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, a small community of predominantly
African-American sharecroppers and tenant farmers. He died in 1964 in Washington, DC. His father was a gospel singer and
self-ordained Baptist minister who left his wife and four children to pursue the
call to spread the word.
In 1928, when he was nineteen, Hampton moved to Washington,
D.C., to live with an older
brother Lee. Drafted into the Army in 1942, he served with a segregated unit
that maintained airstrips in Saipan and 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.
Hampton was raised as a fundamentalist
Baptist, but he disliked the concept of a denominational God and attended a
variety of the city’s churches. As early as 1931, Hampton
believed that he began receiving visions from God, and by 1945 it appears he
had made one small, shrine-like object while stationed on Guam.
This piece became part of his larger work, and is now placed in front of the
center pulpit.
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.
Hampton worked almost every day on his
project, often starting his work at midnight after completing his janitorial
duties. He continued his efforts until he died in 1964. The Throne was
discovered and brought to the public's attention after his death by the owner
of the garage he wanted to find out why the rent was not paid. It is most
likely Hampton's
monument to his faith might not be completely finished. For 14 years, Hampton had been building a throne out of
various old materials like aluminum and gold foil, old furniture, various
pieces of cardboard, old light bulbs, shards of mirror and old desk
blotters. Amazingly, he had pinned it
together with tacks, glue, pins and tape.
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.
