:Black Hebrew Israelites

File:Prophet Crowdy (cropped).jpg which appeared in a 1907 edition of The Baltimore Sun]]

The origins of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement are found in Frank Cherry and William Saunders Crowdy, who both claimed that they had revelations in which they believed that God told them that African Americans are descendants of the Hebrews in the Christian Bible; Cherry established the "Church of the Living God, the Pillar Ground of Truth for All Nations" in 1886, and Crowdy founded the "Church of God and Saints of Christ" in 1896. Cherry taught that the Talmud was authoritative, that Jesus would return in the year A.D. 2000, and in a "square earth surrounded by three layers of heaven."{{cite book |last1=Gallagher |first1=Eugene V. |title=Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America [Five Volumes] |date=2006 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-05078-7 |page=73 |language=English |quote=...he accepted the collection of Jewish law known as the Talmud as the ultimate authority on religious matters. Like many black Israelites and black Muslims, Cherry stigmatized Southern black culture, forbidding his followers to eat pork, drink heavily, or observe Christian holidays. He also separated himself from African American Christianity by forbidding pianos, public collections, emotional expression in worship, or speaking in tongues. ... Services began and ended with a prayer said while facing east ... Prophet Cherry's theology was strongly millenarian, black nationalist, and idiosyncratic. He emphasized strict adherence to the Ten Commandments, and his followers believed in a square earth surrounded by three layers of heaven. He claimed that Jesus was black and would return in the year 2000 and raise all the saints who obeyed the Ten Commandments and the teachings of Prophet Cherry. Cherry denigrated white Jews as interlopers and frauds and vilified them for denying the divinity of Jesus. Prophet Cherry passed away in 1963 and was succeeded by his son Prince Benjamin F. Cherry.}} The playing of the piano and the collection of tithes during Black Hebrew Israelite worship was forbidden by Cherry, who also taught the eastward direction of prayer and "denigrated white Jews as interlopers". The Church of God and Saints of Christ, originating in Kansas, retained elements of a messianic connection to Jesus.Chireau, p. 21. Another early key figure was William Christian. The pioneers of the movement were Freemasons, and it was strongly influenced by Masonic traditions.Jacob S. Dorman: Chosen People: The Rise of American Black Israelite Religions, p. 79. Oxford University Press, 2013. In the late 19th century, Cherry's and Crowdy's followers continued to propagate the claim that they were the biological descendants of the Israelites.Chireau, pp. 18, 21. During the following decades, many more Black Hebrew congregations were established. Similar groups selected elements of Judaism and adapted them within a structure similar to that of the Black church. After Frank Cherry's death in 1963, his son Prince Benjamin F. Cherry took over leadership of the movement.

{{See also|List of Black Hebrew Israelites}}

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, dozens of Black Hebrew organizations were established. In Harlem alone, at least eight such groups were founded between 1919 and 1931.Parfitt, Judaising Movements, p. 96.

Some of these include:

• The Church of the Living God, the Pillar Ground of Truth for All Nations, is the oldest known Black Hebrew group.
• The Church of God and Saints of Christ is one of the largest Black Hebrew organizations.
• The Commandment Keepers, founded by Wentworth Arthur Matthew in New York, are noted for their adherence to traditional Judaism.
• The African Hebrew Israelites in Israel are widely known for having moved from the United States (primarily Chicago) to Israel in the late 20th century.
• The Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge, based in Philadelphia.
• The Nation of Yahweh, based in Miami, whose founding members have been accused of violent behavior, including the murder of apostatizing members in 2007.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/us/09yahweh.html|title=Yahweh ben Yahweh, Leader of Separatist Sect, Dies at 71|first=Douglas|last=Martin|work=The New York Times |date=May 9, 2007|via=NYTimes.com}}

The oldest known Black Hebrew organization is the Church of the Living God, the Pillar Ground of Truth for All Nations.Singer, "Symbolic Identity Formation in an African American Religious Sect", p. 57.Chireau, pp. 30–31. "The founding dates of the earliest black-Jewish congregations are in dispute. Shapiro notes that F.S. Cherry's Church of God was organized in Tennessee in 1886, but other sources do not confirm this date. Another group, the Moorish Zion Temple, founded in 1899 by a Rabbi Richlieu of Brooklyn, New York, was one of the earliest black Jewish congregations that did not combine Jewish and Christian beliefs, as did the Church of God and the Saints of Christ." The group was founded by Frank Cherry in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1886, and it later moved to Philadelphia.Singer, "Symbolic Identity Formation in an African American Religious Sect", pp. 57–58. Cherry, who was from the Deep South and had worked as a seaman and for the railroads before his ministry, taught himself Hebrew and Yiddish.Parfitt, Black Jews in Africa and the Americas, p. 88. Theologically, the Church of the Living God mixed elements of Judaism and Christianity, counting the Christian Bible—including the New Testament—and the Talmud as essential scriptures.Fauset, p. 34.Dorman, "Black Israelites", p. 73.

The rituals of Cherry's congregation incorporated many Jewish practices and prohibitions alongside some Christian traditions.Fauset, pp. 36–40. For example, during prayer, the men wore skullcaps and congregants faced east. In addition, members of the church were not permitted to eat pork. Prayers were accompanied by musical instruments and gospel singing.Fauset, pp. 36–37. Cherry died in 1963 when he was about 95 years old; his son, Prince Benjamin F. Cherry, succeeded him.Singer, "The Southern Origin of Black Judaism", p. 130. Members of the church believed that he had temporarily left and would soon reappear in spirit in order to lead the church through his son.{{cite encyclopedia |last=Hudson |first=Peter |editor=Kwame Anthony Appiah |editor-link=Kwame Anthony Appiah |editor2=Henry Louis Gates, Jr. |editor2-link=Henry Louis Gates, Jr. |encyclopedia=Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience |title=Black Jews |year=1999 |publisher=Basic Civitas Books |location=New York |page=1050}}

{{Main|Church of God and Saints of Christ}}

File:First Tabernacle - Washington, D.C..jpg in Washington, D.C. The building is now known as First Tabernacle Beth El and it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.]]

The Church of God and Saints of Christ was established in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1896 by African American William Saunders Crowdy.{{cite news |url=http://www.brown.edu/Students/INDY/archives/2005-09-29/articles/arts-fox_israelite.php |title=Sons of Abraham |access-date=June 23, 2016 |last=Fox |first=Andrew |date=September 29, 2005 |work=The College Hill Independent |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060310213246/http://www.brown.edu/Students/INDY/archives/2005-09-29/articles/arts-fox_israelite.php |archive-date=March 10, 2006}} The group established its headquarters in Philadelphia in 1899; Crowdy later relocated to Washington, D.C., in 1903. After Crowdy's death in 1908, the church continued to grow under the leadership of William Henry Plummer, who moved the organization's headquarters to its permanent location in Belleville, Virginia, in 1921.Wynia, pp. 31–34.

In 1936, the Church of God and Saints of Christ had more than 200 "tabernacles" (congregations) and 37,000 members.Wynia, n.p. Howard Z. Plummer succeeded his father and became head of the organization in 1931.Greene, p. 42. His son, Levi Solomon Plummer, became the church's leader in 1975.{{cite web |url=http://cogasoc.org/wordpress/leaders/rlsp/ |title=Chief Rabbi Levi S. Plummer, G.F.A. |access-date=January 1, 2018 |publisher=Church of God and Saints of Christ}} The Church of God and Saints of Christ was led by Jehu A. Crowdy Jr., a great-grandson of William Saunders Crowdy, from 2001 until his death in 2016.{{cite web |url=http://cogasoc.org/wordpress/leaders/rjac/ |title=Chief Rabbi Jehu A. Crowdy, Jr., G.F.A. |access-date=January 1, 2018 |publisher=Church of God and Saints of Christ}} Since 2016, it has been led by Phillip E. McNeil.{{cite web |url=http://cogasoc.org/wordpress/leaders/rpem/ |title=Chief Rabbi Phillip E. McNeil |access-date=January 1, 2018 |publisher=Church of God and Saints of Christ}} As of 2005, the church had fifty tabernacles in the United States and dozens more in Africa.

The Church of God and Saints of Christ describes itself as "the oldest African-American congregation in the United States that adheres to the tenets of Judaism".{{cite web |url=http://www.cogasoc.org/main.html |title=Church of God and Saints of Christ |access-date=February 9, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080130002542/http://www.cogasoc.org/main.html |archive-date=January 30, 2008}} The church teaches that all Jews were originally Black and that African Americans are descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes.Kidd, p. 59.Singer, "Symbolic Identity Formation in an African American Religious Sect", p. 59. Members believe that Jesus was neither God nor the son of God, but rather an adherent of Judaism and a prophet. They also consider William Saunders Crowdy, their founder, to be a prophet.Gallagher, p. 146.

The Church of God and Saints of Christ synthesizes rituals from both normative Judaism and Christianity. They have adopted rites drawn from both the Old and New Testaments. Its Old Testament observances include the use of the Hebrew calendar, the celebration of Passover, the circumcision of infant males, the commemoration of the Sabbath on Saturday, and the wearing of yarmulkes. Its New Testament rites include baptism (immersion) and footwashing, both of which have Old Testament origins.

{{Main|Commandment Keepers}}

File:RabbiMatthewHoldingTorah.jpg holding a Sefer Torah.]]

In 1919, Wentworth Arthur Matthew, an emigrant from Saint Kitts, founded a Black Hebrew Israelite congregation in Harlem, the Commandment Keepers of the Living God. In 1930, Matthew established the Ethiopian Hebrew Rabbinical College (later renamed the Israelite Rabbinical Academy) in Brooklyn.{{cite news |first=Zev |last=Chafets |author-link=Ze'ev Chafets |title=Obama's Rabbi |date=April 5, 2009 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/magazine/05rabbi-t.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=December 28, 2016}} He ordained more than 20 rabbis, who went on to lead congregations throughout the United States and the Caribbean. He remained the leader of the Commandment Keepers in Harlem, and in 1962 the congregation moved to a landmark building on 123rd Street.{{cite web |url=http://www.nyc-architecture.com/HAR/HAR025.htm |title=Commandment Keepers Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation |access-date=February 1, 2008 |publisher=New York Architecture}}

Matthew died in 1973, sparking an internal conflict over who would succeed him as head of the Harlem congregation. Shortly before his death, Matthew named his grandson, David Matthew Doré, as the new spiritual leader. Doré was 16 years old at the time. In 1975, the synagogue's board elected Rabbi Willie White as its leader. Rabbi Doré occasionally conducted services at the synagogue until the early 1980s, when White had Doré and some other members locked out of the building. Membership declined throughout the 1990s, and by 2004, only a few dozen people belonged to the synagogue. In 2007 the Commandment Keepers sold the building while various factions among former members sued one another.{{cite web |url=http://www.blackjews.org/Essays/DestructionofCommandmentKeepers.html |title=The Destruction of Commandment Keepers, Inc. 1919–2007 |access-date=February 10, 2008 |last=Ben Levy |first=Sholomo |work=BlackJews.org |publisher=International Israelite Board of Rabbis}}

Matthew was influenced by the non-black Jews he met as well as by Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. Garvey used the Biblical Jews in exile as a metaphor for black people in North America. One of the accomplishments of Garvey's movement was to strengthen the connection between black Americans and Africa, Ethiopia in particular. When Matthew later learned about the Beta Israel—Ethiopian Jews—he identified with them, teaching that the Commandment Keepers were descendants of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.Chireau, p. 25.Parfitt, Judaising Movements, p. 95. Matthew taught that "the Black man is a Jew" and "all genuine Jews are Black men",Sundquist, p. 116. but he valued non-black Jews as those who had preserved Judaism over the centuries. Matthew maintained cordial ties with non-black Jewish leaders in New York and frequently invited them to worship at his synagogue.Wolfson, p. 48.

Today, the Commandment Keepers follow traditional Jewish practices and observe Jewish holidays.Moses, p. 537. Members observe kashrut, circumcise newborn boys, and celebrate Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, and their synagogue has a mechitza to separate men and women during worship.{{cite news |first=Eric |last=Herschthal |title=Decline Of A Black Synagogue |url=http://joi.org/bloglinks/black%20synagogue%20Jewish%20Week.htm |work=The Jewish Week |date=July 6, 2007 |access-date=February 9, 2008 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130112220712/http://joi.org/bloglinks/black%20synagogue%20Jewish%20Week.htm |archive-date=January 12, 2013}}

Besides the Harlem group, there are eight or ten Commandment Keeper congregations in the New York area, and others exist throughout North America as well as in Israel.Goldschmidt, p. 221. Since 2000, seven rabbis have graduated from the Israelite Rabbinical Academy founded by Matthew.{{cite web |url=http://www.blackjews.org/IsraeliteAcademy.html |title=Israelite Academy |access-date=February 10, 2008 |work=BlackJews.org |publisher=International Israelite Board of Rabbis}}

{{Main|African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem}}

File:Black hebrews Dimona visit1.jpg, Israel.]]

File:PikiWiki Israel 32040 Africans Hebrew Israelites in Dimona.JPG.]]

Ben Ammi Ben-Israel established the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem in Chicago, Illinois, in 1966, a time when black nationalism was on the rise as a response to the civil rights movement. In 1969, after a sojourn in Liberia, Ben Ammi and around 30 Hebrew Israelites moved to Israel.{{cite news |last=Haas |first=Danielle |title=Black Hebrews fight for citizenship in Israel |url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/11/15/MN144395.DTL |work=San Francisco Chronicle |date=November 15, 2002 |access-date=May 25, 2008}} Over the next 20 years, nearly 600 more members left the United States for Israel. As of 2006, about 2,500 Hebrew Israelites live in Dimona and two other towns in the Negev region of Israel, where they are widely referred to as Black Hebrews.{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=Music Earns Black Hebrews Some Acceptance |url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/05/ap/world/mainD8GPUNGG8.shtml |work=CBS News |date=April 5, 2006 |access-date=May 25, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060507212849/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/05/ap/world/mainD8GPUNGG8.shtml |archive-date=May 7, 2006 |url-status=dead}} In addition, there are African Hebrew Israelite communities in several major American cities, including Chicago, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C.Michaeli, p. 75.

The Black Hebrews believe they are descended from members of the Tribe of Judah who were exiled from the Land of Israel after the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in 70 CE.{{cite web |url=http://www.kingdomofyah.com/our_story.htm |title=Our Story |access-date=May 25, 2008 |publisher=The African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem |archive-date=May 15, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515232617/http://www.kingdomofyah.com/our_story.htm |url-status=dead }} The group incorporates elements of African-American culture into their interpretation of the Bible. They do not recognize rabbinical Jewish interpretations such as the Talmud. The Black Hebrews observe Shabbat and biblically ordained Jewish holidays such as Yom Kippur and Passover.Michaeli, p. 76. Men wear tzitzit on their African print shirts, women follow the niddah (biblical laws concerning menstruation), and newborn boys are circumcised. In accordance with their interpretation of the Bible, the Black Hebrews follow a strictly vegan diet and only wear natural fabrics. Most men have more than one wife, and birth control is not permitted.

When the first Black Hebrews arrived in Israel in 1969, they claimed citizenship under the Law of Return, which gives eligible Jews immediate citizenship.Michaeli, pp. 73–74. The Israeli government ruled in 1973 that the group did not qualify for automatic citizenship because they could not prove Jewish descent and had not undergone Orthodox conversion. The Black Hebrews were denied work permits and state benefits. The group accused the Israeli government of racist discrimination.Michaeli, p. 74. In 1981, a group of American civil rights activists led by Bayard Rustin investigated and concluded that racism was not the cause of the Black Hebrews' situation.{{cite news |last=Shipler |first=David K. |title=Israelis Urged To Act Over Black Hebrew Cult |url=https://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F4071FFA395F0C738FDDA80894D9484D81 |work=The New York Times |date=January 30, 1981 |access-date=May 28, 2008}} No official action was taken to return the Black Hebrews to the United States, but some individual members were deported for working illegally.

Some Black Hebrews renounced their American citizenship in order to try to prevent more deportations. In 1990, Illinois legislators helped negotiate an agreement that resolved the Black Hebrews' legal status in Israel. Members of the group are permitted to work and have access to housing and social services. The Black Hebrews reclaimed their American citizenship and have received aid from the U.S. government, which helped them build a school and additional housing. In 2003, the agreement was revised, and the Black Hebrews were granted permanent residency in Israel.{{cite web |url=http://mfa.gov.il/MFA/AboutIsrael/People/Pages/The%20Black%20Hebrews.aspx |title=The Hebrew Israelite Community |access-date=November 5, 2016 |date=September 29, 2006 |publisher=Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs}}{{cite news |last=Kaufman |first=David |title=Quest for a Homeland Gains a World Stage |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/16/fashion/sundaystyles/16BUTLER.html |work=The New York Times |date=April 16, 2006 |access-date=May 28, 2008}} In 2009, Elyakim Ben-Israel became the first Black Hebrew to gain Israeli citizenship. The Israeli government said that more Black Hebrews may be granted citizenship.{{cite news |last=Alush |first=Zvi |title=First Black Hebrew Gets Israeli Citizenship |url=http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3665976,00.html |work=Ynetnews |date=February 2, 2009 |access-date=February 2, 2009}}

Today, young men and some women from the African Hebrew community of Jerusalem serve in the IDF; they have entered international sporting events and academic competitions under the Israeli flag and have represented Israel twice in the Eurovision Song Contest.{{cite web |url=http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Leader-of-African-Hebrew-Israelites-of-Jerusalem-dies-385978 |title=Leader of African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem dies |website=Jpost.com |date=December 28, 2014 |access-date=25 October 2017}} The Black Hebrews of Israel maintain a popular gospel choir that tours throughout Israel and the United States. The group owns restaurants in several Israeli cities. In 2003, the Black Hebrews garnered public attention when singer Whitney Houston visited them in Dimona.{{cite news |title=Israel retreat for Houston |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/2940042.stm |work=BBC News Online |date=May 27, 2003 |access-date=May 26, 2008}}{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |title=Whitney Houston visits Israel for Christmas album inspiration |url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2003-05-27-houston-israel_x.htm |work=USA Today |date=May 28, 2003 |access-date=May 26, 2008}}{{cite news |last=Palti |first=Michal |title=Whitney does Dimona |url=https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/culture/2003-05-27/ty-article/whitney-does-dimona/0000017f-e0de-d568-ad7f-f3ff31620000 |work=Haaretz |date=May 29, 2003 |access-date=May 26, 2008}} In 2006, Eddie Butler, a Black Hebrew, was chosen by the Israeli public to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest.

The One West Camp is a messianic subdivision of Black Hebrew Israelite groups that believe in the Old Testament, the New Testament and the exclusive identification of the Twelve Tribes of Israel with ethnic communities of Black, Latin American, and Native American descent in the Americas.{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/01/22/who-are-black-israelites-center-viral-standoff-lincoln-memorial/ |title=Who are the Black Israelites at the center of the viral standoff at the Lincoln Memorial? |last=Kestenbaum |first=Sam |date=2019-01-22 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=2019-05-29}} The camp is named after its first grouping, which was located at One West 125th Street in Harlem in New York City, then known as the 'Israeli School of Universal Practical Knowledge'. The movement has since splintered into numerous "camps", including the Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ and the Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge. Other notable groups descended from the One West Camp include the Gathering of Christ Church,{{Cite news |last=Carodine |first=Kennedi |url=https://www.dailyeasternnews.com/2016/04/27/gathering-of-christ-church-to-tear-down-lies/ |title=Gathering of Christ Church to 'Tear Down Lies' |date=April 27, 2016 |access-date=January 3, 2021}} Masharah Yasharahla,{{Cite web |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/black-separatist |title=Black Separatist |publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center |archive-date=17 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217051742/https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/black-separatist}} and Israel United in Christ.{{Cite web |author=Hatewatch Staff |url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/04/11/courting-butt-naked-israel-united-christ-attempts-recruit-former-cannibal-and-leader |title=Courting Butt Naked: Israel United in Christ attempts to recruit former cannibal and leader of a Liberian child army |work=Southern Poverty Law Center |date=April 21, 2018 |access-date=January 3, 2021}}{{Cite news |last=Musodza |first=Masimba |url=https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-hebrew-israelites-are-a-real-threat/ |title=The Hebrew Israelites Are A Real Threat |date=September 1, 2016 |access-date=January 3, 2021}}

A 1999 FBI terrorism risk assessment report stated that "violent radical fringe members" of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement hold "beliefs [that] bear a striking resemblance to the Christian Identity theology practiced by many white supremacists".{{cite web |url=http://www.fbi.gov:80/library/megiddo/publicmegiddo.pdf |title=Project Megiddo |date=1999 |publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000815061728/http://www.fbi.gov/library/megiddo/publicmegiddo.pdf |pages=23–25 |archive-date=August 15, 2000 |access-date=May 13, 2018 |url-status=live}}{{cite book |last=Nacos |first=Brigitte L. |title=Terrorism and Counterterrorism |year=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781317343646 |page=79}} The 1999 assessment concluded that "the overwhelming majority of [Black Hebrew Israelites] are unlikely to engage in violence."

In late 2008, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) wrote that "the extremist fringe of the Hebrew Israelite movement" has a Black supremacist outlook. It wrote that the members of such groups "believe that Jews are devilish impostors and ... openly condemn Whites as evil personified, deserving only death or slavery". The SPLC wrote that "most Hebrew Israelites are neither explicitly racist nor anti-Semitic and do not advocate violence".{{cite web |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2008/racist-black-hebrew-israelites-becoming-more-militant |title=Racist Black Hebrew Israelites Becoming More Militant |access-date=November 5, 2016 |date=Fall 2008 |work=Intelligence Report |publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center}}

As of December 2019, the Southern Poverty Law Center "lists 144 Black Hebrew Israelite organizations as black separatist hate groups because of their antisemitic and anti-white beliefs".{{cite web |url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2019/12/12/suspects-jersey-city-attack-expressed-interest-black-hebrew-israelites-authorities-say |title=Suspects in Jersey City Attack 'Expressed Interest' in Black Hebrew Israelites, Authorities Say |date=December 12, 2019 |publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center}} The groups the SPLC has categorized as Black supremacist hate groups include the Israelite School of Universal Practical Knowledge (ISUPK),{{cite news |url=http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=948 |title=God and the General. Leader Discusses Black Supremacist Group |date=Fall 2008 |work=Intelligence Report |publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center |access-date=September 8, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080907052245/http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=948 |archive-date=September 7, 2008 |url-status=dead}} and the Nation of Yahweh (NOY).{{cite web |url=http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2001/winter/popularity-and-populism |title=Popularity and Populism |access-date=November 5, 2016 |first=Martin A. |last=Lee |date=Winter 2001 |work=Intelligence Report |publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center}}

The Anti-Defamation League has written that the 12 Tribes of Israel website, which is maintained by a Black Hebrew group, promotes Black supremacy.{{cite web |url=http://archive.adl.org/poisoning_web/black_bigots.html |title=Poisoning the Web: Hatred Online – African-American Anti-Semitism |access-date=November 5, 2016 |year=2001 |publisher=Anti-Defamation League |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140102103308/http://archive.adl.org/poisoning_web/black_bigots.html |archive-date=January 2, 2014}} The ADL has also described several extremist BHI sects as hate groups, including the House of Israel (HOI), the Israelites Saints of Christ, the True Nation Israelite Congregation, and the Israelite Church of God in Jesus Christ (ICGJC).{{cite web |website=Anti-Defamation League |url=https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/extremist-sects-within-black-hebrew-israelite-movement |title=Extremist Sects Within the Black Hebrew Israelite Movement |date=7 August 2020}} The ADL summarized some of the commonly used BHI terms:

{{bulleted list |Jew-ish: Negative term for depicting Jews as "imposters" |So-called Jews: Casting doubt on the Jewish identity of mainstream Jews |Synagogue of Satan: An ancient slur borrowed to express dislike of Jews{{bulleted list|

|{{cite book |last=Kaplan |first=Jeffrey |author-link=Jeffrey Kaplan (academic) |title=Radical Religion in America: Millenarian Movements from the Far Right to the Children of Noah |publisher=Syracuse University Press |date=1997 |isbn=0-8156-0396-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qIilYBbxSbcC |access-date=July 18, 2021 |page=2}}

|{{cite book |last=Barkun |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Barkun |title=Religion and the Racist Right: the Origins of the Christian Identity Movement |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=1997 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bdGSbDaCQVsC |isbn=0-8078-2328-7 |access-date=February 16, 2021 |pages=149–150, 191, 206}}

|{{cite book |first=James L. |last=Resseguie |author-link=James L. Resseguie |title=The Revelation of John: A Narrative Commentary |publisher=Baker Academic |year=2009 |isbn=9781441210005 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6LO1iPKHZuEC |access-date=July 18, 2021}}

}}}}

Some sects of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement employ street preaching to promote their ideology. Sidewalk ministers may employ provocation to advance a message that is often antisemitic, racist, and xenophobic.{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/11/nyregion/black-hebrew-israelites-jersey-city-suspects.html |title=Black Hebrew Israelites: What We Know About the Fringe Group |first=Sarah Maslin |last=Nir |work=The New York Times |date=December 11, 2019 |via=NYTimes.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/religion-shootings-jersey-city-us-news-ap-top-news-9107f1204a15e4f5f67c8dcc9245f732|title=New Jersey attackers linked to anti-Semitic fringe movement|date=April 21, 2021|website=AP NEWS|first=Michael|last=Kunzelman|access-date=March 8, 2025}}{{cite web |last1=Musodza |first1=Masimba |title=Two Hebrew Israelite Biblical Verses Examined |url=https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/two-hebrew-israelite-biblical-verses-examined/ |publisher=The Times of Israel |access-date=12 May 2020 |language=en |date=8 November 2019}} In January 2019, street preachers purportedly targeted students of Covington Catholic High School (Kentucky) at a confrontation at Lincoln Memorial. One student reported that extremist Black Hebrew Israelites called students slurs, and told an African American student that white classmates would "harvest his organs".{{Cite web |last=Curnutte |first=Mark |date=January 22, 2019 |title=What to know about Black Hebrew Israelites, the group in that Covington Catholic video |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/01/22/black-hebrew-israelites-covington-catholic-video-hate-group-other-info/2643519002/ |access-date=June 17, 2020 |website=USA Today}}

Alberta Williams King, the mother of Martin Luther King Jr., was shot and killed on June 30, 1974, at age 69, by Marcus Wayne Chenault, a 23-year-old Black man from Ohio, who had adopted the theology of a Black Hebrew Israelite preacher, Hananiah E. Israel of Cincinnati, and had shown interest in a group called the "Hebrew Pentecostal Church of the Living God".{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/84605333/|title=The Decatur Daily Review 12 Jul 1974, page Page 6|website=Newspapers.com}} Israel, Chenault's mentor, castigated Black civil rights activists and Black church leaders as being evil and deceptive, but claimed in interviews not to have advocated violence.{{Cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/405255068/|title=Dayton Daily News 03 Jul 1974, page 1|website=Newspapers.com}} Chenault did not draw any such distinction, and first decided to assassinate Rev. Jesse Jackson in Chicago, but canceled the plan at the last minute.{{citation needed|date=March 2025}}

On December 10, 2019, two people who had expressed interest in the Black Hebrew Israelite movement were killed in a shootout with police. They had killed a police detective at Bayview Cemetery, and three people at the JC Kosher Supermarket in Jersey City, New Jersey: the Jewish co-owner of the grocery store, an employee, and a Jewish shopper. Authorities treated the incident as an act of domestic terrorism.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/12/15/probe-jersey-city-shooting-leads-fbi-arrest-pawn-shop-owner-weapons-charges/ |title=Probe of Jersey City shooting leads FBI to arrest pawn shop owner on weapons charge |author=Derek Hawkins |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=December 15, 2019}} Capers Funnye, who had been the rabbi for 26 years of the 200-member Beth Shalom B'nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation, condemned the attack and said that his community was "gripped by sadness" over "the heinous actions of two disturbed individuals who cloaked themselves in anti-Semitism and hate-filled rhetoric". He criticized the media reports for using "the term 'Black Hebrew Israelites' without distinction as if the description is a one size fits all and it is absolutely not". Funnye said: "we don't want to be seen as some radical fringe group with a false narrative because we are black and profess Judaism; we are Torah-oriented Jews."{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/magazine/05rabbi-t.html |title=Obama's Rabbi |first=Zev |last=Chafets |work=The New York Times |date=April 3, 2009 |via=NYTimes.com}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-opinion-anti-semitism-rabbi-funnye-black-hebrew-israelites-20191213-mjv6q5azvrf63pyuqpkqalhc2i-story.html |title=Commentary: Rabbi Capers Funnye, other Black Hebrew Israelites wrongly connected to Jersey City shooters |website=Chicago Tribune |date=December 13, 2019 }}{{Cite web |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/black-hebrew-israelite-leader-condemns-heinous-jersey-city-shooting/ |title=Black Hebrew Israelite leader condemns 'heinous' Jersey City shooting |last=JTA |website=www.timesofisrael.com |language=en-US |access-date=2019-12-22}}

On December 28, 2019, a man with a machete attacked several Orthodox Jewish people during Hanukkah celebrations in a house in Monsey, New York. Authorities revealed that his journals included references to Black Hebrew Israelites, stating that "Hebrew Israelites" have taken from "ebinoid Israelites".{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/12/30/monsey-stabbing-grafton-thomas-suspect/ |title=Hanukkah stabbing suspect searched 'why did Hitler hate the Jews,' prosecutors say |date=December 30, 2019 |author=Shayna Jacobs, Deanna Paul, Maria Sacchetti and Hannah Knowles |newspaper=The Washington Post}}

African American Christian apologetics organizations, such as the Jude 3 Project, have critiqued the theological and historical claims which have been presented by various Black Hebrew Israelite sects.{{cite web |last1=Lee |first1=Morgan |title=The Hebrew Israelites in That March for Life Viral Video, Explained |url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/january-web-only/hebrew-israelites-urban-apologetics-covington-march-life.html |publisher=Christianity Today |access-date=2 February 2020 |language=en |date=24 January 2019}} Zimbabwean novelist Masimba Musodza says the Black Hebrew Israelites have made historical revisionist claims and that their doctrine "force[s] their own ideas onto the text to promote their own agenda", engendering "antisemitism in Black communities in western countries".{{efn|Musodza says that historical accounts by historian Josephus and theologians Emil Schürer and Friedrich Münter, who wrote of Jewish slaves sold to work in Egypt and the Roman Empire, contradict the Black Hebrew Israelites' claim that Egypt is a metaphor for the Americas. He also says the Black Hebrew Israelites suggest there was a Kingdom of Judah in West Africa, although the historic Middle Eastern state has no connection with the Kingdom of Whydah, and that Black Hebrew Israelites do not acknowledge the poverty that Jews experienced as immigrants in the United States.}}

Fran Markowitz, a professor of Cultural Anthropology at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, writes that the Hebrew Israelite view of the transatlantic slave trade conflicts with historical accounts, as does the Hebrew Israelite belief that Socrates and William Shakespeare were black.{{cite book |last1=Markowitz |first1=Fran |title=Ethnographic Encounters in Israel: Poetics and Ethics of Fieldwork |date=2013 |publisher=Indiana University Press |isbn=978-0-253-00889-3 |page=69 |language=en |quote=The ICUPK starts with a premise about the Middle Passage that isn't all that dissimilar from the one that grounds the AHIJ's historical revisionism, a reading of the transatlantic slave trade that is fairly cut-and-dried: African pagans and Arab Muslims sold Hebrew Israelites into European slavery. Anything else, the ICUPK argue, is a lie, a conspirational rewriting of history. The rest of ICUPK's arguments (about the "lost tribes," about the Bible's true meaning, about figures like Socrates and Shakespeare actually being black) stem from that central interpretation of the transatlantic slave trade, and they are unflinching in their commitment to its paradigmatic purpose.}}

The Anti-Defamation League and Southern Poverty Law Center have designated some extremist sects of Black Hebrew Israelites as hate groups. The ADL said "Some, but not all, [Black Hebrew Israelites] are outspoken anti-Semites and racists".{{cite web |url=https://www.adl.org/resources/backgrounders/black-hebrew-israelites |title=Black Hebrew Israelites |publisher=Anti-Defamation League |access-date=December 15, 2019}}{{Cite journal |last=Ong |first=Kyler |title=Ideological Convergence in the Extreme Right |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26954256 |journal=Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses |volume=12 |issue=5 |pages=1–7 |jstor=26954256 |issn=2382-6444 |date=September 2020}}{{Cite journal |last=Jikeli |first=Gunther |date=2020 |title=Is Religion Coming Back as a Source for Antisemitic Views? |journal=Religions |language=en |volume=11 |issue=5 |pages=255 |doi=10.3390/rel11050255 |issn=2077-1444|doi-access=free }}

Shais Rishon, a Black Orthodox Jewish writer and activist, objects to the common conflation of Black Hebrew Israelites and Black Jews, which he says amounts to erasure of the "mainstream normative Black Jewish community". He says that Black Hebrew Israelites are not a denomination of Judaism, and that Black Hebrew Israelites do not share the same identity, community, or issues as Black Jews.{{cite web|url=https://tribeherald.com/a-case-of-mistaken-identity-black-jews-hebrew-israelites/ |title=A Case of Mistaken Identity: Black Jews & Hebrew Israelites |date=August 16, 2020 |publisher=TribeHerald.com |accessdate=2023-09-17}}

{{Portal|United States}}

• African American–Jewish relations
• Afro-American religion
• Black Judaism
• Cultural appropriation
• Groups claiming affiliation with Israelites
• British Israelism
• Christian Identity
• French Israelism
• Nordic Israelism
• Hoteps
• Messianic Judaism
• Moorish Science Temple of America
• New religious movement
• Pretendian
• Religion in Black America

{{Noteslist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Refbegin|30em}}

• {{cite book |last=Ben-Jochannan |first=Yosef A.A. |author-link=Yosef Ben-Jochannan |title=We, the Black Jews: Witness to the "White Jewish Race" Myth |orig-year=1983 |year=1993 |publisher=Black Classic Press |location=Baltimore |isbn=0-933121-40-7}}
• {{cite book |first1=Edith |last1=Bruder |author-link1=Edith Bruder |first2=Tudor |last2=Parfitt |author-link2=Tudor Parfitt |editor=Edith Bruder |editor2=Tudor Parfitt |title=African Zion: Studies in Black Judaism |year=2012 |publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing |location=Newcastle upon Tyne |isbn=978-1-4438-3802-3 |chapter=Introduction |chapter-url=http://www.cambridgescholars.com/download/sample/57725 |access-date=December 28, 2016 |archive-date=December 26, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226214840/http://www.cambridgescholars.com/download/sample/57725 |url-status=dead}}
• {{cite book |last=Chireau |first=Yvonne |editor=Yvonne Patricia Chireau |editor2=Nathaniel Deutsch |editor2-link=Nathaniel Deutsch |title=Black Zion: African American Religious Encounters with Judaism |year=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=0-19-511257-1 |chapter=Black Culture and Black Zion: African American Religious Encounters with Judaism, 1790–1930, an Overview |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195112580}}
• {{cite book |surname=Dorman |given=Jacob S. |chapter=Black Israelites |editor-surname=Gallagher |editor-given=Eugene V. |editor-link=Eugene V. Gallagher |editor2-surname=Ashcraft |editor2-given=W. Michael |title=Jewish and Christian Traditions |series=Introduction to New and Alternative Religions in America, 2 |year=2006 |publisher=Greenwood Pub. |place=Westport, Conn |isbn=978-0-275-98714-5 |url={{Google books|id=ClaySHbUEogC|plainurl=y|page=}} |oclc=315689134 |lccn=2006022954 }}
• {{cite book |last=Fauset |first=Arthur Huff |author-link=Arthur Fauset |title=Black Gods of the Metropolis: Negro Religious Cults of the Urban North |orig-year=1944 |year=2002 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |location=Philadelphia |isbn=0-8122-1001-8}}
• {{cite book |title=The New Religious Movements Experience in America |last=Gallagher |first=Eugene V. |year=2004 |publisher=Greenwood Press |location=Westport, Conn. |isbn=0-313-32807-2}}
• {{cite book |last=Goldschmidt |first=Henry |title=Race and Religion Among the Chosen Peoples of Crown Heights |year=2006 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |location=New Brunswick, N.J. |isbn=0-8135-3897-1}}
• {{cite book |title=Selling Black History for Carter G. Woodson: A Diary, 1930–1933 |last=Greene |first=Lorenzo Johnston |author-link=Lorenzo Greene |editor=Arvarh E. Strickland |year=1996 |publisher=University of Missouri Press |location=Columbia |isbn=0-8262-1068-6}}
• {{cite book |last=Isaac |first=Walter |editor=Lewis R. Gordon |editor-link=Lewis Gordon |editor2=Jane Anna Gordon |title=A Companion to African-American Studies |year=2006 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |location=Malden, Mass. |isbn=0-631-23516-7 |chapter=Locating African-American Judaism: A Critique of White Normativity}}
• {{cite book |title=The Forging of Races: Race and Scripture in the Protestant Atlantic World, 1600-2000 |last=Kidd |first=Colin |author-link=Colin Kidd |year=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=0-521-79324-6}}
• {{cite book |last=Landing |first=James E. |title=Black Judaism: Story of an American Movement |year=2002 |publisher=Carolina Academic Press |location=Durham, N.C. |isbn=0-89089-820-0}}
• {{cite book |last=Michaeli |first=Ethan |editor=Yvonne Patricia Chireau |editor2=Nathaniel Deutsch |editor2-link=Nathaniel Deutsch |title=Black Zion: African American Religious Encounters with Judaism |year=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=0-19-511257-1 |chapter=Another Exodus: The Hebrew Israelites from Chicago to Dimona |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195112580 }}
• {{cite book |last=Moses |first=Wilson Jeremiah |editor=Cornel West |editor-link=Cornel West |editor2=Eddie S. Glaude, Jr. |title=African American Religious Thought: An Anthology |year=2003 |publisher=Westminster John Knox Press |location=Louisville, Ky. |isbn=0-664-22459-8 |chapter=Chosen Peoples of the Metropolis: Black Muslims, Black Jews, and Others |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780664224592 }}
• {{cite book |last=Parfitt |first=Tudor |title=Black Jews in Africa and the Americas |year=2013 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Mass. |isbn=978-0-674-07150-6}}
• {{cite book |last=Parfitt |first=Tudor |author2=Emanuela Trevisan Semi |title=Judaising Movements: Studies in the Margins of Judaism in Modern Times |year=2002 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=0-7007-1515-0}}
• {{cite book |editor-last1=Baer |editor-first1=Hans A. |editor-last2=Jones |editor-first2=Yvonne |title=African Americans in the South: Issues of Race, Class, and Gender |year=1992 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |location=Athens, Ga. |isbn=0-8203-1376-9 |last=Singer |first=Merrill |chapter=The Southern Origin of Black Judaism |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780820313771 }}
• {{cite book |last=Singer |first=Merrill |editor=Yvonne Patricia Chireau |editor2=Nathaniel Deutsch |editor2-link=Nathaniel Deutsch |title=Black Zion: African American Religious Encounters with Judaism |year=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=0-19-511257-1 |chapter=Symbolic Identity Formation in an African American Religious Sect: The Black Hebrew Israelites |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195112580 }}
• {{cite book |last=Sundquist |first=Eric J. |title=Strangers in the Land: Blacks, Jews, Post-Holocaust America |year=2002 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, Mass. |isbn=0-674-01942-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/strangersinlandb00sund }}
• {{cite book |last=Wolfson |first=Bernard J. |editor=Yvonne Patricia Chireau |editor2=Nathaniel Deutsch |editor2-link=Nathaniel Deutsch |title=Black Zion: African American Religious Encounters with Judaism |year=2000 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |isbn=0-19-511257-1 |chapter=African American Jews: Dispelling Myths, Bridging the Divide |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780195112580 }}
• {{cite book |last=Wynia |first=Elly M. |title=The Church of God and Saints of Christ: The Rise of Black Jews |year=1994 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |isbn=0-8153-1136-2}}

{{Refend}}

• {{cite book |author=Jacob S. Dorman |title=Chosen People: The Rise of American Black Israelite Religions |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DbgQSgyARRgC |year=2013 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-530140-3}}
• {{cite book |author=Martina Könighofer |title=The New Ship of Zion: Dynamic Diaspora Dimensions of the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M-YEcgmaAdAC |year=2008 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=978-3-8258-1055-9}}
• {{cite book |author=Michael T. Miller |title=Black Hebrew Israelites |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009400107 |year=2024 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/9781009400107 |isbn=9781009486989}}
• {{cite news |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-03-30/news/black-hebrew-israelites-new-york-s-most-obnoxious-prophets/ |title=Black Hebrew Israelites: New York's Most Obnoxious Prophets |author=Steven Thrasher |author-link=Steven Thrasher |date=March 30, 2011 |newspaper=The Village Voice |access-date=April 10, 2011 |archive-date=April 8, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110408004813/http://www.villagevoice.com/2011-03-30/news/black-hebrew-israelites-new-york-s-most-obnoxious-prophets/ |url-status=dead }}

• [https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/two-hebrew-israelite-biblical-verses-examined/ Two Hebrew Israelite Biblical Verses Examined], The Times of Israel

{{New Religious Movements}}

Category:1886 establishments in the United States

Category:Jewish organizations established in 1886

Category:Groups claiming Israelite descent

Category:Black separatism

Category:Monotheistic religions

Category:Groups claiming Jewish descent

Category:African and Black nationalism in the United States

Category:Pseudohistory