Mzee Jedi Shemsu Jehewty, also known as Jacob Hudson Carruthers, Jr. (February 15, 1930, in Dallas, Texas—January 4, 2004, in Chicago) was an African-centered historian and educator.
Jacob Carruthers was born in Texas and attended Phyllis Wheatley High School in Houston, TX, before going to Samuel Huston College, where he earned a BA degree in 1950.
In 1951, he joined the United States Air Force,and after serving, he achieved a master's degree in government from Texas Southern University in 1958.
In 1978 Carruthers and the African-centered research team composed of A. Josef Ben Levi, Anderson Thompson and Conrad Worrill founded the Kemetic Institute.
In February 1984, Carruthers, along with John Henrik Clark, Asa Grant Hilliard, Leonard Jeffries, Yosef Ben-Jochannan, and Maulana Karenga, ,founded the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations (ASCAC) at the First Annual Ancient Egyptian Studies Conference in Los Angeles, California, of which Carruthers was elected the first president.