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Few people have about James Hampton. I stumble across the name and his works myself. Whatever reason people are kept in obscurity, we may never know. But there are so many people that has contributed to this world one way or another that their value may not be important to the masses. Yet, all of us are valuable to someone!
James Hampton was born in 1909 in Elloree , South
Carolina Washington , DC
In 1928, when he was nineteen, Hampton moved to Washington ,
D.C. Guam
during World War II. Hampton returned to Washington in 1945, and
began working a year later as a janitor for the General Services Administration. James
Hampton died of stomach cancer in 1964. Although he expressed interest in
finding "a holy woman," to assist with his life’s work he never
married and had few close friends.
His work on The Throne of
the Third Heaven of the Nations Millennium General Assembly probably began in
earnest around 1950, when he rented a garage in his northwest Washington neighborhood, which was also the
city's center of African-American business, religious, and night life. He had emblazoned the words Fear Not above
the central throne. The complete work consists of a total of 180 objects that
were donated anonymously to the SmithsonianAmerican Art Museum in 1970. Many of them were inscribed with words
from the Book of Revelation. The objects on the right side of the central
throne appear to refer to the New Testament; those on the left side, to
the Old Testament.
Although a humble man, Hampton often referred to
himself as "St. James." He gave himself the title of "Director, Special Projects for the State of Eternity ." He may have considered himself a prophet like
John, the author of The Book of Revelation, the biblical writing that inspired Hampton 's belief in the
Second Coming of Christ and his desire to build The Throne as a monument
to the return of Christ to earth.
What I found interesting is his notebook titled St. James:
The Book of the 7 Dispensation. Most of the text had been written in an
unknown script that remains undeciphered. The text is available online and has been the subject of
research. Some of this text, however,
had been accompanied by notes in English. In Hampton 's
writing, for example, he used the title "Director, Special Projects for
the State of Eternity "
and ended each page with the word "Revelation." Hampton had also written texts, some of which
refer to religious visions, on various pieces of paper and cardboard and on a
few pages in each of seven other notebooks.
