The Black Hebrew Israelite movement claims that African Americans are descendants of the Ancient Israelites and has slowly become a significant force in African American religion. This Element provides a general overview of the BHI movement, its diverse history/ies, ideologies, and practices. The Element shows how different factions and trends have taken the forefront at different periods over its 140-year history, leading to the current situation where diverse iterations of the movement exist alongside each other, sharing some core concepts while differing widely. In particular, the questions of how and why BHI has become a potent and attractive movement in recent years are addressed, arguing that it fulfils a specific religious need to do with identity and teleology, and represents a new and persistent form of Abrahamic religion.

This text offers an important intervention in the study of Black Hebrew Israelite religion, and makes significant steps forward in what we know about the movement. Dividing the movement into 4 phases, I show how it has evolved, integrating new ideas along the way. Several leaders and groups are discussed for the first time, and the final chapter offers the first in depth discussion of the modern “One West” form of Hebrew Israelism.