What is the religion’s origin?
In discussing the origins of this the Black Hebrews (from this point forward cited as B.H.I.s) I must explain that there are two distinct origins. The actual origin of B. H. I.s stretches back to before the Civil War. In 1896 there was a sect founded in Kansas by William Crowdy. Shortly after that, new congregations sprouted in several major cities, and by the 1980s other sects began to appear. One sect is the infamous Miami based sect which was started by Yahweh Ben Yahweh, otherwise known by the authorities as Hulon Mitchell, Jr. This sect will be discussed in greater detail later in this article. Other sects include the Commandment Keepers, The Law Keepers, House of Judah, and the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem (just to list a few). Ben Israel, originally named Ben Carter (from the south side of Chicago), started the latter sect, The Kingdom of Yahweh, around 1967. Ben Israel impressed upon other blacks the belief that African-Americans descended from the biblical tribe of J
