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Thanks guys. Fullback, as a Caribbean native myself AND a man who grew up inundated in reggae music and Rastafari culture, you know I know me some stuff about Mosiah Garvey.
I am sure of that! Ya know, it is funny to me how some people like reggae, but they really don't get it as they never bothered to find out how it came about nor why the messages are as they are. I get amused (and irritated at the same time) by the "spinning hippies", as I call them, who show up at reggae concerts. They think it's all about smoking ganja and peace and love. I guess they never got a clue from Peter Tosh having an M-16 shaped guitar. As much as they love Bob Marley (which tends to be the only reggae musician many of them really know of), they don't get what he was talking about in the song "War". Duh.
Thanks guys. Fullback, as a Caribbean native myself AND a man who grew up inundated in reggae music and Rastafari culture, you know I know me some stuff about Mosiah Garvey.
I met the author of the book (I posted) last night downtown near the World Trade Center site. I went to a presentation, by said author, which prompted this thread. The author has already had a presentation at Columbia University and will have another at Harvard next week and then another at (I think) Penn State. You see a trend here, right? Modern day intellectuals are catching wind of Harrison and it's only a matter of time before more and more people hear about him.
Harrison was also a student of great orator's like PTSUM's ancestor, Robert Ingersoll who of course, was an agnostic himself.
Ahhhh,it's good to see that Robert Green Ingersoll's influence continues to this day.......Some people should really take the time to read some of his writings and I am going to take time to read about Herbert Harrison,great thinkers like these two should be read by everyone...
By comparison, big phoney Jesus died roughly 2000 years ago under questionable circumstances as part of a very powerless, subjugated, religious sect from a destitute part of the world and his name is known worldwide even today. People don't even have half the documentation on Jesus that they did for Harrison, yet his memory persists. In fact, many people have claimed to be the 'Savior of Mankind' within that 2000 year time frame only to be entirely forgotten while Jesus holds the top spot in most people's minds. I guess Harrison needs a much better PR machine, or maybe Jesus had a higher form of help. Beats me.
Jesus had a lot of help along the way, from the Council of Nicea on. The adoption of his mystery religion by Constantine, making it the state religion of Rome, had a lot to do with it too. That was a 'higher form of help'. It's been used by rulers to further their ends ever since.
per op
i regret i read the wikipedia on this person.
does not look like scholar nor a linguist. all i see is high school ed and nothing more.
no doubt a bright man but the description does not match the diefic description of a great scholar and linguist by the OP.
did i miss something? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_Harrison
btw he was fired from the post office. as to language, only 1 man i know of in history learned fluent arabic as an adult, that would be raymond lull of majorca , one of 5 greatest scholars ever known on world.
per op
i regret i read the wikipedia on this person.
does not look like scholar nor a linguist. all i see is high school ed and nothing more.
no doubt a bright man but the description does not match the diefic description of a great scholar and linguist by the OP.
did i miss something? Hubert Harrison - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
btw he was fired from the post office. as to language, only 1 man i know of in history learned fluent arabic as an adult, that would be raymond lull of majorca , one of 5 greatest scholars ever known on world.
He was what we call a auto-didactic (self-taught). In his case, he educated himself to a level beyond the average college student. You're right, he did not have the college credentials attached to his name, but for those who knew him, talked to him, heard him knew he was brilliant beyond his years. You don't get to review for the New York Times and lecture at some of the country's prestigious universities (at that time) in black skin unless your talent was so exceptional that it cannot be ignored.
As for him being fired from the Post Office, that had nothing to do with his LACK of education if that is what you are implying. That had more to do with his criticisms of certain individuals and it led to him losing his job.
By comparison, big phoney Jesus died roughly 2000 years ago under questionable circumstances as part of a very powerless, subjugated, religious sect from a destitute part of the world and his name is known worldwide even today. People don't even have half the documentation on Jesus that they did for Harrison, yet his memory persists. In fact, many people have claimed to be the 'Savior of Mankind' within that 2000 year time frame only to be entirely forgotten while Jesus holds the top spot in most people's minds. I guess Harrison needs a much better PR machine, or maybe Jesus had a higher form of help. Beats me.
I see you found this thread a great spot to put in a plug for Jesus and Christianity.
First of all, as pointed out by Catman, Jesus and Christianity were the beneficiaries of fortunate circumstances. The religion gained a great boost when Constantine adopted it as the official religion of his empire more for political reasons than they were personal in much the same way it used today by political leaders in this country who, for their sake, need to pay lip service to it if they want to reach the highest position in this land.
When Constantine was about to battle his rival on the Bridge of Milvan, the guy had a stroke of political genius. He recognized the fact that the empire was crawling with an underground movement known as Christianity, a religion that even some of his soldiers adopted. The religion appealed to the common man, slaves and women because of its universal and inclusive message. Such people made up the bulk of the empire and the religion was tailor-made for those types of people. It taught suffering, being poor and docile was a mark of true righteousness and that one should accept their lot in life because "in Christ" (not in society) all were equal. Clearly a religion that teaches these kinds of things could serve a purpose for those in power and Constantine clearly recognized this.
Constantine also sweetened the deal by offering to promote Christian leaders of the time (bishops) to positions equal to those of the pagan priests to ensure their blessing which of course would cast the favor of their many followers in his direction. Throw in a fishy story about having a vision to conquer in a sign that was believed to be a cross and you have the path that led to Christianity's ascendancy.
Constantine got the ball rolling by allowing the Christians to come out of hiding now that their religion was legitimized but it was later emperors like Theodosius and Justinian using extreme violence, exiles and other threats
toward critics and threats to their accepted version of Christianity as well as their rule who established Christianity as the ONLY recognized religion in the empire. All others were wiped out or ran out of town along with their leaders and writings setting the stage for the Holy Roman Empire.
When the Holy Roman Empire broke apart into individual nations, three of those nations (Portugal, France and Spain) went off to enslave and colonize other part of the world while simultaneously spreading their Christian religion on defeated, colonized and enslaved peoples. England did a similar thing with their version of Christianity and so did a few other European nations that adopted some form of Christianity from early.
This was NO divine plan. This was a combination of good fortune, political moves enforced through violence and force and indoctrination over centuries upon centuries. In other words, Jesus received a LOT of help.
When you understand why Islam and its message has persisted for the past 1,000 years and just as powerful as Christianity in the middle of its first 1,000 years and beyond, then you will understand why that "phony" Muhammad and his message has survived. HINT: Lots of children, strong indoctrination coupled with vigilant enforcement.
He was an intellectual genius. He was self-educated in a time when those of his race were not all afforded an education. He knew some 6 languages including Arabic and Hebrew. This enabled him to get a job in the New York Post Office system. On a test he took to receive his diploma, he was the only one in his class to receive a 100 percent. Fellow well known atheist, H.L Mencken asked others to refer to this man as "doctor."
At the age of twenty-four, he wrote book reviews for the New York Times. In addition, he also wrote for the New York Sun, Tribune, and World. He wrote articles for such magazines as The Nation, the New Republic, and The Masses. He was assistant editor of The Masses for four years. For four years, he was also editor of The Negro World, a paper published by Marcus Garvey.
In 1926 he became a staff lecturer for the board of education in New York City. He lectured at City University, Columbia University, New York University and at various libraries believing in education for the masses. He even lectured before the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street holding some 11,000 people spell-bound, according to the New York Times.
He wrote for The Truth Seeker, the Call, and the Modern Quarterly and gave lectures debunking the Bible and the various religious rackets. This caused no small stir in the deeply religious black community because many black men saw truth in his reasoning against religion and left their churches to follow free thought.
He lectured all over New York, but interestingly enough he had a rather sizable white following. In fact, in 1913 he organized the Radical Forum. All the members were white.
He influenced the likes of Marcus Garvey, shaped the beginnings of what is called the Harlem Renaissance, influenced countless others who emerged to start the Civil Rights Movement. He was a VERY candid man, who pulled no punches and spent much of his short life beating down white supremacy. He was also critical of so-called black leaders of the day such as W.E.B DuBois, Booker T. Washington and even Marcus Garvey. He broke ranks with some of them because he thought they were trying to work from the top down as opposed to the bottom up. Needless to say, he was VERY vocal about his rejection of Christianity and religion in general while the others kept religion close realizing the power base in the black community was the church. This, no doubt also made him an outcast but he believed in integrity and was not about to dance with religion just keep or gain prestige. In fact, the man was talking about evolution and birth control in his day and he was indeed well ahead of his time.
By 44, this great man was dead, dying on an operating table in Harlem Hospital. That short life belonged to one Hubert Harrison who was born on the Caribbean island of St. Croix in the then Danish West Indies (today's U.S Virgin Islands, my islands) in 1883. As I stated up top, he is one of the greatest minds this country ever had but barely know. That is changing as he has come back to light and now major universities such a Columbia and a few others are raising a greater awareness of him almost 100 years after his death. He is finally being recognized for his work and his contributions are beginning to shine through. While many have heard of Garvey, DuBois, Washington and Randolph, those in the know will tell you that Harrison was head and shoulders above them all. No wonder he is referred to as the "Black Socrates."
It's funny how he was the same age as Nietzche when he died .
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