Yosef A.A. (Alfredo Antonio) Ben-Jochannan (born December 31, 1918) was born in Gonder, Ethiopia),[1] [2] [3] also known as Dr. Ben, is an Afrocentric historian. He is notable for his writings and teachings about Black Jews and ancient Africans, and how Europeans, notably white Jews, appropriated their culture and legacy. Critics have accused him of pseudohistory.
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According to his biographical sketches, Ben-Jochannan was the only child of a Black Puerto Rican Jewish mother named Julia Matta and an Ethiopian father named Kriston ben-Jochannan, in a Falasha community in Ethiopia.[1] Shortly after his birth, the Ben-Jochannan family moved to St. Croix, Virgin Islands. Ben-Jochannan was married to Gertrude M. England (d. 2010), and is the father of 18 children.[4]
Ben-Jochannan was educated in Puerto Rico, Brazil, Cuba, and Spain, earning degrees in engineering and anthropology.[1] In 1938, Ben-Jochannan earned a BS in Civil Engineering at the university of Puerto Rico and in 1939 a Master's degree in Architectural Engineering from the University of Havana, Cuba.[1] He received doctoral degrees in Cultural Anthropology and Moorish History from the University of Havana and the University of Barcelona, Spain.[1] Ben-Jochannan was a student of George James.[5]
Ben-Jochannan immigrated to the United States in the early 1940s. He worked as a draftsman and continued his studies. In 1945, he was appointed chairman of the African Studies Committee at the headquarters of the newly founded UNESCO, a position from which he stepped down in 1970. In 1950, Ben-Jochannan began teaching Egyptology at Malcolm King College, then at City College in New York City. From 1976 to 1987, he was an adjunct professor at Cornell University.[6]
Ben-Jochannan is the author of 49 books, primarily on ancient Nile Valley civilizations and their impact on Western cultures.[1] Ben-Jochannan is fluent in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Ge'ez, and Arabic and a reading knowledge of ancient Greek and Egyptian hieroglyphics.[1] In his writings, Ben Jochannan argues that the original Jews were Black Africans from Ethiopia, while the white Jews later adopted the Jewish faith and its customs.[7] Ben-Jochannan currently lives in the Harlem section of New York City.
Ben-Jochannan has made a number of appearances on Gil Noble's WABC-TV weekly public affairs series Like It Is.
Ben-Jochannan has been criticized for allegedly distorting history and promoting Black supremacy. In February 1993, Wellesley College European classics professor Mary Lefkowitz publicly confronted Ben-Jochannan about his teachings that Aristotle visited the Library of Alexandria as impossible since Aristotle was dead before the library's construction.[8] Ben-Jochannan is founder and high priest in the Craft of Amen-Ra and holds the rank of 360 degree Grand Master.
In 2002, Ben-Jochannan donated his personal library of more than 35,000 volumes, manuscripts and ancient scrolls to The Nation of Islam.[9]