By W.A.T.E.R. 17 Special to the AmNewsNew York Amsterdam News
On Monday, New Year’s Eve, renowned African scholar-warrior Dr. Yosef A.A. Ben-Jochannan, a.k.a. Dr. Ben, will be a nickel shy of a century. Some of his colleagues shared their thoughts about the man who devoted his entire life to unearthing many previously unknown facts regarding the Motherland and its original inhabitants.
Physically born on Dec. 31, 1917, in Ethiopia, young Yosef came of age in Puerto Rico (his mother’s origin) and St. Croix, being influenced by Arthur Schomburg and Pedro Albizu-Campos. After migrating to Harlem while still young, he continued his knowledge quest.
“Dr. Ben started out in a sacred mission to reclaim the Nile Valley and he did it almost single-handedly,” said Dr. Leonard Jeffries. He went on to explain the value of his cohort’s research restoring Egypt/Kemet back into Africa after educational institutions misled most to believe it existed in a fictionalized place called the Middle East.
“His work is in the monumental achievement of taking the Nile Valley away from those who not only stole our bodies and land, and enslaved us, but also stole our history and the knowledge of human development,” he said.
Throughout the ’60s and ’70s, Dr. Ben disseminated information from atop soapboxes on the corners of Harlem’s progressive African Square (125th Street and Seventh Avenue). Some youth organizations of that time period were greatly influenced by his discoveries.
“There was a cohesiveness between Dr. Ben and the Five Percenters,” remembered Dumar Wa’de Allah, former Harlem Prep disciple during the late 1960s where Jochannan conducted African history classes. “Because we were teaching that the Blackman is the father of civilization, and he was teaching that all civilizations came from the Blackman in Africa.”
Dr. Ben’s scholarly contribution’s contradicted the public school’s curriculum.
“We learned from his books what Egypt means to Black history,” disclosed Ben’s close comrade, Professor James Small. “He said, in no certain terms, that Egypt is in Africa, and proved it through research.”
The information revealed motivated others to emulate.
“We went to Dr. Ben in 1977 after seeing him on Gil Noble’s ‘Like It Is’. He gave us some books to read and told us to come to his home on Saturdays and study with him, which we did,” reflected Sister Kefa Nephphys, who along with husband Bill Jones, co-founded Harlem’s groundbreaking First World Alliance.
Fellow scholar Brother Sekou spoke about some of the factologist’s immeasurable contributions.
“Dr. Ben was the catalyst who started Black people going on tours to Egypt,” he said. “Anyone who is doing it now has either been there with Dr. Ben, or somebody he taught.”
As a founding member of ASCAC (Afrikan Study of Classical Civilizations), Dr. Ben spearheaded the historic 1987 pilgrimage to Kemet, leading over a thousand Americanized-Africans to experience the ancient artifacts firsthand. Additionally, he continuously conducted yearly educational tours to Kemet for decades.
“Dr. Ben is a true and living god! He had supreme knowledge of our history. It’s one thing for a person to teach you about the knowledge of your ancestry,” Wa’de Allah said. “but it’s even greater that they teach you about it, then allow you to go back and trace the roots of the history.”
Columbia professor Patrick Delices added: “In terms of African origin of civilization, and Egyptology, no one has a greater influence than Dr. Ben.”
Dr. Jefferies closed:
“The beauty of Dr. Ben is that he didn’t function alone, he believed in sharing the knowledge and information with the people. His greatest example was his brotherhood-
relationship with Dr. John Henrik Clarke. So to have these two giants in the heart of our struggle has been an extraordinary aspect of the African great awakening. So, happy birthday Dr. Ben!”
Wish Dr. Ben a happy birthday: 718-239-6444.
Links to info on Dr. Ben:
SOURCE:
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