The Second Moses: The Messianic Tradition in James Hampton’s Throne of the Third Heaven Wendy Eller Kagey
In December 1964, the doors of a slum warehouse at 1133 1909 in Elloree, South Carolina.2 Little is known of his child- Seventh Street NW, Washington, D.C., were opened to reveal hood or early education, except that he was one of four chil- the glittering vision of The Throne of the Third Heaven of the dren of James Hampton, Sr., an African-American Baptist min- Nations Millennium General Assembly (Figure 1), created by ister and gospel singer.3 Although it is not certain if Hampton James Hampton (Figure 2), a religious recluse who claimed regularly attended church services as a boy in Elloree, his God had visited him regularly. Prior to its discovery, people father’s participation does, in fact, speak for such an involve- curious enough to ask Hampton what lay behind those doors ment. Furthermore, the inside back cover of Hampton’s Bible were told that this “is the secret part of my life.”1 When this found in the precincts of The Throne reads: “Instruct a child secret later became public, The Throne was acknowledged as in the way he should go, and when he grows old he will not one of the most extraordinary religious visionary pieces in twen- leave it.” tieth century American art. The poor living conditions in South Carolina forced Hamp- The discovery of The Throne created many iconographic ton to move to Washington, D.C. in 1928. On arriving there, he problems for scholars. Hampton had few friends and never began to frequent the Mt. Airy Baptist Church (North Capital married. Pertinent records and documents concerning and L Streets) where he encountered the Reverend A.J. Tyler, Hampton’s early life and upbringing were lost in a fire in St. one of the most influential African-American ministers in the Louis and family members were reluctant to talk to anyone. Washington, D.C. area.4 Tyler preached regularly in the church Thus, much of the information had to come from The Throne from 1906 until his death in 1936, so that Hampton would seem itself. In various publications, Lynda Roscoe Hartigan has dis- to have been considerably influenced by his “fervent sermons.”5 cussed Hampton’s role as a visionary artist, his fundamental Probably affected by the hardship of the Great Depression in Baptist background, his interpretation of the millennium, grace, 1929, Hampton became more and more contemplative, becom- the second coming, and his close affinities to St. John (author ing a visionary. He had his first vision in 1931, at the age of of the Book of Revelation). In his book Flash of the Spirit, Dr. twenty two and only three years after his arrival in D.C. He was Robert Farris Thompson draws attention to Hampton’s reliance drafted into the army in 1942 and sent to Guam where his re- on Kongo-American methods of grave decorations such as the sponsibilities included minor carpentry and maintenance of wrapping of jars and discarded furniture with gold and silver airstrips.6 The first parts of The Throne would seem to have foil. Stephen Jay Gould, on the other hand, links The Throne’s been made around this time; for a stand in the assemblage has design and arrangement to the traditional biblical concept of a label that reads: “Made in Guam, April 14, 1945.” Because time and its meaning for human history. This paper will con- this piece is relatively small and could easily be disassembled, centrate on how The Throne conforms with and deviates from it may have been transported to Washington, D.C., although the conventional interpretation of the Book of Revelation. there is no evidence to substantiate that it was made in Guam.7 James Hampton’s telling faith may well have resulted from After being honorably discharged in 1945 and awarded a his religious upbringing and life experiences. He was born in bronze star, Hampton returned to Washington, D.C. In 1946,
1 Lynda Roscoe Hartigan, “‘The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Na- 4 Although it does not appear that Hampton officially belonged to Tyler’s tions Millennium General Assembly’” (Montgomery, Ala.: Montgom- congregation, he did live in the church’s neighborhood and Tyler was a ery Museum of Fine Arts, 1977) 6. widely known minister in the Washington, D.C. African-American com- munity. 2 As an intern at the National Museum of American Art in the 1970s, Michael Quigley points out that it was not a law in South Carolina to 5 James Dickinson of Washington, D.C., personal interview with author, record births until 1915. Therefore, there is no record of James Hamp- 21 September 1993. According to Mr. Dickinson, Reverend Tyler could ton in Elloree, South Carolina. As Lynda Roscoe Hartigan asserts in her raise anyone’s “Christian fervor.” essays on The Throne, Hampton was inconsistent with his birth date on a number of his job applications, but this date appears most frequently, 6 Hartigan 7. and is the one accepted by such scholars. 7 The measurement of this stand is 21 1/2 inches (wing span) x 12 inches 3 Hartigan 6. x 17 1/2 inches. THE SECOND MOSES: THE MESSIANIC TRADITION IN JAMES HAMPTON’S THRONE OF THE THIRD HEAVEN
a year after his return from war, he resumed life as a civilian motifs appear throughout The Throne, including trinity sym- and was hired by the General Services Administration as a bols, drawings, and diagrams set into a monstrance. Freestand- janitor.8 In 1950 he rented the garage space where the major- ing large angel or bird images are often placed at the top of ity of The Throne was discovered fourteen years later in 1964.9 stands arranged throughout the work. Hampton obviously conceived of himself as a messenger In view of these parallels, some scholars associate The of God. The Throne is a reflection of his divine service and his Throne with traditional Christian fundamentalism, a movement belief in a millennium, as well as other biblical passages. Con- that swept through the United States in the early part of this structed principally of old furniture and a variety of objects century, calling for a literal interpretation of the Bible.13 How- covered in gold and silver foil and purple craft paper, The ever, by claiming to have received physical visitations from Throne celebrates, forewarns, and instructs the viewer about God, Hampton has not followed the literal meaning of John the second coming of Christ. In addition to the construction 1:16 and Exodus 33:20, among others, where it is stated that no of The Throne, the artist also created accessories such as man has or will see God and live to profess it.14 Furthermore, crowns, decorative panels, leg holders, and wall plaques. As by adding to the word of God in his manuscripts entitled “Book part of his piece, he wrote a series of notes in a personal script of the Seven Dispensations” (Figure 5), “Second Set of Com- that has not yet been deciphered. mandments,” and “Millennial Laws for Peace on Earth,” Hamp- Hampton’s knowledge of the Book of Revelation and Chris- ton has deviated from traditional and literal interpretations of tian doctrine is subtle yet sophisticated. The title, arrangement, passages such as Revelation 22:18 and Deuteronomy 4:2, among and components of his work give evidence to the scope of his others, that warn against adding to or omitting from the word remarkable comprehension of one of the most complex, con- of God.15 These deviations seem to reflect not only Hampton’s troversial, and least understood books of Scripture. The Book personal visions but also Christian theology as reinterpreted of Revelation tells of the second coming of Christ and the Last by the Black Church in an attempt to provide solace for Afri- Judgement where God appears enthroned and surrounded by can-Americans in their struggle for freedom and civil rights. angels. The “Third Heaven” in Hampton’s title refers to the During slavery, the Black Church compared the circum- biblical abode of God. As described in Genesis, Matthew, and stances of slavery and racial discrimination with the enslaved II Corinthians, the “Third Heaven” is of God; the Heaven of Hebrew nation in Egypt as recorded in the Book of Exodus. Heavens. The term “Nations Millennium,” also part of African-Americans saw themselves, like their biblical counter- Hampton’s title, suggests the day of judgement for all nations, parts, as an oppressed people, denied their rightful place in the which will be called together at a “General Assembly.”10 history of civilization.16 This perspective continued into the early The Book of Revelation also refers to pre-Messianic proph- parts of the twentieth century, despite the abolition of slavery, esies and unfulfilled predictions, and these ideas are symboli- surviving in various forms today, and has been used to cope cally reflected in the composition of The Throne.11 Such dis- with the realities of racial discrimination and other injustices. tinctions between pre- and post-Christian era can be seen in the As James Evans, Jr. puts it: labels in the left (Figure 3) referring to Christ, the New Testa- Both the call of Moses (Exodus 3:1-17) and ment, and grace, and those on the right (Figure 4) side referring the missiological declaration of Jesus (Luke to Moses, the Old Testament, and the law.12 Similarly, the wall 4:16-30), the scriptural touchstones of Afri- plaques on the left bear the name of the apostles, and those on can-American Christianity, reflect the inher- the right, the names of the prophets. A variety of metaphorical ent connection between God’s self-disclosure
8 James Hampton’s service and government records were lost in a fire in 14 John 1:16 New American Standard: “No man has seen God at any time; St. Louis. the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has explained Him.” Exodus 33:22 NAS: “But He said, ‘You cannot see my face, for no 9 This garage was located at 1133 N Street NW, which has since been man can see Me and Live!’” razed. 15 Revelation 22:18 NAS: “I testify to everyone who hears the word of the 10 Hartigan 7. prophesy of this book; if anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book.” Deuteronomy 4:2 NAS: “You 11 Pre-Messianic prophesies include: Christ’s virgin birth, his role as the shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor shall you Savior, and the conditions of his death. Some of the unfulfilled proph- take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your esies include: the rapture, Christ’s second coming, the millennium, and God which I command you.” the day of judgement. 16 Wilson Jeremiah Moses, Black Messiahs and Uncle Toms: Social and 12 The left refers to the viewer’s left and the right refers to the viewer’s Literary Manipulations of a Religious Myth (University Park, PA: The right. Pennsylvania State UP, 1982) 34-35.
13 According to George Marsden in Fundamentalism and American Cul- 17 James Evans, Jr., We Have Been Believers: An African-American Sys- ture: The Shaping of Twentieth Century Evangelicalism: 1870-1925, tematic Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992) 11. African-Americans were not even part of the beginnings of the Funda- mentalist movement in America.
61 ATHANOR XV WENDY ELLER KAGEY
and the manifestation of God’s liberating in- Moses and Hampton contemplated the greatness of God and tentions in the context of a people who suf- the sinfulness of man, since each was amazed that God should fer under the yoke of oppression.17 deign to dwell with men. It may very well be, though we are not sure at the moment, that Preachers of the Black Church not only associated the plight Reverend Tyler interpreted this aspect of Black theology in ways of African-Americans with that of their biblical Israelites in that had a lasting impact on James Hampton. Egypt, but also identified them as a messianic race.20 The idea It is significant that Hampton’s first vision that occurred of Jesus Christ as the suffering servant who died and was later on 11 April, 1931 was about Moses (Figure 6): “This is true resurrected to eternal glory has deep cultural roots in African- that the great Moses, the giver of the Ten Commandments ap- American theology, developing during slavery and continu- peared in Washington, D.C. April 11, 1931.” Could it be that ing throughout the civil rights movement. Symbolically equat- Hampton saw himself as another Moses? Certain intriguing ing African-American slavery with the suffering Christ, the parallels exist between these two men. Moses is known as the Black Church uses the idea of His second coming, as revealed giver of the Law, similarly, Hampton may have regarded him- in the Book of Revelation, to reinforce the hopes of the down- self as the “second giver of the Law.” Moses transcribed nu- trodden of a glorious future. Traditionally, for the newly con- merous covenants with God and authored the first five books verted African slaves, apocalyptic language reflected an an- of the Bible. Likewise, Hampton recorded an “Old and New cient cosmology that put God firmly in charge of the universe. Covenant.”18 Since Moses led God’s chosen people out of bond- Furthermore, this language did not simply tell the future, it age and into the promised land, Hampton might have seen him- told a story.21 The Messiah embodies the hopes and dreams of self as a deliverer, a shepherd destined to lead his people to the an oppressed people as well as the promise of divine favor. “promised land” of heaven, through a church he had planned to The key to understanding this experience lies in the relation establish. Some scholars have suggested that The Throne might between the biblical notion of the Messiah and the various have been intended to serve as the altarpiece of that church. heroic figures that empower the African-American experi- Perhaps the most compelling association between Moses ence—from Nat Turner, to Booker T. Washington, to Joe Louis, and Hampton is the instruction they both presumably received to Martin Luther King, and for James Hampton, even the Rev- from God to build a tabernacle or throne. During the Old Tes- erend A.J. Tyler. To African-American Christians, the Mes- tament period, the tabernacle was the place God dwelt and siah, then, was endowed with the power to usher in a new age, met His people after the exodus from Egypt. possibly a third millennium, in which the powers of this world The Throne can also be considered a symbolic dwelling would be vanquished, sinners punished, and the righteous re- for Christ’s second coming. For instance, it shares many for- warded.22 Christ and His second coming, are the signs of the mal characteristics with the Jewish tabernacle. Each is arranged revolutionary intentions of God in a world gone awry. symmetrically with specified furnishings, such as altar stands, The apocalyptic language found in the Bible, particularly tables and lamp stands, that are all covered in gold or silver. the Book of Revelation, with its striking and colorful images of Analogous to Hampton’s central throne chair is the tabernacle’s a radically different future, became the cornerstone of African- ark of the covenant. Both are referred to as the “mercy seat” American public Christian discourse.23 For many African- and are considered the key element in their assemblages. Two Americans after Reconstruction and during the early part of large winged adornments are located on either side of Hampton’s the twentieth century when racial discrimination and civil in- throne chair (Figure 7). Similarly, two massive cherubim were justices were rampant, this apocalyptic discourse continued to placed on the ends of the Mosaic mercy seat. According to be preached at the pulpit. They spoke of Christ’s return to lead descriptions in the Book of Exodus, these cherubim most likely his people home, just as Moses had done with the Israelites. had a human shape with the exception of their wings. They are For African-Americans like James Hampton, in the twentieth always depicted in a standing position, but unlike the two fig- century, the story of God’s rectification of the world called him ures in The Throne, these angel-like creatures are facing one into creative participation in the journey toward the promised another looking down upon the mercy seat with their wings land, the new Jerusalem. forward in a brooding position.19 Ultimately, both the taber- By the time of his death in 1964, Hampton had witnessed nacle and The Throne were intended as symbols of the true the imminent threat of nuclear war (1945), the civil rights move- grace of God. By constructing their “tabernacles” to God, both ment in the 1950s and 1960s and ultimately the march in
18 This writing appears on plaques, tags, and notebooks and is in a cryptic 21 Evans 146. code, not yet deciphered. 22 Evans 79. 19 For further elaboration on the Mosaic mercy seat’s description, please refer to Exodus 25:20 and Deuteronomy 32:11. 23 Evans 146.
20 Wilson Jeremiah Moses 76.
62 \\.,,bl.ton. O.C. of Or. Mnrtm l..ahct Ki n,:. Jr. ( 1963). alM,I tl.g.hm,u1;11,cu ol Cod .-ind J'-""'U\ (.1vht. 'nae gold 39d sih·er lhir .,,~,in•t0n ot Jolm P K1,."flnt.-d) (196)) " Scciri, link or v. tJp1>i•as nNJiw n a'l)'Qnio.,.. hp, C\'Oloni lhe nu:minous 1w, ho1,c m 1h,~ •"Ofid. pert.3.1~ con, in~ 1ml 1hc t'nd of time and lr.Keendcrul, :md :mnounciQ.S; 3\ it wne. lhc :lf'l)l"(J;ll."h 'A':b :lpfWOxhutg. .\M llllbC1p.Jt.111g Chmt's J"elum. l lai1'Jll()i, or the Gre111. Sn,'°' •ho,,. c.,pccttd co gl\'e ho1:it 10 fht hopc (l}ftqtuncd 71tt 71'tWWN• tf 1/'w 7'lul'tl /k-(owt <( ll1.- N
f°ipic I J-11:wpoa,. n.. n,,..-ll{N 1"-' 11~,n, ..,,,.., ~.... , M:'lh!11,-_ W'flt,.ilA1kWN'Y., lc>50 I_. llli..,N """'1i1.. 'oli.JUI M..ntum c( ~-A.rt.~l.. llo.i11._,o,.ndA~-.~ 11,-2,llfY•r~l'-'iPll,1,....,.._t) mo.. "'•-.&Mlll.c-.ot Ao•-•• NI, S-,1'-u,i lni,b...,._ H,-: 3. (.,,_.,. ",l..WI hniB flrnlpl°" 1¥ n,__. ,(* n-4 ll,,,ttt1 ,{.,_ "°"'"'r .u.u,.,_11.., (;(ti,,_ IUMIIN'I. iO ~""'rw,~ lkwlt. r l',l~l'l(.t. 11-.ed ...... _ ~ ,-~.. ()( Amaw-.v, Alt. ~" _ ,_.,..,(116ol~-ou,Oooo,., t ,,-"" 11'/IJ l..it"' lli11llfll!n, Ht ~ #f dtit 111., lltWtffl II{ti# A-_.. ,41-Jk-~,w,l A.-..t,I\ t,(: A,~.. i.,11. ,r, W,O.. f'9M, ffllwd Mlldl1 ".ih1.I t..tlllo(- ( 1( ...,_.ntlll AA. 'J t lft lallalllit1._ Gdl« ,._)'_ I~ ~ S 1.-.,,.-rl-,Mh~ ,...... ,n,,. n,-((tllr 1"""' JI,-,,. tl(r.\t ,,...,. .MiN,,.,i,_ Otw,tN .\oti,,Hy. 6w,4 lfl/ ,w ktta lli.-,1.-w., (dicudl. .- l't:'41'1E-', -'C'd rMk. ~ Mu-m Ill,._._ A,i, ~ h!otWllt .., 1!tla.'CI, Gil\ vi A~t1io. Doaltl~
I lfVre • l/411f'ff nt'WJ ~ Kin~. n.., n .._., Jflt lltW H1m.- iJ N ,V-.. ¥1/1,- Gt-- Lutnltf>•, /,lmt1 4.rt.t,,,.,.n- l«'I... "· 1m.1-.., ""'~ aed.a. ~...... 1 "'~ ol Anlen.::• M..S-.~ ln ◄mo:, C.or A~-°""'...,·
ficvn: 1 ltdll ,...,.... tt..m,...... , nir n,-,,,, 1tv ,.,,., u~ ft II/ m, ~#1l"--Gt-'A.w...,,. n...-o.u,~ .... ,.19~1w.t 11•-ud ~ lia , ._.,...,. \lu~ d ~ An. S•1h..,_11t lt\lj~