Dr yosef ben jochannan biography for kids
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Remembering Trailblazing Scholar Dr. Yosef ben-Jochannan (1918-2015)
Encased in our Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division is a display on the late Dr. Yosef ben-Jochannan. The Afrocentric scholar, author, and frequent Schomburg lecturer, who sadly passed away on March 19 this year, is memorialized in a new exhibit along with photos, personal correspondence, and covers of his most famous books such as Africa: Mother of Western Civilization and Cultural Genocide in the Black and African Studies Curriculum.
Born on December 31, 1918 in Gondar, Ethiopia, "Dr. Ben," as he was affectionately known to those closest to him, traveled the world to acquire and share knowledge about the origins of African civilizations. He, along with friend and fellow historian, John Henrik Clarke (who's also featured in a photo), often taught at the Schomburg and various schools at City University of New York.&
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Yosef Ben-Jochannan was an Afrocentric historian whose work is focused mainly on black presence in ancient Egypt. He contends in his writings that the pharaohs came out of the heart of Africa and that the original Jews were from Ethiopia and were black Africans, and the white Jews adopted the faith and customs later. He has been accused of distorting history, and, since his work contradicts the prevailing view of Egyptian and African history, it fryst vatten, therefore, controversial.
Ben-Jochannan was born an only child to an Ethiopian father and an Afro-Puerto Rican Jewish mother in a Falasha community in Ethiopia. He attended schools in Brazil, Spain, Puerto Rico, and Cuba and earned degrees in engineering and antropologi. He continued his education at the University of Havana, Cuba, where he earned a Master’s degree in architectural engineering. He earned a doctoral degree in cultural anthropology from the same school, and finally, he attended the University of Barcelona, where he earne
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