The First World Alliance was founded in 1977 by Kefa Nephthys (Lucille Jones) and Bill Jones. They met with Dr.

Yosef Ben-Jochannan Yosef Alfredo Antonio Ben-Jochannan (; December 31, 1918 – March 19, 2015), referred to by his admirers as "Dr. Ben", was an American writer and historian. He was considered to be one of the more prominent Afrocentric scholars by some Black ...

, aka “Dr. Ben,” after seeing him on

Gil Noble Gilbert Edward "Gil" Noble (February 22, 1932 – April 5, 2012) was an American television reporter and interviewer. He was the producer and host of New York City television station WABC-TV's weekly show '' Like It Is'', originally co-hosted with ...

's '' Like It Is'', which was televised on ABC in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

. They are quoted as saying that Dr. Ben gave them some books to read. After reading the books they started meeting with Dr. Ben for a Saturday study group. After studying with Dr. Ben they started the First World Alliance as a community education forum. They would invite various guest scholars and speakers to the forum, which became a weekly forum on Saturdays, as a service to the community known as the First World Alliance at Mt Zion Lutheran Church at 421 West 145th Street in New York City. Kefa Nephthys Jones, in an interview with the

Amsterdam News The ''Amsterdam News'' (also known as ''New York Amsterdam News'') is a weekly Black-owned newspaper serving New York City. It is one of the oldest newspapers geared toward African Americans in the United States and has published columns by ...

, is quoted as saying, “When people have knowledge-of-self, they gain power-of-self … then they realize who they are, what they can do and what they have done in the past". The First World Alliance introduced their audiences to works of African American and African Diaspora scholars such as Dr.

, Dr.

John Henrik Clarke John Henrik Clarke (born John Henry Clark; January 1, 1915 - July 16, 1998) was an African-American historian, professor, and pioneer in the creation of Pan-African and Africana studies and professional institutions in academia starting in the ...

, Dr.

Marimba Ani Marimba Ani (born Dona Richards) is an anthropologist and African Studies scholar best known for her work ''Yurugu'', a comprehensive critique of European thought and culture, and her coining of the term "Maafa" for the African holocaust. Life a ...

, Dr. Richard King, Dr.

Asa Hilliard Asa G. Hilliard III (August 22, 1933 – August 13, 2007), also known as Nana Baffour Amankwatia II, was an African-American professor of educational psychology who worked on indigenous ancient African history (ancient Egyptian), culture, educa ...

, Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, Dr.

Frances Cress Welsing Frances Luella Welsing (née Cress; March 18, 1935 – January 2, 2016) was an American psychiatrist and well-known proponent of the Black supremacist melanin theory. Her 1970 essay, ''The Cress Theory of Color-Confrontation and Racism (Whit ...

, Dr.

Amos Wilson Amos Nelson Wilson (February 23, 1941 (or 1940) — January 14, 1995) was an African-American theoretical psychologist, social theorist, Pan-African thinker, scholar, author and a professor of psychology at the City University of New York.Our T ...

, Professor George Simmons, and others. It became an alternative education community forum in Harlem for decades.https://www.nypl.org/sites/default/files/archivalcollections/pdf/CLARKEJH.pdf

External links

First World Alliance lecture series

References

{{Reflist Lecture series Educational organizations based in the United States Post–civil rights era in African-American history African-American history in New York City 1977 establishments in New York City Recurring events established in 1977 Education in Harlem

External links

See also

References