Historian's Fight Reveals Black Buddhist Roots of World Religion

In Memphis, Tennessee, a profound historical and spiritual battle is unfolding around the legacy of Orange Mound, one of America's first communities built by and for Black Americans. NARA-honored historian and five-time world kickboxing champion Anthony "Amp" Elmore, founder of the Proud Black Buddhist World Association, is at the forefront of this struggle. He challenges the city's official 1890 founding date for Orange Mound, asserting it was actually established in 1879 by two Black churches, Mt. Moriah and Mt. Pisgah. Elmore argues this discrepancy is part of a broader systemic erasure of "Black Memphis History," exemplified by the city having a Cotton Museum but no dedicated Black history museum, despite the community's significant role, including hosting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1959.

Elmore's work extends far beyond local history into a global forensic reconstruction of spiritual origins. Drawing on the 1833 masterwork "Anacalypsis" by British historian Sir Godfrey Higgins, Elmore presents a revolutionary thesis: the foundation of all human civilization and spirituality is the "Negro Religion" of Buddhism. His lectures, such as the one provocatively titled "Christ was A Buddhist," argue that the celebrated "Black Buddha" was the primary savior figure for humanity, with distinct African features depicted in ancient icons across Asia and the Nile Valley. This research establishes that the "Black Buddha" is the original source from which all Western mythos—including the stories of Christ, Krishna, and Hermes—eventually flowed. Higgins' "Taxonomy of the Buddha" identifies the "Elder Buddha" as Hermes Trismegistus (the African Thoth), a master of the Nile Valley, and the "Younger Buddha" as Shakyamuni of India, both representing a unified Cushite (Kushite) spiritual science. Elmore asserts this proves the roots of the Christian church were planted in the soil of a Black Buddhist past.

This historical reclamation forms the intellectual foundation for Elmore's movement, which he defines as "Black Buddhism"—a sovereign, separate category distinct from "Blacks who practice Buddhism" under the agency of Asian-led sects. As the self-described "Father of Black Buddhism," Elmore created the world's first Black Buddhist website, proudblackbuddhist.org, and advocates for a practice grounded in "Black Agency" and the forensic truth of Buddhism's Cushite origins. This has led to significant conflict within broader Buddhist communities. In 2019, Elmore was expelled from the Facebook Black Buddhist Society, an event he and his supporters characterize as an example of "Black on Black Racism" and "cultural indoctrination" by gatekeepers like Nichiren Shu priest Myokei Shonin, who he accuses of upholding "Japanese Cultural Imperialism." Elmore's framework redefines Buddhism not as a foreign religion but as a "Sacred Science" and "Universal Physics" where "God and Science meet." He emphasizes that "True Buddhism is Education, not Meditation," interpreting the Lotus Sutra's core mantra, Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, as a scientific formula based on the laws of cause and effect and universal vibration. By connecting this ancient science to the resilience of the Black experience and figures he calls "Black Bodhisattvas" like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Elmore aims to provide the African Diaspora with a spiritual homecoming and a tool for "Independent Spiritual Sovereignty," transforming the local history of Orange Mound into a global "Capital of Sovereignty."