Black Hebrew Israelites

Black Hebrew Israelites (also called Hebrew Israelites, Black Hebrews, Black Israelites, and African Hebrew Israelites) are a new religious movement claiming that African Americans are descendants of the ancient Israelites. Some sub-groups believe that indigenous peoples of the Americas and Latin Americans are descendants of the Israelites, as well.

Black Hebrew Israelite teachings draw on a wide range of sources. They incorporate their own interpretations of Christianity and Judaism, and their beliefs are influenced by Freemasonry and New Thought, too. Black Hebrew Israelism is a non-homogenous movement composed of numerous groups with varying beliefs and practices. Many choose to identify as Hebrew Israelites or Black Hebrews rather than as Jews. Black Hebrew Israelites are a distinct group that is not affiliated with the mainstream Jewish community or normative Judaism, as they do not meet the established criteria—such as matrilineal descent or formal conversion—that are used to identify someone as Jewish. Additionally, they operate outside the doctrinal and organizational boundaries of Nicene Christianity, which forms the core of mainstream Christian denominations.

The Black Hebrew Israelite movement originated at the end of the 19th century, when Frank Cherry and William Saunders Crowdy claimed to have received visions that African Americans are descendants of the Hebrews in the Hebrew 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. Subsequently, Black Hebrew groups were founded in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, from Kansas to New York City, by both African Americans and West Indian immigrants. In the mid-1980s, the number of Black Hebrews in the United States was between 25,000 and 40,000.

Academics have criticized various sects of Black Hebrew Israelism for their theology and historical revisionism due to the lack of evidence supporting their claims. Some sects are considered black supremacist and antisemitic. According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL): "Some, but not all, [Black Hebrew Israelites] are outspoken anti-Semites and racists." The Southern Poverty Law Center designates several extremist sects as hate groups that support racial segregation, Holocaust denial, homophobia, and race war. The SPLC refers to these extremist groups as "Radical Hebrew Israelites" to distinguish between "extremist and non-extremist sects" and because not all Hebrew Israelites are black.