Benjamin Chavis Muhammad
Encyclopedia
Benjamin Chavis is an African American
civil rights
leader. Dr. Chavis was born Benjamin Franklin Chavis, Jr. on January 22, 1948 in Oxford, North Carolina
. In his youth, Dr. Chavis was an assistant to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who inspired him to work in the civil rights movement
. Dr. Chavis rose to international prominence as the leader of the Wilmington Ten. A former Vice President of the National Council of Churches
, Dr. Chavis became the Executive Director of the NAACP, and he served as the National Director of the Million Man March
as well as the Founder and CEO of the National African American Leadership Summit
(NAALS). Since 2001 he has been CEO and Co-Chairman of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, in New York City which he cofounded with hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons
. Dr. Chavis joined with Ezell Brown
in 2009 to establish Education Online Services Corporation which is headquartered in Coral Springs, Florida.
. He earned a Bachelor of Arts
in Chemistry
from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte
(1969), a Master of Divinity
(magna cum laude
) from Duke University
(1980), and a Doctor of Ministry
from Howard University
(1981). He was a graduate student at Union Theological Seminary
.
for whites, becoming the first African American
with a library card there.
for the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC). He also joined CORE
, SNCC and AFSCME.
of Robert F. Kennedy
in 1968. He then returned to Oxford and taught at the then all-black Mary Potter High School.
Commission for Racial Justice in 1968. (The commission had been established in 1963 to coordinate justice strategies, community organization, and the like.)
In 1969, he was appointed Southern Regional Program Director of the 1.7 million member United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice (UCC-CRJ) and by 1985 was named the Executive Director and CEO of the UCC-CRJ.
He was ordained in the United Church of Christ in 1980.
He was suspended from regional association from the church, when (in 1997) he joined the Nation of Islam
and changed his name to Benjamin Chavis Muhammad.
in 1971 to help desegregate the public school system. He and nine others were arrested for a firebombing
, charged with conspiracy and arson, and convicted in 1976. Chavis drew the longest sentence, 34 years. They were locked up for nearly ten years, receiving international attention, until the conviction was overturned in 1980.
Benjamin Chavis and nine others in 1978 were referred to as “American political prisoner
s” by Amnesty International
as members of the Wilmington Ten
. Although Chavis and his teenage codefendants were unjustly imprisoned in NC for most of the 1970s because of their challenge to racial segregation in the Wilmington public school system, the Wilmington Ten emerged victorious after nearly a ten-year international political and legal battle when the 4th Circuit US Court of Appeals overturned their convictions and cleared their names.
From this experience he wrote two books: An American Political Prisoner Appeals for Human Rights (while still in prison) and Psalms from Prison.
In 1978, he was named one of the first winners of the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award
.
: “Racial discrimination in the deliberated targeting of ethnic and minority communities for exposure to toxic and hazardous waste sites and facilities, coupled with the systematic exclusion of minorities in environmental policy making, enforcement, and remediation.” To prove the validity of his definition, Chavis in 1986 conducted and published the landmark national study: Toxic Waste and Race in the United States of America, that statistically revealed the direct correlation between race and the location of toxic waste throughout the United States
. Benjamin Chavis is considered by many environmental grassroots activists to be the “father of the post-modern environmental justice movement” that has steadily grown throughout the nation and world since the early 1980s.
. He also served as chairman of its Prophetic Justice unit.
(NAACP). Dr. Chavis is a life member of the NAACP and first joined at the age of 12 as a youth leader of the Granville County Branch of the NAACP, in his home town of Oxford, North Carolina. IN 1994, he was also the first person fired from the NAACP after spending $64,000 from the then debt ridden organization to pay a breach of contract claim layered with allegations of sexual harassment.
(NAALS) in June, 1995. Dr. Chavis convened a meeting at Texas Southern University in Houston in June to adopt a constitution and by-laws for NAALS. Chavis served as Executive Director and CEO of the National African American Leadership Summit
from 1995 to 1997 during which he directed the organization, planning and implementation of the Million Man March.
. He drew upon his years of experience as an advocate for African-American equality to help this political march reach its goals of increased political activity and awareness of issues by African Americans.
in 1997.
He was then appointed East Coast Regional Minister of the Nation of Islam and Minister of the historic Mosque Number Seven in Harlem, New York because of its association with Malcolm X
. Today, Dr. Chavis is no longer connected with the Nation of Islam, and he works with Inter-Faith efforts as well as ecumenical movements to establish better levels of understanding between Christians, Jews, and Muslims.
While serving as a mentor to Sister Souljah
, Kevin Powell
, Little Rob, Ras Baraka and other hip-hop activists, Chavis met Russell Simmons
and Lyor Cohen
in 1986 at Def Jam Records. As head of the NAACP in 1993, he worked with Run DMC to mobilize youth voters. Thus, it made perfect sense when hip-hop's premier video director, Hype Williams
, cast Chavis in the pivotal role as the “Rev. Saviour” in the 1998 hip-hop classic movie “Belly
,” which starred superstar hip-hop artists Nas
, Method Man
and DMX
.
More recently he performed the Intro and Outro to Jim Jones
and the Diplomats 2004 hip-hop album, “On My Way to Church.” In 2005, he was the spoken word artist feature in Cassidy's latest platinum selling album ”I'm A Hustler.” When Chavis helped organize both the Million Man March (1995) and Million Family March
(2000), Russell Simmons
worked with him to mobilize hip-hop leaders to support the marches. Ultimately, the two men realized they had a similar vision for this generation of hip-hop youth, and to that end, they created the first national "Hip-Hop Summit" in New York City
, from which grew the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN).
One-and-a-half years later, the HSAN is the largest and broadest national coalition of hip-hop artists, recording industry executives, youth activists and civil rights leaders. With the support of the major hip-hop labels, the Recording Industry Association of America
(RIAA) and others, the HSAN has sponsored successful "Hip-Hop Summits" in New York, New York, Kansas City, Missouri
, Oakland, California
, Los Angeles, California
, Washington, DC, Miami, Florida
, Seattle, Washington, and Dallas, Texas
. A 2004 event in Cleveland, Ohio
was not so successful.
Meetings with the Federal Trade Commission
(FTC), Federal Communications Commission
(FCC), vocal stands before the U.S. Congress on the unconstitutionality of censoring rap lyrics, the development of literacy programs, Youth Councils, voter registration drives in conjunction with Rap The Vote, the voice for the poor, and the fight for children's public education, fill Chavis' days (and nights).
In 2002 Dr. Chavis and the HSAN joined the United Federation of Teachers
and the New York Alliance for Quality Education (AQE) to organize the largest public demonstration since New York City Mayor
Michael Bloomberg
took office.
The Washington Post reported, “Hip-hop's brightest stars, from P. Diddy to Jay-Z
to Alicia Keys
, lent a little star power today to a demonstration by roughly 100,000 students, teachers and rap fans who crammed eight blocks outside City Hall to protest drastic school budget cuts proposed by the new mayor.”
Recently, Chavis joined “Sex and the City
” star Cynthia Nixon
, actor Bruce Willis
and Russell Simmons
to demand adequate funding for education across the state of New York.
The Hip-Hop Summit Action Network has benefited greatly from the leadership of Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., and the feeling is mutual: “The hip-hop generation is the most talented and socially conscious generation of youth that has ever emerged on the world stage to demand respect and justice for all,” he said.
Dr. Chavis was a spokesperson for TI's Respect My Vote campaign, and introduced TI's performance at the 2008 Famu Homecoming Concert in Tallahassee Florida that was hosted by FAMU and Blazin 102.3.
He is a member of Phi Beta Sigma
fraternity.
Chavis's great-great-grandfather, educator Reverend John Chavis
, was the first African American
ordained Presbyterian minister.
He has told an interviewer he reads books on chemistry, for pleasure.
' 1998 movie "Belly
".
Dr. Chavis appeared in skits on Jim Jones
' debut album "On My Way to Church
", as well as the track "Concrete Jungle" on Jones' third studio album, "Hustler's P.O.M.E."
Dr. Chavis has been mistakenly listed as being the voice during the chorus on "Ringing Bells", a track from Masta Killa
's album Made In Brooklyn
. It is actually Minister Louis Farrakhan's voice used on the track.
Dr. Chavis also appeared on a track called "The Message" on Cassidy's I'm A Hustla
.
Dr. Chavis appeared in Spike Lee
's film about the Million Man March, Get on the Bus
.
Dr. Chavis is featured as the protagonist in the critically acclaimed autobiographical work by Tim Tyson, Blood Done Sign My Name
and the critically acclaimed film where the part of the young Benjamin Chavis is played by Nate Parker
.
The Story of The Wilmington 10
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
leader. Dr. Chavis was born Benjamin Franklin Chavis, Jr. on January 22, 1948 in Oxford, North Carolina
Oxford, North Carolina
Oxford is a city in Granville County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 8,461 at the 2010 census It is the county seat of Granville County.-History:...
. In his youth, Dr. Chavis was an assistant to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who inspired him to work in the civil rights movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
. Dr. Chavis rose to international prominence as the leader of the Wilmington Ten. A former Vice President of the National Council of Churches
National Council of Churches
The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA is an ecumenical partnership of 37 Christian faith groups in the United States. Its member denominations, churches, conventions, and archdioceses include Mainline Protestant, Orthodox, African American, Evangelical, and historic peace...
, Dr. Chavis became the Executive Director of the NAACP, and he served as the National Director of the Million Man March
Million Man March
The Million Man March was a gathering of social activists, en masse, held on and around the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on October 16, 1995...
as well as the Founder and CEO of the National African American Leadership Summit
National African American Leadership Summit
The National African American Leadership Summit emerged out a series of unification meetings initiated by Dr. Benjamin Chavis, who was the Executive Director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People .After Dr...
(NAALS). Since 2001 he has been CEO and Co-Chairman of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, in New York City which he cofounded with hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons
Russell Simmons
-External links:** * * * * * * from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum* *...
. Dr. Chavis joined with Ezell Brown
Ezell Brown
Ezell Brown, is an American businessman, entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist and Chairman of Education Online Services Corporation....
in 2009 to establish Education Online Services Corporation which is headquartered in Coral Springs, Florida.
Education
Chavis was a 1965 graduate of Mary Potter High School in Oxford, and entered St. Augustine College as a freshmanFreshman
A freshman or fresher is a first-year student in secondary school, high school, or college. The term first year can also be used as a noun, to describe the students themselves A freshman (US) or fresher (UK, India) (or sometimes fish, freshie, fresher; slang plural frosh or freshmeat) is a...
. He earned a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in Chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte
University of North Carolina at Charlotte
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte , also known as UNC Charlotte or simply Charlotte, is a public research university located in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States...
(1969), a Master of Divinity
Master of Divinity
In the academic study of theology, the Master of Divinity is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America...
(magna cum laude
Latin honors
Latin honors are Latin phrases used to indicate the level of academic distinction with which an academic degree was earned. This system is primarily used in the United States, Canada, and in many countries of continental Europe, though some institutions also use the English translation of these...
) from Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
(1980), and a Doctor of Ministry
Doctor of Ministry
The Doctor of Ministry degree is, according to The Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada , a doctoral level degree oriented toward ministerial leadership often in an area of applied theology, such as missions, evangelism, church leadership, pastoral psychology or the...
from Howard University
Howard University
Howard University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States...
(1981). He was a graduate student at Union Theological Seminary
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York is a preeminent independent graduate school of theology, located in Manhattan between Claremont Avenue and Broadway, 120th to 122nd Streets. The seminary was founded in 1836 under the Presbyterian Church, and is affiliated with nearby Columbia...
.
Early life
As a twelve year old, Chavis effectively desegregated his hometown's public libraryPublic library
A public library is a library that is accessible by the public and is generally funded from public sources and operated by civil servants. There are five fundamental characteristics shared by public libraries...
for whites, becoming the first African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
with a library card there.
SCLC, CORE, and AFSCME
In 1965, while a college freshman, Chavis became a statewide youth coordinator in North CarolinaNorth Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
for the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
, and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference is an African-American civil rights organization. SCLC was closely associated with its first president, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr...
(SCLC). He also joined CORE
Congress of Racial Equality
The Congress of Racial Equality or CORE was a U.S. civil rights organization that originally played a pivotal role for African-Americans in the Civil Rights Movement...
, SNCC and AFSCME.
Election campaign and teaching
Dr. Chavis also worked for the presidential campaignUnited States presidential election, 1968
The United States presidential election of 1968 was the 46th quadrennial United States presidential election. Coming four years after Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson won in a historic landslide, it saw Johnson forced out of the race and Republican Richard Nixon elected...
of Robert F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy , also referred to by his initials RFK, was an American politician, a Democratic senator from New York, and a noted civil rights activist. An icon of modern American liberalism and member of the Kennedy family, he was a younger brother of President John F...
in 1968. He then returned to Oxford and taught at the then all-black Mary Potter High School.
United Church of Christ
Chavis was appointed a field officer in the United Church of ChristUnited Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination primarily in the Reformed tradition but also historically influenced by Lutheranism. The Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches united in 1957 to form the UCC...
Commission for Racial Justice in 1968. (The commission had been established in 1963 to coordinate justice strategies, community organization, and the like.)
In 1969, he was appointed Southern Regional Program Director of the 1.7 million member United Church of Christ Commission for Racial Justice (UCC-CRJ) and by 1985 was named the Executive Director and CEO of the UCC-CRJ.
He was ordained in the United Church of Christ in 1980.
He was suspended from regional association from the church, when (in 1997) he joined the Nation of Islam
Nation of Islam
The Nation of Islam is a mainly African-American new religious movement founded in Detroit, Michigan by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad in July 1930 to improve the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of African-Americans in the United States of America. The movement teaches black pride and...
and changed his name to Benjamin Chavis Muhammad.
Wilmington Ten
He came to Wilmington, North CarolinaWilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and is the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. The population is 106,476 according to the 2010 Census, making it the eighth most populous city in the state of North Carolina...
in 1971 to help desegregate the public school system. He and nine others were arrested for a firebombing
Firebombing
Firebombing is a bombing technique designed to damage a target, generally an urban area, through the use of fire, caused by incendiary devices, rather than from the blast effect of large bombs....
, charged with conspiracy and arson, and convicted in 1976. Chavis drew the longest sentence, 34 years. They were locked up for nearly ten years, receiving international attention, until the conviction was overturned in 1980.
Benjamin Chavis and nine others in 1978 were referred to as “American political prisoner
Political prisoner
According to the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, a political prisoner is ‘someone who is in prison because they have opposed or criticized the government of their own country’....
s” by Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
as members of the Wilmington Ten
Wilmington Ten
The Wilmington Ten were a group of civil rights activists who spent nearly a decade in jail after being convicted of arson and conspiracy in 1971. The case became an international cause celebre amidst widespread beliefs that the individuals in the case were only guilty of holding dissenting...
. Although Chavis and his teenage codefendants were unjustly imprisoned in NC for most of the 1970s because of their challenge to racial segregation in the Wilmington public school system, the Wilmington Ten emerged victorious after nearly a ten-year international political and legal battle when the 4th Circuit US Court of Appeals overturned their convictions and cleared their names.
From this experience he wrote two books: An American Political Prisoner Appeals for Human Rights (while still in prison) and Psalms from Prison.
In 1978, he was named one of the first winners of the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award
Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award
The Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award is awarded annually by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Policy Studies. It is awarded to those advancing the cause of human rights in the Americas. The Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award commemorates Orlando Letelier and Ronni Moffitt, who in 1976...
.
Environmental racism
Because of Dr. Chavis' scientific background, in 1981, he was the first person to coin the term environmental racismEnvironmental racism
Environmental racism is a sociological term referring to policies and regulations that disproportionately burden minority communities with negative environmental impacts....
: “Racial discrimination in the deliberated targeting of ethnic and minority communities for exposure to toxic and hazardous waste sites and facilities, coupled with the systematic exclusion of minorities in environmental policy making, enforcement, and remediation.” To prove the validity of his definition, Chavis in 1986 conducted and published the landmark national study: Toxic Waste and Race in the United States of America, that statistically revealed the direct correlation between race and the location of toxic waste throughout the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Benjamin Chavis is considered by many environmental grassroots activists to be the “father of the post-modern environmental justice movement” that has steadily grown throughout the nation and world since the early 1980s.
National Council of Churches
In 1988, Dr. Chavis was elected Vice President of the National Council of ChurchesNational Council of Churches
The National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA is an ecumenical partnership of 37 Christian faith groups in the United States. Its member denominations, churches, conventions, and archdioceses include Mainline Protestant, Orthodox, African American, Evangelical, and historic peace...
. He also served as chairman of its Prophetic Justice unit.
NAACP
In 1993, Dr. Chavis became the youngest Executive Director and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored PeopleNational Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
(NAACP). Dr. Chavis is a life member of the NAACP and first joined at the age of 12 as a youth leader of the Granville County Branch of the NAACP, in his home town of Oxford, North Carolina. IN 1994, he was also the first person fired from the NAACP after spending $64,000 from the then debt ridden organization to pay a breach of contract claim layered with allegations of sexual harassment.
National African American Leadership Summit (NAALS)
After his departure from the NAACP, Dr. Chavis convened two summit conferences of civil rights leaders. The first took place in Baltimore in August, 1994, and the second summit took place in Chicago in December, 1994. These summits led to the foundation of the National African American Leadership SummitNational African American Leadership Summit
The National African American Leadership Summit emerged out a series of unification meetings initiated by Dr. Benjamin Chavis, who was the Executive Director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People .After Dr...
(NAALS) in June, 1995. Dr. Chavis convened a meeting at Texas Southern University in Houston in June to adopt a constitution and by-laws for NAALS. Chavis served as Executive Director and CEO of the National African American Leadership Summit
National African American Leadership Summit
The National African American Leadership Summit emerged out a series of unification meetings initiated by Dr. Benjamin Chavis, who was the Executive Director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People .After Dr...
from 1995 to 1997 during which he directed the organization, planning and implementation of the Million Man March.
Million man march
In 1995, Dr. Chavis was the National Director of the Million Man March Organizing Committee that conceived, designed, arranged and promoted the Million Man MarchMillion Man March
The Million Man March was a gathering of social activists, en masse, held on and around the National Mall in Washington, D.C. on October 16, 1995...
. He drew upon his years of experience as an advocate for African-American equality to help this political march reach its goals of increased political activity and awareness of issues by African Americans.
Newspaper and radio
Chavis wrote a nationally syndicated newspaper column Civil Rights Journal from 1985 to 1993. At the same time, he produced and hosted a radio program of the same name.Nation of Islam
Chavis joined the Nation of IslamNation of Islam
The Nation of Islam is a mainly African-American new religious movement founded in Detroit, Michigan by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad in July 1930 to improve the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of African-Americans in the United States of America. The movement teaches black pride and...
in 1997.
He was then appointed East Coast Regional Minister of the Nation of Islam and Minister of the historic Mosque Number Seven in Harlem, New York because of its association with Malcolm X
Malcolm X
Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...
. Today, Dr. Chavis is no longer connected with the Nation of Islam, and he works with Inter-Faith efforts as well as ecumenical movements to establish better levels of understanding between Christians, Jews, and Muslims.
Hip-Hop
The journey into the Hip-Hop culture actually had its roots for Chavis dating back to 1969 when he was the proprietor and regular “DJ” and “MC” for The Soul Kitchen Disco in his hometown of Oxford, NC. In the 1970s, Chavis envisioned that there was a direct connection between the urban underground music and the post-civil rights era. During the 1980s, Chavis witnessed the growing popularity of hip-hop with disenfranchised youth entrapped into urban poverty.While serving as a mentor to Sister Souljah
Sister Souljah
Sister Souljah is an American hip hop-generation author, activist, recording artist, and film producer. She gained prominence for Bill Clinton's criticism of her remarks about race in the United States during the 1992 presidential campaign...
, Kevin Powell
Kevin Powell
Kevin Powell is an American political activist, poet, writer, and entrepreneur. Powell is also a nationally recognized activist who speaks against violence against girls and women, appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show in March 2009...
, Little Rob, Ras Baraka and other hip-hop activists, Chavis met Russell Simmons
Russell Simmons
-External links:** * * * * * * from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum* *...
and Lyor Cohen
Lyor Cohen
Lyor Cohen is the North American Chairman and CEO of Recorded Music for Warner Music Group . He has been a pioneer in the development of hip hop music and influential in the development of hip hop music acts, including Beastie Boys, Foxy Brown, LL Cool J, Jam Master Jay, Nas, Run-D.M.C...
in 1986 at Def Jam Records. As head of the NAACP in 1993, he worked with Run DMC to mobilize youth voters. Thus, it made perfect sense when hip-hop's premier video director, Hype Williams
Hype Williams
Harold "Hype" Williams , previously known as HYPE, is an American music video and film director of African-American and Honduran descent. His nickname "Hype" comes from his hyperactive nature as a child....
, cast Chavis in the pivotal role as the “Rev. Saviour” in the 1998 hip-hop classic movie “Belly
Belly (film)
Belly is a 1998 film, the film directorial debut of music video director Hype Williams. Filmed in New York City as an urban drama, the film stars rappers DMX and Nas, alongside with Taral Hicks, Method Man dancehall artist Louie Rankin, R&B singer T-Boz...
,” which starred superstar hip-hop artists Nas
Nas
Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones, who performs under the name Nas , formerly Nasty Nas, is an American rapper and actor. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in hip hop and one of the most skilled and influential rappers of all-time...
, Method Man
Method Man
Clifford Smith , better known by his stage name Method Man is an American hip hop artist, record producer, actor and member of the hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He took his stage name from the 1979 film The Fearless Young Boxer, also known as Method Man. He is one half of the rap duo Method Man...
and DMX
DMX (rapper)
Earl Simmons , better known by his stage name DMX, is a multiplatinum American rapper and actor who rose to fame in the late 1990s. His stage name pays tribute to the Oberheim DMX drum machine, an instrument he used when he made his own rap beats in the 80's...
.
More recently he performed the Intro and Outro to Jim Jones
Jim Jones
James Warren "Jim" Jones was the founder and leader of the Peoples Temple, which is best known for the November 18, 1978 mass suicide of 909 Temple members in Jonestown, Guyana along with the killings of five other people at a nearby airstrip.Jones was born in Indiana and started the Temple in...
and the Diplomats 2004 hip-hop album, “On My Way to Church.” In 2005, he was the spoken word artist feature in Cassidy's latest platinum selling album ”I'm A Hustler.” When Chavis helped organize both the Million Man March (1995) and Million Family March
Million Family March
The Million Family March was a rally in Washington D.C to celebrate family unity and racial and religious harmony; as well as to address other issues, including abortion, capital punishment, health care, education, welfare and Social Security reform, substance abuse prevention, and overhaul of the...
(2000), Russell Simmons
Russell Simmons
-External links:** * * * * * * from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum* *...
worked with him to mobilize hip-hop leaders to support the marches. Ultimately, the two men realized they had a similar vision for this generation of hip-hop youth, and to that end, they created the first national "Hip-Hop Summit" in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, from which grew the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN).
One-and-a-half years later, the HSAN is the largest and broadest national coalition of hip-hop artists, recording industry executives, youth activists and civil rights leaders. With the support of the major hip-hop labels, the Recording Industry Association of America
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...
(RIAA) and others, the HSAN has sponsored successful "Hip-Hop Summits" in New York, New York, Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
, Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, Washington, DC, Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, Seattle, Washington, and Dallas, Texas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
. A 2004 event in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
was not so successful.
Meetings with the Federal Trade Commission
Federal Trade Commission
The Federal Trade Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, established in 1914 by the Federal Trade Commission Act...
(FTC), Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC), vocal stands before the U.S. Congress on the unconstitutionality of censoring rap lyrics, the development of literacy programs, Youth Councils, voter registration drives in conjunction with Rap The Vote, the voice for the poor, and the fight for children's public education, fill Chavis' days (and nights).
In 2002 Dr. Chavis and the HSAN joined the United Federation of Teachers
United Federation of Teachers
The United Federation of Teachers is the labor union that represents most educators in New York City public schools. , there were about 118,000 in-service educators and 17,000 paraprofessionals in the union, as well as about 54,000 retired members...
and the New York Alliance for Quality Education (AQE) to organize the largest public demonstration since New York City Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
took office.
The Washington Post reported, “Hip-hop's brightest stars, from P. Diddy to Jay-Z
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and occasional actor. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $450 million as of 2010...
to Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys
Alicia Augello Cook , better known by her stage name Alicia Keys, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and occasional actress. She was raised by a single mother in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City. At age seven, Keys began playing the piano...
, lent a little star power today to a demonstration by roughly 100,000 students, teachers and rap fans who crammed eight blocks outside City Hall to protest drastic school budget cuts proposed by the new mayor.”
Recently, Chavis joined “Sex and the City
Sex and the City
Sex and the City is an American television comedy-drama series created by Darren Star and produced by HBO. Broadcast from 1998 until 2004, the original run of the show had a total of ninety-four episodes...
” star Cynthia Nixon
Cynthia Nixon
Cynthia Ellen Nixon is an American actress, known for her portrayal of Miranda Hobbes in the HBO series Sex and the City . She has received two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Emmy Awards, a Tony Award, and a Grammy Award....
, actor Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
and Russell Simmons
Russell Simmons
-External links:** * * * * * * from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum* *...
to demand adequate funding for education across the state of New York.
The Hip-Hop Summit Action Network has benefited greatly from the leadership of Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., and the feeling is mutual: “The hip-hop generation is the most talented and socially conscious generation of youth that has ever emerged on the world stage to demand respect and justice for all,” he said.
Dr. Chavis was a spokesperson for TI's Respect My Vote campaign, and introduced TI's performance at the 2008 Famu Homecoming Concert in Tallahassee Florida that was hosted by FAMU and Blazin 102.3.
Other memberships
- CEO and founder of the National African American Leadership SummitNational African American Leadership SummitThe National African American Leadership Summit emerged out a series of unification meetings initiated by Dr. Benjamin Chavis, who was the Executive Director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People .After Dr...
- Chairman of the Prophetic Justice Unit of the NCC
- Co-Chair of the Southern Organizing Committee for Economic/Social Justice
- President of the Angolan Foundation
- Co-Founder of the National Black Independent Political Party
- President of the Board of the Washington Office on Africa
- Member of the Clinton/Gore Transition Team for the National Resources Center
Personal
Dr. Chavis is married to Martha Rivera Chavis and the father of eight children, three of whom are by his first wife the late Jackie Bullock Chavis.He is a member of Phi Beta Sigma
Phi Beta Sigma
Phi Beta Sigma is a predominantly African-American fraternity which was founded at Howard University in Washington, D.C. on January 9, 1914, by three young African-American male students. The founders A. Langston Taylor, Leonard F. Morse, and Charles I...
fraternity.
Chavis's great-great-grandfather, educator Reverend John Chavis
John Chavis
John Chavis was a black educator and Presbyterian minister in the American South during the early 19th century.-Early life:The exact date of Chavis's birth is not known. It is believed that he was born in either 1762 or 1763...
, was the first African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
ordained Presbyterian minister.
He has told an interviewer he reads books on chemistry, for pleasure.
Popular culture
Dr. Chavis appeared as the "Minister" in Hype WilliamsHype Williams
Harold "Hype" Williams , previously known as HYPE, is an American music video and film director of African-American and Honduran descent. His nickname "Hype" comes from his hyperactive nature as a child....
' 1998 movie "Belly
Belly (film)
Belly is a 1998 film, the film directorial debut of music video director Hype Williams. Filmed in New York City as an urban drama, the film stars rappers DMX and Nas, alongside with Taral Hicks, Method Man dancehall artist Louie Rankin, R&B singer T-Boz...
".
Dr. Chavis appeared in skits on Jim Jones
Jim Jones
James Warren "Jim" Jones was the founder and leader of the Peoples Temple, which is best known for the November 18, 1978 mass suicide of 909 Temple members in Jonestown, Guyana along with the killings of five other people at a nearby airstrip.Jones was born in Indiana and started the Temple in...
' debut album "On My Way to Church
On My Way to Church
On My Way to Church is the debut album by rapper Jim Jones. It was released on August 24, 2004. The album debuted at #18 on the Billboard 200 with 44,000 copies sold in the first week released.-Tracks:...
", as well as the track "Concrete Jungle" on Jones' third studio album, "Hustler's P.O.M.E."
Dr. Chavis has been mistakenly listed as being the voice during the chorus on "Ringing Bells", a track from Masta Killa
Masta Killa
Jamel Arief , better known as Masta Killa, is an American rapper and member of the Wu-Tang Clan...
's album Made In Brooklyn
Made in Brooklyn
Made in Brooklyn is the second solo studio album by Wu-Tang Clan member Masta Killa, released on August 8, 2006 on Nature Sounds Records. Recording sessions took place during 2004 to 2006. Production was handled by Pete Rock, Bronze Nazareth, Whyz Ruler and MF Doom, as well as guest appearances...
. It is actually Minister Louis Farrakhan's voice used on the track.
Dr. Chavis also appeared on a track called "The Message" on Cassidy's I'm A Hustla
I'm a Hustla
-Singles:-Samples:"I'm a Hustla"*"Dirt off Your Shoulder" by Jay-Z"Can't Fade Me"* "Brown Baby" by Diana Ross"So Long"*"Ain't It Good Feeling Good" performed by Eloise Laws"Get 'Em"*"Getaway" written by Peter Cor & Beloyd Taylor"The Message"...
.
Dr. Chavis appeared in Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
's film about the Million Man March, Get on the Bus
Get on the Bus
Get on the Bus is a 1996 film about a group of African-American men who are taking a cross-country bus trip in order to participate in the Million Man March. The film was directed by Spike Lee and premiered on the one-year anniversary of the march....
.
Dr. Chavis is featured as the protagonist in the critically acclaimed autobiographical work by Tim Tyson, Blood Done Sign My Name
Blood Done Sign My Name
Blood Done Sign My Name is an autobiographical work of history written by Timothy B. Tyson while he was a professor of Afro-American studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The book, published in 2004 and based in part on an M.A...
and the critically acclaimed film where the part of the young Benjamin Chavis is played by Nate Parker
Nate Parker
Nate Parker is an American actor and musical performer who has appeared in The Secret Life of Bees, The Great Debaters, and Pride. In his recent roles, he has performed alongside Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker and Terrence Howard. Parker has overcome turbulence and turmoil in his life both as...
.
The Story of The Wilmington 10
External links
- The HistoryMakers Biography of Ben Chavis.
- Official Site For Hip-Hop Action Network
- UCC Article on Chavis Muhammad
- The Rise and Demise of Ben Chavis at the NAACP
- Questioning Chavis Muhammad-Benjamin Chavis Muhammad, Nation of Islam
- NAACP Is Out of Touch and in Need of Overhaul
- Ben Chavis joins the Nation of Islam
- The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press