William Leo Hansberry (February 25, 1894 – November 3, 1965) was an American scholar, lecturer, and pioneering Afrocentrist. He was the elder brother of real estate broker Carl Augustus Hansberry, the uncle of award-winning playwright Lorraine Hansberry, and the great-granduncle of actress Taye Hansberry.

Life and Career

Hansberry was born in Gloster, Amite County, Mississippi, to Elden Hayes Hansberry and Pauline (Bailey) Hansberry. His father, a professor of agriculture at Alcorn A&M in Lorman, Mississippi, died when Hansberry was just three years old. He and his younger brother Carl were subsequently raised by their stepfather, Elijah Washington.

In 1915, Hansberry enrolled at Atlanta University, where a newly published collection of essays on race from the university’s Sociology Department deeply influenced his thinking. Another formative influence was W. E. B. Du Bois’s The Negro. After attempting to consult the book’s references, Hansberry discovered that Atlanta University’s library lacked adequate research materials. Dissatisfied, he left the institution only two weeks into his sophomore year and sought a better-equipped university open to Black students. He began studying at Harvard University in February 1917 and completed his undergraduate degree there in 1921.

Following graduation, Hansberry taught for one year at Straight College (now Dillard University) in New Orleans. In September 1922, he joined the faculty of Howard University, where he founded the African Civilization Section within the History Department.

Hansberry earned his master’s degree from Harvard in 1932 and pursued additional graduate studies at the University of Chicago, Oxford University, and Cairo University. Despite his extensive expertise, he was unable to complete a doctorate because no institution had faculty qualified to supervise a dissertation in his specialized field of African studies.

At Howard University, Hansberry taught courses on African civilizations and cultures. By the mid-1930s, he had gained international recognition as a leading scholar. Among his students were future African leaders Kwame Nkrumah, who later became Ghana’s first prime minister and president, and Nnamdi Azikiwe, who studied under Hansberry from 1928 to 1929 and later became Nigeria’s first president. In 1961, Azikiwe, then serving as Nigeria’s Governor-General, offered to finance the publication of Hansberry’s major work, The Rise and Decline of the Ethiopian Empire, in recognition of its significance.

Although his classes were widely popular, two senior faculty members accused Hansberry of presenting material without sufficient research support. Facing possible dismissal and the elimination of the African studies program, Hansberry presented extensive documentation to the Board of Trustees. While the program survived, his research funding was cut, and he did not receive tenure until 1938.

Despite conducting vast amounts of research throughout his career, Hansberry remained hesitant to publish his work. Former student and Howard University professor James Williams recalled in 1972 that Hansberry consistently declined publication requests, replying with a smile, “I am not ready yet.”

Hansberry retired from Howard University in June 1959.

Shahid Bolsen explains how the pursuit of the unrealistic goal of “ending racism” becomes a trap—one that leaves oppressed communities waiting on a moral transformation from their oppressors that is unlikely to ever happen.

Shahid Bolsen dismantles the sudden “expertise” around Sudan and the scripted smear of the GCC—especially the UAE. He lays out how narrative factories redirect anger toward Muslim governments, erase Sudanese agency, and sabotage Arab-African cohesion. The monologue tracks RSF’s long roots inside Sudan, the economics of illicit gold, the broken incentives of Western outrage cycles, and why real outcomes will come from regional negotiation—not imported scripts. It ends with a warning: America’s system is propped up like a body on a staff—it looks upright until it collapses.

The association arises from a 1991 video titled The Lazar Tape... and Excerpts from the Government Bible. In this video, Lazar claims to have read classified documents while working at the secret S-4 facility near Area 51. He alleges that these documents contained startling information about human history and religious origins that would challenge and potentially destabilize established religious beliefs.

                                      Image liked in the Movie Avatar:

Lazar's claims about the secret "government bible" include the following:

Humans are "containers": He alleged that the documents referred to humans as "containers" for something more, like souls or consciousness, from the alien perspective.

Alien involvement in human history: He claimed the documents discussed alien involvement in human affairs over the past 10,000 years.

Challenging religious views: Lazar suggested the information in the documents was sensitive because it could completely upend humanity's understanding of its own origins and religion.

Reliability of Lazar's claims

It is important to note that Lazar's testimony is considered a conspiracy theory and has been widely discredited by scientists and skeptics. The following points raise serious questions about his credibility:

Unverifiable credentials: Lazar claims to have master's degrees from MIT and Caltech, but there is no record of him attending either university.

No evidence of employment: Official records do not support his claims of employment at Los Alamos National Laboratory or the secret facilities near Area 51.

Element 115 discrepancy: While he famously mentioned Element 115 in 1989 before it was artificially created, the stable version he claimed aliens used does not match the highly unstable element later synthesized by scientists.

Robert Scott Lazar (/ləˈzɑːr/) is an American conspiracy theorist. In 1989, Lazar claimed to have been part of a classified US government project concerned with the reverse engineering of extraterrestrial technology; he also purported to have read government briefing documents that described alien involvement in human affairs over the past 10,000 years. A self-proclaimed physicist, Lazar supposedly worked at a secret site near the United States Air Force facility popularly known as Area 51. His story brought additional public attention to the facility and spawned conspiracy theories regarding government knowledge of extraterrestrial life.

Lazar has provided no evidence of alien life or technology, and his claims about his education and employment history are replete with fabrications. Lazar also has several criminal convictions: he was convicted in 1990 for his involvement in a prostitution ring, and again in 2006 for selling illegal chemicals. As well as being dismissed by skeptics, Lazar has been denounced by some ufologists.

Since 1989, Lazar has achieved public notoriety as an Area 51 conspiracy theorist. In May of that year, he appeared in an interview with investigative reporter George Knapp on Las Vegas TV station KLAS, under the pseudonym "Dennis" and with his face hidden, to discuss his purported employment at "S-4", a subsidiary facility he claimed exists near the Nellis Air Force Base installation known as Area 51. 

Lazar said that his job was to help with the reverse engineering of one of nine flying saucers, which he alleged were extraterrestrial in origin. He claims one of the flying saucers, the one he coined the "Sport Model", was manufactured out of a metallic substance similar in appearance and touch to liquid titanium.

In a subsequent interview that November, Lazar appeared unmasked and under his own name, where he claimed that his job interview for work at the facility was with contractor EG&G and that his employer was the United States Navy. EG&G stated it had no records on him. His supposed employment at a Nellis Air Force Base subsidiary has also been discredited by skeptics, as well as by the United States Air Force.

Lazar has claimed that the studied vehicle was fueled by the chemical element with atomic number 115 (E115), which had not yet been artificially created. E115 was first synthesized in 2003 and later named moscovium. Lazar said that the propulsion system relied on a stable isotope of E115. No stable isotopes of moscovium have yet been synthesized. All have proven extremely radioactive, decaying in a few hundred milliseconds.

An Area 51 gate

Lazar alleges that his employment and education records have been erased, an allegation that Friedman, Prothero and author Timothy D. Callahan consider implausible. His story has drawn significant media attention, controversy, supporters, and detractors. Lazar has presented no actual evidence of alien life or technology.

Lazar owns and operates United Nuclear Scientific Equipment and Supplies, a company that sells a variety of materials and chemicals. In 2017, Lazar's workplace was raided by the FBI and local police. The raid was reported as part of a murder investigation (in which Lazar is not listed as a suspect) to determine if United Nuclear sold thallium to a murder suspect in Michigan.

Criminal convictions

In 1990, Lazar was arrested for aiding and abetting a prostitution ring. This was reduced to felony pandering, to which he pleaded guilty. He was ordered to do 150 hours of community service, stay away from brothels, and undergo psychotherapy.

In 2006, Lazar and his wife were charged with violating the Federal Hazardous Substances Act for shipping restricted chemicals across state lines. The charges stemmed from a 2003 raid on United Nuclear's business offices, where chemical sales records were examined. United Nuclear pleaded guilty to three criminal counts of introducing into interstate commerce, and aiding and abetting the introduction into interstate commerce, of banned hazardous substances. In 2007, United Nuclear was fined $7,500 for violating a law prohibiting the sale of chemicals and components used to make illegal fireworks.

Journalist Stephen Rodrick and author Neil Nixon write that further doubts have been cast on Lazar's credibility due to his criminal activity.