarence E|title=We Can't Go Home Again: An Argument About Afrocentrism|date=2001|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-509571-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/wecantgohomeagai0000walk/page/55 55]|url=https://archive.org/details/wecantgohomeagai0000walk|url-access=registration|quote=Yosef Ben-Jochannan cleopatra.}}</ref>

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==Atheism==

In his lecture "Why do you Believe in God" Ben-Jochanan explicitly stated his disbelief in God. He declared [[Judeo-Christian-Islamic]] figures and stories (like Adam and Eve) were based on African and Asian mythology.

On the subject of Churches, he argued: "The churches can’t help the people when the chips are down because their interest is with the power structure."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.infidelguy.com/famous-black-freethinkers-and-atheists|title=Famous Black Freethinkers and Atheists|work=The Infidel Guy Show|date=February 15, 2007}}</ref>

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."<ref>Cited in: {{cite book|first=Donald R. |last=Barbera |url= https://wwwbooks.google.com/books/edition/Black_and_Not_Baptist/?id=-W2wSJ1LFV8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Yosef+Ben-Jochannan+black+man+calling+on+Moses&pg=PA209&printsec=frontcover|title=Black and Not Baptist: Nonbelief and Freethought in the Black Community |year=2003 |publisher=iUniverse |location=Lincoln, Nebraska |isbn=0-595-28789-1 |page=209}}</ref>

==Selected bibliography==

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[[Category:American male non-fiction writers]]

[[Category:American social sciences writers]]

[[Category:20th-century American social scientists]]

[[Category:Black Hebrew IsraelitesIsraelite people]]

[[Category:Cornell University faculty]]

[[Category:Historians of Africa]]