Who Are the Hebrew Israelites? An Honest Guide

Dishon Francis | Yasharun the Scribe

People type this question a lot of different ways. Black Hebrew Israelites. Hebrew Israelites. Black Hebrews. Black Israelites. African Hebrew Israelites. BHI. Some spell it "Hebrew Isrealites" or "Israelights," and in Spanish it comes up as "israelitas hebreos negros." Every one of those searches is asking the same thing: who are these people, and what do they actually believe?

I'm going to answer as somebody inside the conversation. I believe some of the descendants of the transatlantic slave trade are Israelites. I'll tell you why. I'll also tell you where the evidence is strong, where it's argued, and where it hasn't been shown, because I'd rather you trust me for being honest than agree with me for a week.

Scripture is quoted from the King James Version, with the Name restored as Yahuah and the divine title rendered Elohim.

The Short Answer

Hebrew Israelites are Black Americans, and in some groups Caribbean, Latino and Native American people, who identify with the ancient nation of Israel described in the Bible. Most read the covenant curses of Deuteronomy 28 as a description of what happened to their ancestors, and most believe the way back is a return to the commandments.

It isn't one church or one organization. It's a wide family of congregations and "camps" that share a few core ideas and disagree, sometimes loudly, on almost everything else. Scholars call it a new religious movement. I'd put it more simply: it's a people trying to find themselves in the Book.

Where It Started: A Documented History

A lot of folks think this all started on YouTube or on a street corner in the 1990s. It didn't. The record goes back well over a century, and this part of the story is not in dispute.

Founder or group	Place	Year	Grade
Frank S. Cherry, Church of the Living God, the Pillar Ground of Truth for All Nations	Chattanooga, Tennessee (later Philadelphia)	1886	Secure
William Saunders Crowdy, Church of God and Saints of Christ	Lawrence, Kansas	1896	Secure
Wentworth Arthur Matthew, Commandment Keepers	Harlem, New York	1919	Secure
Ben Ammi Ben-Israel, African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem	Chicago, then Liberia, then Dimona, Israel	1966 to 1969	Secure
The "One West" school and the camps that came out of it	1 West 125th Street, Harlem	late 1960s	Secure

Matthew's congregation kept the Sabbath, the feasts and Hebrew prayer, and out of that line came Rabbi Capers Funnye of Chicago. Ben Ammi led a group from Chicago to Liberia in 1967 and on to Israel in 1969, and his community has lived in Dimona ever since. Most of the street-preaching camps people see today trace their roots to One West.

My Encyclopedia grades that history "Secure" because it's recent and written down (pages 140 to 141). Whatever you decide about ancient descent, these communities are a real part of American religious history.

What Hebrew Israelites Generally Believe

Because there are so many groups, any list is going to be too neat. But when you start putting the common threads together, they look like this:

• Identity. The Israel of the Bible is, or includes, Black people of the diaspora. How wide that circle is depends on the group.
• Scripture. Most use the King James Version, many with the Apocrypha. Deuteronomy 28 sits near the center. Some groups keep the New Testament and follow Yahusha as Messiah; others read the Torah and Prophets only.
• Commandments. The Sabbath from sunset to sunset, the feasts of Leviticus 23, clean and unclean foods from Leviticus 11, fringes from Numbers 15, and modest dress.
• Names. The Most High called by His name (Yahuah, Yahawah and other forms), not only by titles.
• Restoration. A people scattered for disobedience and gathered again when they return.

That last one is the heart of it for me. Look at what the Bible says right after the curses:

"That then Yahuah thy Elohim will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither Yahuah thy Elohim hath scattered thee." (Deuteronomy 30:3, KJV)

Researchers sort these groups into families: early holiness churches, congregations close to rabbinic practice, Torah-only groups, and Messianic Hebrews who hold to Yahusha. The label "Hebrew Israelite" by itself doesn't tell you much.

What I Believe, and Why

I was born in the Bronx, grew up in Fairfield County, Connecticut, and built my family and my business in Pittsburgh. I spent years in sales before I started Yah's Covenant, and sales teaches you one thing quickly: if you oversell, you lose the customer's trust for good. This subject is the same way.

So here's the claim, stated the way I actually hold it. I believe some of the descendants of the transatlantic slave trade are Israelites. Not "all Black people." Some. I stand on three legs.

Scripture. The Bible describes how Israel would be scattered, afflicted and later restored. When I read Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 to 30, I see a description that correlates with what happened to our people.

History. There were Jewish communities in and beside Africa long before and during the Atlantic trade. That's documented, and I'll show you where below.

Fruit. When we look at the fruit, the skills, the spiritual vigor, the suffering and the survival, I see a people who look a lot like the Israel the prophets described.

Now, I'm not saying correlation is proof. It isn't. What I'm saying is that the pattern deserves serious examination, and I want you to see my reasoning, not just my conclusion.

What the Evidence Can and Can't Show

This is the part a lot of teachers skip. I wrote a 161 page book, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Israelite History, and I made it grade every claim with one of three words: Secure, Argued or Not shown.

Secure. Jewish communities are documented in and beside Africa across two thousand years: a Judahite temple at Elephantine in Egypt by 525 BC, Jewish kings in Himyar across the Red Sea, the community destroyed at Tamentit around 1492, Jewish children shipped by Portugal to São Tomé in 1493, and openly Jewish traders on Senegal's Petite Côte in the early 1600s (pages 54 to 55 and 99 to 125).

Argued. Deuteronomy 28:68, the ships verse, fits Rome's sale of Judean captives after AD 70 and AD 135 most closely, and fits the Atlantic in part (pages 92 to 99). I'll walk through that verse line by line in an upcoming article on Deuteronomy 28.

Not shown. Large-scale Israelite descent for West Africans and their Atlantic descendants. The biggest genetic study of African Americans, Micheletti and colleagues in 2020 with more than fifty thousand people, traced African ancestry to the West and West Central African regions the ships drew from. No published study has reported a distinct ancient Levantine component in these populations (page 118).

That's my own book saying "not shown" about the strongest version of what a lot of us believe. I printed it anyway. But look at the other half of that page. DNA dilutes. An ancestor from 2,500 years ago can leave no measurable trace, so genetics can rule out a mass migration without ruling out a small one, a line of converts, or a covenant carried by a few. And one thing is a historical fact all by itself: enslaved people chose Israel's story as their own and sang it in every spiritual they made (pages 138 to 139, 144). My book sums it up in five words: "Presence, yes. Descent, not yet."

The Camps Are Not All the Same

Treating every Hebrew Israelite as the same person is a mistake critics make, and defenders make it too. Some congregations keep close ties with Jewish communities. Some are independent churches that have kept the Sabbath quietly for over a hundred years. And some small groups preach on the street in ways that are openly hostile to other people.

Even the Southern Poverty Law Center draws that line. It uses the term "Radical Hebrew Israelites" for certain camps that grew out of One West, and says plainly that it uses the term "to differentiate from the greater Hebrew Israelite faith." I'll take that question on in full in an upcoming article.

I don't speak for any camp. I speak for what I can show you.

Is It a Religion? Are Hebrew Israelites Christians?

It depends who you ask, and that's the honest answer. Some groups call Christianity a false religion. Others keep the whole Bible, New Testament included. For my part, I'll say it the way I say it at home: even though we are Israelites, we are still Christians. I walk with Yahuah and Yahusha, and I see the Israelite identity as something that should send you deeper into Scripture, not away from it.

If you're coming from a Hebrew Roots or Messianic background, a lot of this will feel familiar. The practices overlap. The identity claim is what's different.

Where to Start if You're Curious

Don't start with a chart. Start with the Book.

1. Read Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 to 30 in one sitting. Notice the blessings, the curses and the promise of return.
2. Read 1 Kings 12, 2 Kings 17 and 2 Kings 25. You'll see two kingdoms with two different endings, which is where most confusion starts.
3. Learn three words and keep them separate: presence, descent and identification.
4. When somebody shows you a map, a meme or a quote, ask where it came from and whether you can check it. "They received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so" (Acts 17:11, KJV).
5. Learn the Name. A lot of people start by asking what the Name of the Most High actually is. Our Names of Yahuah vellum Bible inserts put 28 names, with their meaning and Scripture reference, right on the page you're studying. If you grew up singing "Jehovah Jireh," read Jehovah Names vs. Yahuah Names first.

If you want the whole picture in one place, graded so you can check every line, that's why I wrote The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Israelite History. It doesn't tell you what to believe. It shows you what the evidence can and can't carry, with the sources on every page. It isn't in the store yet. The best way to hear from us when it's released is to sign up for our free Fall Feasts Starter.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who founded the Black Hebrew Israelites?

No single person. The earliest documented founders are Frank S. Cherry, whose church began in Chattanooga in 1886, and William Saunders Crowdy, who founded the Church of God and Saints of Christ in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1896. Wentworth Arthur Matthew (Harlem, 1919) and Ben Ammi Ben-Israel (Chicago to Dimona, 1966 to 1969) came later, and the One West camps formed in Harlem in the late 1960s.

Are Black Hebrew Israelites Jewish?

Most Hebrew Israelites don't call themselves Jews, and most groups are not recognized by rabbinic authorities, though a few congregations have formal ties. Black Jews and Jews of color are a different community, and the two shouldn't be confused.

Do Hebrew Israelites believe all Black people are Israelites?

Some groups teach that. Others, including me, say some descendants of the transatlantic slave trade are Israelites. Current genetic studies do not support mass Israelite descent for West Africans, though they cannot rule out a small number of ancestors.

What Bible do Hebrew Israelites use?

Most use the King James Version, often an edition that includes the Apocrypha. Some groups also read the Book of Enoch, which is useful for history but is not the same as Scripture.

Are Hebrew Israelites a hate group?

The movement as a whole is not listed as one. The SPLC lists certain groups it calls "Radical Hebrew Israelites" and separates them from the wider Hebrew Israelite faith.

How do I start learning about Hebrew Israelites?

There's no membership card and no test. Start by reading Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 to 30, then check every claim you hear against a primary source. A graded reference helps you tell strong claims from weak ones.

Sources

• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Israelite History, Yah's Covenant Inc.: pages 54 to 55 and 99 to 125 (Jewish presence in and beside Africa), 92 to 99 (Deuteronomy 28), 118 to 119 (genetics), 138 to 145 (names, congregations, ledger).
• Micheletti et al., "Genetic Consequences of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the Americas," American Journal of Human Genetics, 2020.
• Southern Poverty Law Center, "Radical Hebrew Israelites," Extremist Files (accessed Sep 29, 2026).
• Jacob S. Dorman, Chosen People: The Rise of American Black Israelite Religions, Oxford University Press, 2013.
• Michael T. Miller, "The African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem and Ben Ammi's Theology of Marginalisation and Reorientation," Religions 11, no. 2 (2020): 87.

We didn't lose our faith. We lost our ways. Getting them back starts with telling the truth, even when it costs us an easy argument.

Called, Chosen, Faithful.