2,030 Abibisika (Black Gold) Points

Rank: Unranked Newbie

The Elder Scholars were a group of academicians, writers, activists and lay historians who lived primarily on the East Coast of the United States during the 20th century. They wrote and debated the ideas of Afrikan cultures and civilisation in many forums. Some of the most prolific and best known of these scholars were Chancellor Williams, John Henrik Clarke, Edward V Scobie and Dr Yosef Ben-Jochannan (pictured below).

They became legends in the Afrikan American communities of the East Coast largely because of their activist stance on political and intellectual issues. Collectively, their lives were devoted to the quest for the truth about the history of Afrikan people and they made an important contribution to this quest by serving as sources for the first generation of Afrikan Studies Scholars.

Dr Yosef Ben -Jochannan (Dec 31 1918 – Mar 19 2015) was a noted scholar and lecturer. Affectionately called “Dr Ben.” He was born in Ethiopia and grew up in the Caribbean, and traveled extensively with his parents through Cuba, Puerto Rico and South America. He attended the University of Puerto Rico and then Cambridge, initially with the intention of becoming a Civil Engineer. Instead, he studied Law before deciding on a career in Cultural Anthropology. Ben -Jochannon migrated to the United States in 1945 where he had a home in Harlem.

He had an exemplary command of ancient and contemporary history and is respected for his meticulous research into the roots of Afrikan history. For decades, his argument has been that the educational system has attempted to perpetuate the myths that Europeans are the sole contributors to civilisation and that Kemet was originally European. He had conducted research in Afrika, India and Europe and he was a UNESCO specialist in cultural anthropology of East Afrika.

He had written many books about the Afrikan presence in Kemet, among which are voluminous history books. The most well known of his books are:
Africa: Mother of Western Civilisation and
Black Man of the Nile and His Family
which was originally published in 1972 and rereleased in 1989.

Ben -Jochannan used his work to challenge and expose Europeanised Afrikan history and to reveal the distortions made concerning Afrikan contributors to world civilisation. His work has been called a collective lesson in “ourstory”.