The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium general Assembly
by James Hampton
born Elboree, SC 1909, died Wash. DC, 1964
gold and silver alumninum foil, kraft paper and plastic over wood furniture, paperboard and glass
c. 1950-64
James Hampton
Little is known about James Hampton, despite the grandeur of his self-chosen title: "Director, Special Projects for the State of Eternity." He was born in 1909 in Elloree, SC, a small community of predominantly African-American sharecroppers and tenant farmers. His father, a gospel singer and self-ordained Baptist minister, left his wife and four chidren to pursue his itinerant calling.
In 1928 Hampton turned 19 and moved to Washington, DC to live with an older brother. Drafted into the Army in 1942, he served with a segregated unit that maintained aistrips in Saipan and Guam during World War II. Hampton returned to Washington in 1945 and worked as a janitor for the General Services Administration until his death in 1964.
Hampton was raised as a fundamentalist Baptist, but he dislikedt the concept of a denominational God and attended several churches in his northwest Washington neighborhood. As early as 1931, Hampton believed that he began receiving visions from God. It appears that by the time he returned from Guam in 1945, he had made one small, shrine-like object. this piece became part of his larger work and is now placed in front of the central tableau.
The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations' Millennium general Assembly
by James Hampton
born Elboree, SC 1909, died Wash. DC, 1964
gold and silver alumninum foil, kraft paper and plastic over wood furniture, paperboard and glass
c. 1950-64
James Hampton
Little is known about James Hampton, despite the grandeur of his self-chosen title: "Director, Special Projects for the State of Eternity." He was born in 1909 in Elloree, SC, a small community of predominantly African-American sharecroppers and tenant farmers. His father, a gospel singer and self-ordained Baptist minister, left his wife and four chidren to pursue his itinerant calling.
In 1928 Hampton turned 19 and moved to Washington, DC to live with an older brother. Drafted into the Army in 1942, he served with a segregated unit that maintained aistrips in Saipan and Guam during World War II. Hampton returned to Washington in 1945 and worked as a janitor for the General Services Administration until his death in 1964.
Hampton was raised as a fundamentalist Baptist, but he dislikedt the concept of a denominational God and attended several churches in his northwest Washington neighborhood. As early as 1931, Hampton believed that he began receiving visions from God. It appears that by the time he returned from Guam in 1945, he had made one small, shrine-like object. this piece became part of his larger work and is now placed in front of the central tableau.