Long live, Dr. Ben!

I am forever indebted to Dr. Ben for extending my knowledge of world history. I heard him lecture when I arrived in Harlem, NY, 1968. I last saw him at the Schomburg Library at the 75th birthday celebration for Amiri Baraka. The event was packed so Dr. Ben wasn't allowed inside. He was in the lobby and thirsty for water. I got him a bottle of water. Thank you, Dr. Ben, for all the water you showered upon us. Peace and love, Marvin X/Nazzam Al Sudan El Muhajir

THE MALCOLM X COMMEMORATION COMMITTEE MOURNS ‘DR. BEN’!
THE LAST OF THE FOUR WISEMEN!

The Malcolm X Commemoration Committee is saddened beyond words at the passing of our most beloved ‘Dr. Ben.’
It is incredible that he would leave us on March 19th just two days before the anniversary of that colossal crime against humanity, the Ponce Massacre of March 21, 1937!
It was this savage display of the colonial disregard of human life and democracy that politicized him as a young college student in Puerto Rico as to the imperative of dismantling global white supremecy from its very core!...

Dr. Ben was one of our leader’s most trusted expert confidantes. He belonged to a private brain trust of powerful Black experts, the others being Dr. Clarke and Dr. Kenneth Clarke, that Malcolm would consult when preparing for his legendary debates where he would ultimately crush the academic gatekeepers of white supremecy before our very eyes, seeding the confidence that gave birth to Black Power!
Quiet as its kept, it was ‘Dr. Ben’ who was among the first to insist that Malcolm make his ‘hajj’ and some important necessary adjustments to his religious orientation long before he actually did it.
He was the last of the ‘Four Wisemen’…John G. Jackson, Chancellor Williams, John Henrik Clarke and Yosef ben Jochannon…
At last, they are all together again!
It was this quartet of brilliance, scholarship, excellence and yes, defiance that anchored and bred the epic Black Movement, from Harlem to the rest of the Afrikan world!
It was also this quartet, not that others do not deserve credit too because they do, but it was this quartet that was just as key in the seeding of what we know can call the emergence of Africentricity.
But of these four, it was ‘Dr. Ben,’ the youngest of the four, who was the most prolific of them.
It was ‘Dr. Ben’ who rescued our minds and hearts from the trinity of colonial consciousness of the three western religions undressing them down to their more endearing, more rooted, more humane Afrikan/Nile Valley origins. 

And it was ‘Dr. Ben,’ the engineer, the linguist, the anthropologist, the historian, who was the most multidimensional of them. His embodiment of the multidisciplinary approach to the rescue of the Afrikan contribution anticipated and prepared us for that other embodiment of the multidisciplinary approach who took it to the next level, the incredible Cheikh Anta Diop, and laying the groundwork for the rescue of the Ancient Egypt for Afrika and Afrikans!

So just as we are proud to say that ‘X’ is the answer when rallying our people to the correctness and power of our leader’s legacy, we are also just as proud to say that ‘Dr. Ben’ showed all of us, like few others, how to get to the answer in multilayered detail.

“Of all of our studies, history is best qualified to reward us of all research,” Malcolm taught us.
We thank the God of our ancestors for blessing us with one of the greatest of all those liberating researchers in ‘Dr Ben’!

Long live ‘Dr. Ben’! Carry on the Tradition!
Bro. Zayid Muhammad, Press office

Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan, Professor Emeritus of Africana Studies

 

• Sunrise: December 31, 1918, Gondar, Ethiopia
• Sunset: March 19, 2015, Harlem-Bronx, New York
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• The "Official" Universal Zulu Nation Statement on The Transcendence of 
• Dr. Antonio Yosef Ben-Jochannan, Professor Emeritus of Africana Studies
• In The Name of Almighty Allah (Amen Ra)
  
  We The Universal Zulu Nation give honor to Our Honorable Elder Yosef Ben Jochannan for his hard work,time,efforts,travels,opening of the Third Eye,keeper and finder of  Ancient Knowledge of Afrika,(Alkebu Lan) for generations to come and for Humans who are here in the now. May Allah be please with our brother and Anpu (Anubus) guide him swiftly back to our Ancestors.
  
  
  Dr. Ben is a Giant in waking up so many who might still be in the land of Nod Sleep state of Mind. we honor him,respect,him and even if you didn't agree with what he said in Our story,he is still Our Royality. Love,Peace,Freedom and Thought in Honor of the Great Dr. Ben and all his Legacy of Books forever he All in the All of All.
  
  
  Amen Ra Be Pleased.
  
  
  Brother Minister Afrika Bambaataa
  
  
  
  

  

  Former Student Zulu King Sadiki "Bro.Shep" Olugbala & Zulu Nation Founder Bro. Minister Afrika Bambaataa

  Delivering A Tribute To Dr. Ben On The Event Of His 95th B-Earthday in Da Boogie Down Bronx

Legendary African Scholar and Egyptologist, 

Dr. Yosef A.A. ben-Jochannan, a.k.a. Dr. Ben who’s accomplishments have established him as a legendary figure in the eternal annals of Black history passed away on, Thursday March 18 at approximately 3:30 a.m.

Dr. Ben was also noted for many accomplishments such as advancing scholarship which further establishes that Black people are the indigenous inhabitants of Egypt, and dispelling the myth of a fictitious place named ‘the middle east’ ever existing. His cultural journey had it’s start from being a student of Arthur Schomburg in Puerto Rico as a teenager, to studying with Edward Wilmot Blyden in St. Croix. He also participated with Pedro Albizu Campos during Puerto Rico’s independence quest in the 1950s and suggesting African-centered reading material to Malcolm X in the early 1960s. After that, Dr. Ben went on to educating young teenaged Five Percenters at Harlem Prep during the late 1960s and  conducting his annual fact-finding tours to Egypt for over 4 decades. He also worked at Cornell University for over 15 years.

Many people picture Dr. Ben as one of the last dying breeds of ambitious individuals in support of the African-American culture. Prominent attorney and The Source‘s owner and publisher, L. Londell McMillan speaks on his encounter with the iconic activist.

“Dr. Ben was a great man and master teacher for many years. I was grateful to have him as professor at Cornell University. He also had a charming sense of humor that we all adored. Our community owes him a great amount of debt for his commitment and his scholarship. May he now rest in peace.”