Dr. George G.M. James, author of “Stolen Legacy: Greek Philosophy is Stolen Egyptian Philosophy”
Doctor George Granville Monah James was an African Guyanese scholar who held degrees and teaching certificates in theology, logic, Latin, Greek, philosophy, mathematics and history. A professor at Arkansas A & M and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, he studied the works of eminent Western scholars such as C.H. Vail, E.A. Wallis Budge, Swineburne Clymer and Godfrey Higgins. James in his seminal work Stolen Legacy, when published in 1954 concluded that the Greeks were not the originators of Greek philosophy. His was the first book to argue that the Greeks stole their philosophy from the people of North Africa commonly called the Egyptians.
James presents seven primary arguments: (1) Greek philosophy was stolen Egyptian philosophy, (2) Greek philosophy was alien to the Greeks, (3) Greek philosophy was the off-spring of the Egyptian Mystery System, (4) the Egyptians educated the Greeks, (5) the doctrines of Greek philosophers are the doctrines of the Egyptian Mystery System, (6) the education of the Egyptian Priests and the Curriculum of the Mystery System, show Egypt was the source of Higher Education in the ancient world, not Greece; and (7) the Memphite Theology contains the theology, philosophy, and cosmology of the Egyptians and is therefore an authoritative source of doctrinal origin.
The release of Doctor James’ long-awaited book stirred tremendous controversy in 1954 in apartheid America. His very attack on the Greco-Roman, Judaeo-Christian foundation of Western civilization upset western academia and still does today. His unveiling that Aristotle stole and plagiarized materials from the royal libraries and temples throughout Egypt offended those whose intent it was to keep Africans in subordinated places, away from power, and held captive by a history that starts in slavery thus having no impact on world high-culture except as hewers of wood and drawers of water. Dr James’ life ended in 1954 under suspicious circumstances, many alleging that he was murdered for revealing too much and thus daring to challenge the established racist European American power structure that vampiristically lives off black oppression. James’ work was seen as a shot across the bow of white supremacy, one whose echo reverberates throughout the African world. James had attained the nous. His Stolen Legacy is a must-read.
Often-times called "the umbrella man," because he was seldom seen without one in his hand, come rain or shine; "poppycock," because it was a common word he sometimes used when disturbed by others mediocrity; still there should not have been a solitary one of us African, African American and African Caribbean academicians who did not know of the late philosopher, theologian, mathematician, scientist, and professor George G. M. James and his works. It is as criminal as not having heard or known of the person and works of Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and so many other African historical giants of our heritage which we should have enshrined during the Black Cultural Revolution of the era some still call The Glorious 1960's.
George G.M. James was born in the British Crown Colony of GUIANA, South America [presently the "Republic of Guyana"] to the Reverend Linch B. and Margaret E. James sometime in the latter half of the nineteenth century. He was nurtured into full boyhood, and completed his normal/elementary and advanced/high school education in his native homeland. Following this beginning he journeyed to England where he earned the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Theology degrees from Durham University. At London University he continued his studies in the area of research, having many projects to his credit, including work towards the Doctor of Letters degree. He left and entered the United States of America where he worked on his PhD degree. Added to all of this were: a Teacher's Certificate to teach Greek, Latin, and Mathematics in the State of New York school system, the same being equally true for North Carolina and Florida; at the latter also as an Administrator. His college career included two years as Professor of Logic and Greek at Livingston College, Salisbury, North Carolina; ten years as Professor of Languages and Philosophy at Johnson C. Smith, Charlotte, North Carolina; two years as Professor of Mathematics and Dean of Men at Georgia State College, Industrial College, Georgia; one year as Professor of Social Science at Alabama A. & M. College, Normal, Alabama; and five years as Professor of Social Sciences Arkansas State College, Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
In 1954 he published the long-awaited challenge to the Greeks having fathered "GREEK PHILOSOPHY"; thus his book Stolen Legacy. This was, unfortunately, the same year he mysteriously died after having left his job and friends at Pine Bluff, Arkansas for Nashville, Tennessee. This type of erratic behavior was never typical of the highly disciplined George G.M. James.
Professor James belonged to numerous organizations including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association of University Professors, the American Teachers Association, and the National Education Association. The most important of the organizations he worked towards projecting for African people was the only one for which he made his deepest obligation; thus: Order of [the Egyptian, or Nile Valley indigenous people] Mysteries System, [O.M.S.], as High-Priest: Plumbed-Level-Square 360° .
Professor James had numerous publications, articles, and pamphlets. This is but a very short introduction to the "academic genius" who dared to challenge European, British, and European-American scholarship in the 1930's to 1950's, when most of his fellow African, African American, and African Caribbean educators were trying to secure their European American counterparts approval and endorsement as scholars. George G.M. James equally challenged the very foundation of Judaism, Judaeo-Christianity, and Western Civilization as being original and/or void of their African Beginnings. In so doing, he had revealed too much of the secrets of even friends, particularly in terms of their secret society’s teachings they, i.e. Europeans, stole and plagiarized from the teachings of the African Egyptian Mystery System which was housed in the Grand Lodge of Luxor in ancient times, and among very few today who still continue the objectives of first Grand Master Amen-Ra. Man, African, Know Yourself, were the passwords of James' life. And unfortunately, his light was snuffed out by those who want to maintain their control over the African people who George G.M. James wanted to be mentally free.
Doctor George G.M. James has been supported and promoted by many preeminent African scholars over the years including the likes of Doctor Asa Hilliard, Doctor John Henrik Clarke, Doctor Ivan Van Sertima, Doctor Chancellor Williams, and Doctor Yosef A. A. Ben-Jochannan. Doctor George G.M. James’ work has come under attack due to some small errors based on the Medu Neter translations he had to rely on during his time. However, although Doctor Cheikh Anta Diop’s focus is Africa and Not Greece, Diop holds that Greeks learned from a superior Egyptian civilization, but Diop does not argue that Greek culture was simply a derivative of Egypt, but rather Greek culture was part of a northern cradle which distinctively grew out of cultural conditions influenced by Egypt. In his book Civilization or Barbarism, Diop revisited the idea of the stolen legacy presented by George G.M. James, and by using his own translations of the Kemetic Medu Neter language, and Diop was able to confirm much of James’ work.
The loss of Professor George G.M. James to the African Communities everywhere can never be equaled; yet countless Africans will take heed of his clarion call in terms of their enlightenment with respect to their African Heritage he so devotedly brought to light. If you ever dare to read the works of George G.M. James, you will never again be the same as you were before.
Sources:
“In Pursuit of George G.M. James” by Dr. Yosef A.A. Ben-Jochannnan
http://www.slideshare.net/rbgstreetscholar1/in-pursuit-of-george-g-m-james-study-of-african-origins-in-western-civilization-by-yosef-a-a-benjochannan
http://www.nbufront.org/MastersMuseums/DocBen/GGJames/OnGGJamesPrelude.htmlhttp://www.sebadamani.com/2/post/2013/05/stolen-legacy.htmlStolen Legacyhttp://www.jpanafrican.com/ebooks/eBook%20Stolen%20Legacy.pdf
