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WHY THE BLACK RACE FELL
WHY THE BLACK RACE FELL
Why did a race that stood on the pedestal of fame, glory and achievement at virtually all levels fall so low as to be now regarded as the scum of the Earth, with only patches of success stories?
After pondering on this vexatious question I arrived at an unsavory conclusion. The Black race fell as a result of violence that has been waged against it by peoples whose shibboleth is WAR.
Let’s take a look at a few Black civilizations.
1. India and parts of Pakistan: The very term (Sind) India means “Black,” and the original inhabitants were Blacks. However, the Aryans attacked them and their civilization was destroyed.
Blacks founded the Harappan civilization in the Indus Valley. They had their own system of writing and they built modern cities with sophisticated underground sewers. The Aryans waged relentless attacks against the Blacks who mounted an obdurate resistance but finally succumbed to the Aryan war machine.
The conquerors set up a system, redolent of South Africa’s apartheid system. They placed themselves at the top and the Blacks at the very bottom in a rigidly maintained racial hierarchy.
The wars between the Blacks and Aryans have been recounted in ancient texts such as the Rig Veda. This work tells us how their national god, Indra, slew 50,000 Blacks. We are also told how this vicious god is” blowing away with supernatural might from earth and from the heavens the black skin, which Indra hates. There is also talk of “driving the black skin far away.” The Aryans created the “untouchables” of India.
Bereft of peace and stability and barred from normal social intercourse, the Blacks of India and thereabout fell.
2. Egypt: A similar scenario can be found in Egypt, which was a Black civilization but later took on a bi-racial one due to the influx of foreigners, either peacefully or through violence. A look at the Sphinx reveals unmistakable Black features. The Sphinx, in actual fact, is far older than the dates ascribed to it by most Egyptologists.
From time immemorial, outsiders fiercely attacked the Egyptians. Some included Blacks such as the Hyksos. Other merciless invaders were the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs and so on. The wars were ferocious and inhumane and so the Blacks fled to sub-Saharan Africa, mixed and collaborated with their oppressors, were forcibly removed from their lands and so on. Thus the Black race fell.
Ancient Egypt was crucial to the Black race for many reasons. It was a repository of great knowledge: in medicine, architecture, engineering, astronomy, etc. The conquests and persecution of the Black priests (actually professors) meant a decline of the Black race. The invasions of northern Africa also had repercussions on other parts of the continent, and so instead of the necessary peace that was essential for the development of any civilization, many parts of Africa experienced turmoil. The fall of Egypt was a serious blow to the dignity and progress of the Black race.
3. Sumerian: Sumeria was also a Black civilization. Never mind the fact that it was located in present-day southern Iraq. It was also not the “Cradle of Civilization.” That distinction belongs to Africa. Africans from the Nile Valley were responsible for the nurturing of the Sumerian civilization. Indeed, the Sumerian cuneiform system of writing was derived from the Egyptian hieroglyphics. It must be noted, however, that Sumer was not the first civilization in Mesopotamia, although it was the greatest.
Sumeria consisted of city-states like Uruk, Kish, Nippur, Ur and Lagash. They called themselves the blackheads or black-faced people. Some scholars will tell you that the Sumerians were a mysterious people; they will not tell you the truth. They are depicted on ancient monuments with shaven heads and beards while the Whites are shown with beards and long hair.
The Sumerians were noted for their ziggurats, farming technology that yielded abundant harvests and so on But how did this remarkable civilization fall? Again, the answer is violence. The Sumerian city-states were conquered in 2334 by Sargon of Akkad. The knowledge of the Sumerian scholars were used by the Whites.
We can take a look at Europe and the situation is the same. The earliest Black inhabitants of Britain, for example, were subdued by violence, removed from their lands by White settlement and restricted by an appalling apartheid system. Julius Caesar and the Romans also did much to annihilate the European Blacks (including the Black Gauls)
Blacks were the first inhabitants of the Americas, builders of the pyramids of Cahokia, the so-called mysterious Mound Builders. Again, their civilization was destroyed by WAR.
Why did the Black race fall? The answer is obvious. But mixed with warfare, which has also been experienced by other races, the Black experience is unique in that it has been mixed with RACIAL oppression. The Black race fell not because the race is inferior but because Blacks have proven from antiquity that they are too brilliant not to be impeded from outshining others.
After pondering on this vexatious question I arrived at an unsavory conclusion. The Black race fell as a result of violence that has been waged against it by peoples whose shibboleth is WAR.
Let’s take a look at a few Black civilizations.
1. India and parts of Pakistan: The very term (Sind) India means “Black,” and the original inhabitants were Blacks. However, the Aryans attacked them and their civilization was destroyed.
Blacks founded the Harappan civilization in the Indus Valley. They had their own system of writing and they built modern cities with sophisticated underground sewers. The Aryans waged relentless attacks against the Blacks who mounted an obdurate resistance but finally succumbed to the Aryan war machine.
The conquerors set up a system, redolent of South Africa’s apartheid system. They placed themselves at the top and the Blacks at the very bottom in a rigidly maintained racial hierarchy.
The wars between the Blacks and Aryans have been recounted in ancient texts such as the Rig Veda. This work tells us how their national god, Indra, slew 50,000 Blacks. We are also told how this vicious god is” blowing away with supernatural might from earth and from the heavens the black skin, which Indra hates. There is also talk of “driving the black skin far away.” The Aryans created the “untouchables” of India.
Bereft of peace and stability and barred from normal social intercourse, the Blacks of India and thereabout fell.
2. Egypt: A similar scenario can be found in Egypt, which was a Black civilization but later took on a bi-racial one due to the influx of foreigners, either peacefully or through violence. A look at the Sphinx reveals unmistakable Black features. The Sphinx, in actual fact, is far older than the dates ascribed to it by most Egyptologists.
From time immemorial, outsiders fiercely attacked the Egyptians. Some included Blacks such as the Hyksos. Other merciless invaders were the Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs and so on. The wars were ferocious and inhumane and so the Blacks fled to sub-Saharan Africa, mixed and collaborated with their oppressors, were forcibly removed from their lands and so on. Thus the Black race fell.
Ancient Egypt was crucial to the Black race for many reasons. It was a repository of great knowledge: in medicine, architecture, engineering, astronomy, etc. The conquests and persecution of the Black priests (actually professors) meant a decline of the Black race. The invasions of northern Africa also had repercussions on other parts of the continent, and so instead of the necessary peace that was essential for the development of any civilization, many parts of Africa experienced turmoil. The fall of Egypt was a serious blow to the dignity and progress of the Black race.
3. Sumerian: Sumeria was also a Black civilization. Never mind the fact that it was located in present-day southern Iraq. It was also not the “Cradle of Civilization.” That distinction belongs to Africa. Africans from the Nile Valley were responsible for the nurturing of the Sumerian civilization. Indeed, the Sumerian cuneiform system of writing was derived from the Egyptian hieroglyphics. It must be noted, however, that Sumer was not the first civilization in Mesopotamia, although it was the greatest.
Sumeria consisted of city-states like Uruk, Kish, Nippur, Ur and Lagash. They called themselves the blackheads or black-faced people. Some scholars will tell you that the Sumerians were a mysterious people; they will not tell you the truth. They are depicted on ancient monuments with shaven heads and beards while the Whites are shown with beards and long hair.
The Sumerians were noted for their ziggurats, farming technology that yielded abundant harvests and so on But how did this remarkable civilization fall? Again, the answer is violence. The Sumerian city-states were conquered in 2334 by Sargon of Akkad. The knowledge of the Sumerian scholars were used by the Whites.
We can take a look at Europe and the situation is the same. The earliest Black inhabitants of Britain, for example, were subdued by violence, removed from their lands by White settlement and restricted by an appalling apartheid system. Julius Caesar and the Romans also did much to annihilate the European Blacks (including the Black Gauls)
Blacks were the first inhabitants of the Americas, builders of the pyramids of Cahokia, the so-called mysterious Mound Builders. Again, their civilization was destroyed by WAR.
Why did the Black race fall? The answer is obvious. But mixed with warfare, which has also been experienced by other races, the Black experience is unique in that it has been mixed with RACIAL oppression. The Black race fell not because the race is inferior but because Blacks have proven from antiquity that they are too brilliant not to be impeded from outshining others.
Sunday, March 1, 2009
CONTENTS
THE UNIVERSAL TWA 9
BLACK EGYPTIANS AND BLACK PHOENICIANS 16
THE EARLY RACES OF IRELAND 23
THE COMING OF THE GAELS 34
HEBREWS AND SAXONS 44
THE KYMRY, PICTS AND BLACK DANES 52
THE STONE OF DESTINY 63
OF GYPSIES AND BLACK DOUGLASES 71
SOLAR, SERPENT AND PHALLIC-WORSHIP 77
CREATORS OF THE SERPENT MOUNDS 93
THE GIANT’S DANCE 104
THE IRISH ROUND TOWERS 114
STONEHENGE OR STONE ANKH 119
CONCLUSION 122
BIBLIOGRAPHY 123
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| greek boy |
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FROM THE INTRODUCTION:
On the plains of Wiltshire in England lie the remains of ancient giant stones. Exactly which people built these stones remains the eternal question. Just like the pyramids of Egypt its origins remain shrouded in mystery. Various theories have been put forward as to the race or otherwise of these builders, but still, much uncertainty remains.
A significant number of people believe that the present peoples of the British Isles were the builders, but a general amnesia seems to have clouded the fact that throughout history, there has been migrations and great dispersals of people, all over the world. The British Isles is no exception. Before the White race finally dominated the Isles, another race of people had long been established there and had left an indelible mark on the history of that territory.
The evidence is simply overwhelming that the earliest inhabitants of Britain and Ireland were in fact peoples of African descent - Blacks. Mythological, archeological, linguistic and other sources have substantiated this remarkable fact.
Candid authorities like the British Egyptologists Gerald Massey and Albert Churchward, the Scottish historian David Mac Ritchie, and the British antiquarian Godfrey Higgins, have done exhaustive research and brought many facts to our knowledge. Tacitus, Pliny, Claudian and other writers have described the Blacks they encountered in the British Isles as “Black as Ethiopians,” “Cum Nigris Gentibus,” “nimble-footed blackamoors,” and so on.
From all indications, the ancient dwellers of the British Isles and Ireland, like the Kymry (one of the names given to the earliest inhabitants, from whom the Picts and Scots descended), were Blacks. David Mac Ritchie has provided substantial evidence in his two-volume work, Ancient and Modern Britons that the Picts as well as the ancient Danes were Blacks.
The Partholans, Formorians, Nemeds, Firbolgs, Tuatha De Danann, Milesians of Ireland and the Picts of Northern Scotland were all Blacks. The Firbolgs (believed to be a section of the Nemeds) are believed to be so-called pygmies or the Twa. They are the dwarfs, dark elves or leprechauns in Irish History. The British Egyptologist Albert Churchward is convinced that the Tuatha-de-Danann, who came to Ireland, were of the same race and spoke the same language as the Fir-Bogs and the Formorians
Tales of goblins, pixies, fairies, dwarves, leprechauns, ogres, trolls, gnomes, brownies, giants and so on are prevalent in the mythology of the British Isles and Ireland. But what has not been readily revealed is that they are representative of actual humans, the so-called “pygmy” and other Black races that frequented the British Isles and many other places in the dim past.
This book reveals much about the Black presence in the early British Isles, including the “mysterious” builders of Stonehenge. We learn about the Black Fomorians, Partholonians, Nemedians, Firbolgs, Tuatha De Danann, Black Danes, Black Douglases, the giants or Cyclopes and so on.
We also learn about the Black serpent-worshipping Druids who built serpentine monuments like those at Avebury and Carnac, as well as the builders of the Round Towers of Ireland.
The fact remains, that Blacks have played a very important role in the early history, traditions, religion and so on, of early Britain and elsewhere than is generally known and acknowledged.
This is a must-read book.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Will Obama survive his electoral promises, the threats from Al-Qaida and so on?
Yes, Obama does have a good chance of surviving.
Yes, Obama does have a good chance of surviving.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
The true face of Hannibal. This well-preserved coin, circa 208-207 BC, and dated by some at 217 BC., was found in the Chiana (Clanis) valley. This coin was in circulation in the vicinity of Lake Trasimeno and in the Chiana Valley.
Some individuals have thrown aside all available evidence and have incoherently shouted themselves hoarse by claiming that Hannibal who nearly destroyed Rome belonged to the ‘great White race.’
Whites have been in North Africa for centuries but they are not indigenous to that area. They were merely migrants and invaders, not to mention the White slave trade that brought many Whites to that area. The presence of different races in North Africa has been mentioned by ancient writers like Diodorus Siculus and Herodotus. They included Ethiopians or Blacks.
Hannibal has been variously called a Canaanite or Phoenician. The Canaanites were descendants of Ham or Hamites. ‘Hamite’ was a term once used widely by Europeans to denote members of the Black race. ‘Phoenician’ was another term used to describe these Blacks.
The original dwelling place of the Phoenicians was not in the Middle East but more likely in East Africa. According to Herodotus (see The Histories) they lived on the shores of the Eritrean Sea. This area is widely disputed today, but apparently it was located on the shores of East Africa.
The ancient Near East was a melting pot just like modern America. Different races could be found there, but the original race was a Black one. The Elamites, for instance, were Blacks. Later on it was possible to find not only Black Phoenicians, but White and mixed Phoenicians as well.
Carthage on the North African coast was a Phoenician colony. A reading of history makes it clear that many migrants including White Greeks settled in that area and beyond. Thus just like South Africa, it was possible to find different races there, known as Carthaginians.
The clearest evidence of Hannibal being Black is the coin found in the Valley of the Clanis in Italy, not far from where he defeated the Romans at the Battle of Lake Trasimeno. It is believed to have been minted by Hannibal after the battle. The date of the coin corresponds to the era of Hannibal’s early battles with the Romans.
According to White historians/scholars the coin, representing an elephant on one side and a Black man on the other, is not Hannibal but a mere elephant driver, never mind that the various portraits depicting a White Hannibal are those of other individuals.
The idea that the Black man was a mere elephant driver is pure rubbish since Carthaginians often minted coins to portray important personalities or deities. Moreover the words of Polybius are very telling. According to him before the Battle of Trasimeno, Hannibal had lost all his elephants with the exception of one, which he rode.
Thus it is Hannibal and no one else, portrayed on the ancient coin found in the valley of the Clanis in Italy. Indeed, a number of such coins exist.
More detailed information can be found in the ebook: What Color Was Hannibal?
Sunday, July 6, 2008
For thousands of years the Black race has been subjected to great brutality at the hands of mostly Whites and near Whites. To justify their satanic feelings towards Blacks this hatred has been preserved in a number of religious works.
In Alma 3:6 of the Book of Mormon we are told that the “Skins of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which was set upon their fathers, which was a curse upon them, because of their transgression and their rebellion.”
In Mormon 5:15 we are told that the Lamanites, “Shall become a dark, a filthy and a loathsome people, beyond the description of that which ever hath been amongst us.”
The Aryan invasion of ancient India was marked by great savagery against the indigenous Blacks. The strife between the White Aryans and the Blacks (sometimes called Dasyus) are mentioned in the Vedas. These Blacks were highly civilized and had great cities with sophisticated sewers, their own writings, and so on.
In the Rig-Veda we see that Indra, the White god is praised for murdering 50,000 Blacks. The hatred of Indra and the Aryans for the Blacks is evident in this work. For instance, Indra is said to be “Blowing away with supernatural might from earth and from the heavens the black skin which Indra hates.”
Similar racism can be found in the Bible. It has been proved that humanity originated in Africa. According to tradition, with the dispersal at Babel Noah’s sons migrated to different parts of the world. Noah’s son Japeth is said to have migrated north of the Mediterranean Sea and fathered the White race. Shem went to the Persian Gulf Area and Assyria and fathered the Semites, etc., while Ham became the father of the Black race. His youngest son Canaan migrated to Canaan (Palestine). The Greeks called these Black Canaanites, Phoenicians. By the 17th century Europeans had begun using “Hamite” in reference to Blacks. This was a period of slavery and thus the so-called Hamitic curse was used to justify this barbaric act.
According to the Bible, Ham looked at the nakedness of his father Noah when he was drunk with wine. Noah then cursed Canaan, Ham’s first son. Why did he not curse Ham, the alleged perpetrator? He could not because God had already blessed him. We are told in Genesis 9:1: “And God blessed Noah and his sons.” This is proof that the so-called father of the Black race was never cursed.
Noah’s curse:
“And cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth… and Canaan shall be his servant” (Genesis 9:25-27).
We see the same type of racism in the Babylonian Talmud. The Hebrews were Blacks. We have to consider the words of the Roman historian Tacitus who said that “many again say that they [the Jews] were a race of Ethiopian origin (Book V Chapter 2). There are many other instances to prove the Blackness of the Hebrews. The term “Jew” was derived from the Hebrew “Yehudi” meaning “belonging to the tribe of Judah.” Therefore, the Jews were strictly from the tribe of Judah.
Later on, however, we find many Whites in Palestine. The Pharisees, Sadducees, Gentile, Scribes and so on were mostly Whites.
The Pharisees engaged in an Apartheid system against the Blacks. They formed the major element of the Sanhedrin. Intermingling occurred. From a reading of the Bible we learn that Palestine was divided into two – the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah and that that the Israelites and Jews were later carried into captivity.
It must be understood that due to intermarriage, migration and so on, many White Jews and Israelites came into existence.
Arthur Koestler (himself an Ashkenazi Jew) has made it clear that the so-called Jews of today are not the real Jews but rather Khazars.
According to an old version of the Babylonian Talmud that is no longer used, Ham castrated Noah when he was asleep and so Noah cursed his son when he awoke. Thus Blacks became cursed with slavery and blackness. Racial slurs can be found in the Talmud and other rabbinical writings against the original Black Jews (Essenes, Zealots, Nazarenes, etc.). Jesus Christ was called the son of a prostitute.
This is the so-called Hamitic curse first recorded in the Babylonian Talmud in the sixth century AD.
“Now I cannot beget the fourth son whose children I would have ordered to serve you and your brothers! Therefore it must be Canaan, your first born, whom they enslave. And since you have disabled me from doing ugly things in the blackness of night, Canaan’s children shall be born ugly and black! Moreover, because you twisted your head around to see my nakedness, your grandchildren’s hair shall be twisted into kinks, and their eyes red; again because your lips jested at my misfortune, theirs shall swell; and because you neglected my nakedness, they shall go naked, and their male members shall be shamefully elongated.’ Men of this race are called Negroes; their forefather Canaan commanded them to love theft and fornication, to be banded together in hatred of their masters and never to tell the truth.” (See “Hebrew Myths” by Graves and Patai).
The Bible contains much truth, but here have been many versions of this work. For instance, we have the King James Version. We must also realize that these racial slurs were created from evil minds to justify the enslavement of Blacks.
Ham was never cursed in the Bible. But was he the father of the Black race? If he was Black then it stands to reason that his father Noah was also Black as well as his siblings Japheth and Shem. What color was Noah’s father? It stands to reason that he was also Black.
The origin of the Hamitic curse originated from a Jewish oral tradition dating from the sixth century. It is just one of many racial slurs against Blacks in religious works.
The Black race is blessed.
In Alma 3:6 of the Book of Mormon we are told that the “Skins of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which was set upon their fathers, which was a curse upon them, because of their transgression and their rebellion.”
In Mormon 5:15 we are told that the Lamanites, “Shall become a dark, a filthy and a loathsome people, beyond the description of that which ever hath been amongst us.”
The Aryan invasion of ancient India was marked by great savagery against the indigenous Blacks. The strife between the White Aryans and the Blacks (sometimes called Dasyus) are mentioned in the Vedas. These Blacks were highly civilized and had great cities with sophisticated sewers, their own writings, and so on.
In the Rig-Veda we see that Indra, the White god is praised for murdering 50,000 Blacks. The hatred of Indra and the Aryans for the Blacks is evident in this work. For instance, Indra is said to be “Blowing away with supernatural might from earth and from the heavens the black skin which Indra hates.”
Similar racism can be found in the Bible. It has been proved that humanity originated in Africa. According to tradition, with the dispersal at Babel Noah’s sons migrated to different parts of the world. Noah’s son Japeth is said to have migrated north of the Mediterranean Sea and fathered the White race. Shem went to the Persian Gulf Area and Assyria and fathered the Semites, etc., while Ham became the father of the Black race. His youngest son Canaan migrated to Canaan (Palestine). The Greeks called these Black Canaanites, Phoenicians. By the 17th century Europeans had begun using “Hamite” in reference to Blacks. This was a period of slavery and thus the so-called Hamitic curse was used to justify this barbaric act.
According to the Bible, Ham looked at the nakedness of his father Noah when he was drunk with wine. Noah then cursed Canaan, Ham’s first son. Why did he not curse Ham, the alleged perpetrator? He could not because God had already blessed him. We are told in Genesis 9:1: “And God blessed Noah and his sons.” This is proof that the so-called father of the Black race was never cursed.
Noah’s curse:
“And cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. And he said, blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God shall enlarge Japheth… and Canaan shall be his servant” (Genesis 9:25-27).
We see the same type of racism in the Babylonian Talmud. The Hebrews were Blacks. We have to consider the words of the Roman historian Tacitus who said that “many again say that they [the Jews] were a race of Ethiopian origin (Book V Chapter 2). There are many other instances to prove the Blackness of the Hebrews. The term “Jew” was derived from the Hebrew “Yehudi” meaning “belonging to the tribe of Judah.” Therefore, the Jews were strictly from the tribe of Judah.
Later on, however, we find many Whites in Palestine. The Pharisees, Sadducees, Gentile, Scribes and so on were mostly Whites.
The Pharisees engaged in an Apartheid system against the Blacks. They formed the major element of the Sanhedrin. Intermingling occurred. From a reading of the Bible we learn that Palestine was divided into two – the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah and that that the Israelites and Jews were later carried into captivity.
It must be understood that due to intermarriage, migration and so on, many White Jews and Israelites came into existence.
Arthur Koestler (himself an Ashkenazi Jew) has made it clear that the so-called Jews of today are not the real Jews but rather Khazars.
According to an old version of the Babylonian Talmud that is no longer used, Ham castrated Noah when he was asleep and so Noah cursed his son when he awoke. Thus Blacks became cursed with slavery and blackness. Racial slurs can be found in the Talmud and other rabbinical writings against the original Black Jews (Essenes, Zealots, Nazarenes, etc.). Jesus Christ was called the son of a prostitute.
This is the so-called Hamitic curse first recorded in the Babylonian Talmud in the sixth century AD.
“Now I cannot beget the fourth son whose children I would have ordered to serve you and your brothers! Therefore it must be Canaan, your first born, whom they enslave. And since you have disabled me from doing ugly things in the blackness of night, Canaan’s children shall be born ugly and black! Moreover, because you twisted your head around to see my nakedness, your grandchildren’s hair shall be twisted into kinks, and their eyes red; again because your lips jested at my misfortune, theirs shall swell; and because you neglected my nakedness, they shall go naked, and their male members shall be shamefully elongated.’ Men of this race are called Negroes; their forefather Canaan commanded them to love theft and fornication, to be banded together in hatred of their masters and never to tell the truth.” (See “Hebrew Myths” by Graves and Patai).
The Bible contains much truth, but here have been many versions of this work. For instance, we have the King James Version. We must also realize that these racial slurs were created from evil minds to justify the enslavement of Blacks.
Ham was never cursed in the Bible. But was he the father of the Black race? If he was Black then it stands to reason that his father Noah was also Black as well as his siblings Japheth and Shem. What color was Noah’s father? It stands to reason that he was also Black.
The origin of the Hamitic curse originated from a Jewish oral tradition dating from the sixth century. It is just one of many racial slurs against Blacks in religious works.
The Black race is blessed.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
The Hyksos lived in Egypt for over four hundred years (two hundred years or less according to some historians), mixing with the indigenous Blacks, and exterminating them. They did not rule over the whole of Egypt, however, but were mostly concentrated in the eastern part of the Delta and Lower Egypt (i.e. the northern part of Egypt) with their capital at Avaris.
During the era of Apophis, the Hyksos ruler, the Egyptian Blacks under their leader Sekenenre Tao II, (son of Sekenenre Tao I) his sister-wife, Ahhotep I and his son Kamose launched a massive war of liberation from the city of Wo-se’ or Thebes in Upper Egypt. (5) Sekenenre Tao II was, however, killed in battle and his mummy indicates he suffered serious head and neck injuries, probably from ax blows and other weapons. Kamose continued with the struggle, defeating the Hyksos in a number of battles and after his death a few years later (also believed to be in battle), his brother Ahmose I succeeded him and decisively defeated the Hyksos, capturing Memphis and overrunning their capital at Avaris. The Black Egyptians finally defeated the Hyksos and drove their rulers and followers out of Egypt. Although the Hyksos managed to flee to the Middle East, the Black Egyptians under Thutmoses III launched several military campaigns against their cities for several years. A large number of these Hyksos and other foreigners of different nations were, however, permanently settled in Egypt and more intermixture changed the racial characteristics of the Blacks.
Kamose was the last Theban King of the Seventeenth Dynasty (1645-1567 BC). The succeeding dynasty, the Eighteenth Dynasty, was a great period in Egyptian history, with notable Black leaders such as Ahmose I, the founder of this dynasty and his wife, the Black Queen Nefertari. Others were Amenhotep II, Thutmose I, Thutmose II, Queen Hatshepsut, daughter of Thutmose I, Amenhotep III, Ikhnaton, and Tutankhamen. Upper and Lower Egypt were reunited and this civilization was known as the “New Empire” or the “New Kingdom.” Those Whites that bore no animosity towards Blacks were integrated into the Empire.
Some scholars believe that the Hyksos were Hebrews. They were not, although there were probably Hebrews among them when they invaded Egypt. The Hyksos have been wrongly labeled ‘Shepherd Kings’ and ‘Children of Israel.’ The word ‘Hyksos’ or ‘Hekshus’ was derived from the Egyptian ‘Hek’ meaning a ruler or King, and ‘Shus’ meaning servants, rather than the word ‘Shasu,’ meaning Shepherds. The Hek-Shus were, therefore, the captive-kings or servant-rulers. The Hekshus called themselves servants of their god, and were rivals of the Osirian religion. (6) The Shasu are said to be the Israelites or Hebrews. (7) According to the Senegalese scholar Cheikh Anta Diop, “…those most detested by the Egyptians were the Asian Shepherds of all kinds, from the Semites to the Indo-Europeans.” (8)
It is also believed that the word Hyksos is the Greek rendering of the Egyptian hiq-khase, hiq meaning ruler or chieftain, and khase, meaning “foreign hill-countries”. Hyksos therefore means “chieftain of a foreign-hill country.” (9) The Greek mistranslation of hiq-khase as Hyksos, meaning Shepherd-Kings, is therefore erroneous. It should be realized that the Egyptian priest, Manetho of Sebennytos, (Third Century B.C.) who mentioned the Shepherds, wrote his chronicle on Egypt in Greek. He based his work on translations from old Egyptian records. Much of his work is lost, although fragments have been preserved in the works of writers such as Eusebius and Julius Africanus. According to Flavius Josephus, Manetho also referred to the Shepherds as captives.
Some historians believe that the Hyksos were the Habiru (Apiru in Egyptian) and therefore Hebrews. However, as Georges Roux has pointed out, “…the Habiru have nothing in common with the Hebrews but a similitude of name. They were neither a people nor a tribe, but a class of society made up of refugees, of ‘displaced persons’ as we would now say, who frequently turned into outlaws.” (10)
Whatever the true origin of the word “Hyksos,” our main concern here is with the racial origin of those invaders of ancient Egypt who have been termed Shepherd-Kings and to distinguish them from the Black Hebrews.
It is generally believed that the Hyksos introduced the horse and chariot to Egypt. However, there are paintings of horses and chariots in caves in the Sahara, dating from a very early period. The Garamantes, for instance, made use of horses and chariots. (11)
On the black color of the ancient Egyptians, so much has been proved as to make any objections futile. Although a significant number of people believe that the present occupants of North Africa are the original occupants of that region, they fail to recognize the fact that that area has been downtrodden under the heels of successive invaders. Herodotus has claimed that the Colchians were Egyptians since like them they had “black skins and woolly hair.” (The Histories, Book Two, 104). Ancient historians such as Plutarch, Flavius Josephus, Celus and Eusebius have also claimed that the Hebrews were Ethiopians and Egyptians who migrated to Canaan. (12)
The French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, was incensed when he discovered this once great African civilization. He was not enamored of Black accomplishments. He conquered Egypt as part of his military strategy and also because of his desire to unlock the secrets of ancient Egypt, which he believed to be the source of Masonic knowledge. Like many renowned individuals of his era, Napoleon Bonaparte was a freemason. In 1798 he sent architects, surveyors, and about 25,000 soldiers to Egypt. Some of those involved in Theosophist, Masonic and Rosicrucian societies believe they have a heritage in Ancient Egypt. They believe that the passages and chambers in the Great Pyramid were centers of initiation ceremonies. As a matter of fact many of the founding fathers of America were masons. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams as well as Benjamin Franklin and Lafayette were all masons of high degree.
As revealed in Anthony Browder’s book, From the Browder File, and in other works, the founding fathers of America built that nation on Egyptian architecture, symbols and science. Their purpose was to make use of African knowledge to make America a great nation. African knowledge is enshrined in the U.S. dollar bill. The Great Seal of America, for instance, is based on the symbol of Heru (Horus) the Black god. This is the sacred falcon. The founding fathers of America substituted it with an eagle. In the talons of the falcon are the “shen,” the African symbol of infinity, while above it is the Ankh. These symbols represent eternal or everlasting life. They have been in use for thousands of years.
The eagle in the Great Seal of America has 13 leaves and 13 berries on the olive branch in the right talon, 13 arrows grasped in the left talon, 13 stripes on the shield, a six-pointed star made up of 13 stars, 13 stones in the pyramid and so on. They are believed to represent the 13 original colonies. As Anthony Browder says in his aforementioned work, “For years the number 13 has come to represent powers of transformation and rebirth. Twelve has come to symbolize the completion of a cycle and 13 represents the energy of that cycle transcending itself into a higher, often spiritual, plane of existence.” (13)
Thus we see Jesus Christ with 12 disciples, the sun and the zodiac, King Arthur and the twelve Knights of the Round Table. There are also the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 gates of heaven as mentioned in Revelations of the Holy Bible. On the seal there is also a pyramid with 13 steps and above is the eye of Horus, a symbol of light and vision. In addition, there are 13 letters in the motto carried by the eagle, E PLURIBUS UNUM (Out of many, one) and ANNUIT COEPTIS (He has prospered our beginning).
The Washington monument is an African obelisk, which in the words of Anthony Browder, “was symbolic of the regenerative powers of God.” The obelisk is a symbol of the Black Egyptian god, Osiris. Meridian Hill Park was also designed in such a way that it is aligned to the same meridian that passes through Egypt. The Lincoln memorial was also designed in honor of a temple of Rameses II of Egypt. No credit has been given to Africans in the use of their symbols to regenerate America. America, it should be noted, was made great by the contributions of Black Africans who worked freely for about four hundred years. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were also written in Masonic code and have different meanings to different masons. Lots of other African knowledge can be found in Washington D.C., which was designed by the gifted Black scientist Benjamin Banneker.
Napoleon Bonaparte ordered his soldiers to destroy the Sphinx with rifle and cannon fire. They were unsuccessful and only managed to destroy the nose and appearance of the sphinx. In fact other vandals have also tried to destroy the sphinx. Napoleon Bonaparte also gave his soldiers orders to raise the coffins of the Pharaohs and burn as well as disfigure their faces, with a concentration on their lips and noses. The French scientist, Volney, on seeing the Sphinx, concluded that the features “were precisely those of a Negro.”
Baron Vivant Denon, who made the first known on-site sketch of the Sphinx in 1798 showing its Black features, before its attempted destruction by Napoleon and his soldiers, claims that:
The character is African…the lips are thick…Art must have been at a high pitch when this monument was executed. (14)
It was the same Baron Denon who claimed that it was his own Frenchmen, the soldiers of Napoleon Bonaparte, who “blew asunder the nose and lips of the Sphinx of Ghizeh with repeated blasts of cannon fire…” (15)
According to the Arab historian, El-Makrizi, it was a Sufi Monk, one Sa’im al-Dahr who broke off the nose of the Sphinx. If true he probably did a very bad job of it since Gaspero tells us that the destruction can be attributed to the Mamelukes as written in his work, The Dawn of Civilization. Yet Gaspero was not there when such action took place.
It has also been said that the Persian King, Cambyses, after conquering Egypt tried unsuccessfully for two years to destroy the pyramids. He is also said to have “disfigured the Sphinx with battering-rams.” Jealousy also led Cambyses to destroy the beautiful city of Memphis. (16)
From all accounts it would seem that Baron Viviant Denon’s is the most reliable since he witnessed the destruction of the Sphinx’s visage by the troops of Napoleon Bonaparte.
When Herodotus (called the Father of History by Cicero in the first century B.C, although Plutarch called him the Father of Lies), came to Egypt from his native Greece, he was surprised to find that the pyramids were already as old as antiquity. Herodotus was in actual fact a Greek citizen of Ionian birth. Ionia was then an Egyptian colony. Like other Greeks, Herodotus owed much of his knowledge to the Black Egyptians. He described the Egyptians he met as black. Even after mixing with successive invaders and settlers, the Egyptians were still clearly black.
Pythagoras, Plato, Thales, Anaximander, Solon, Democritus and the best minds of Greece came to study under the Black Egyptian priests/professors. These Egyptians were responsible for teaching Pythagoras his theorem, which later became known as Pythagoras’ theorem. This theory had long been known to the Egyptians and is scientifically embodied in the construction of the Great Pyramid of Khufu at Gizeh. Lycurgus, the lawgiver, also studied in Egypt and the knowledge he acquired there served as the political and legal foundation of Western politics. The Greeks took the knowledge in various disciplines that they had learnt in Africa back to their homelands and incorporated it into their civilization. This knowledge later spread to the rest of Europe.
The French Scientist Count C.F. Volney visited Egypt in 1787. He saw at first hand the ruins of the magnificent African monuments and later wrote in The Ruins of Empires (1789):
There are a people, now forgotten, discovered, while others were yet barbarians, the elements of the arts and sciences. A race of men, now rejected from society for their sable skin and frizzled hair, founded on the study of the laws of nature, those civil and religious systems, which still govern the universe.
These words appeared in the translator’s preface in the original edition, but were expunged in the American reprint.
Jesus Christ, the great Messiah, was a black man. The original Hebrews were Blacks. The Whites who later appeared in Palestine passed as Jews. Blacks are the true Jews. There is an ancient Roman coin in the British Museum with one side depicting the image of the Emperor Justinian II that circulated in Byzantium. The other side depicts Jesus Christ with woolly hair. According to the Cambridge Encyclopedia Co. as cited by J.A. Rogers in the first volume of his Sex and Race, “Whatever the fact, this coin places beyond doubt the belief that Jesus Christ was a Negro.” (17)
Further examples could be given, but in the final analysis it is clear that black achievement can only materialize through black initiative. Black portrayal throughout the world has been predominately negative. We have a moral responsibility to teach our children the truth about black achievement, about the high level of civilization Blacks had once attained while Europe was still asleep.
It is our responsibility to reverse the negativity we face day in and day out. We must RETAKE OUR FAME AND LET IT BE A LASTING ONE.
What crops into our minds when we think of Africa? A continent mired in perpetual darkness and from which no good can emanate? A land populated by one-eyed intellectuals, groping blindly in search of solutions to endless problems? A land raped, imbued with starvation, diseases and superstition? The answer, sadly, is in the affirmative.
Some eminent Western intellectuals, in whose hands it fell to give a true account of the glorious achievements of the Black race, the barbaric institution of slavery having muzzled their voices, focused instead on the periphery of Black accomplishments and only had ignominious words to say. One such was Voltaire, who said in his supreme ignorance, “The round eyes of the Negroes, their flat nose, thick lips, ears of different shape, the wool on their heads, the measure of their intelligence, place between them and other species prodigious differences.” (1)
Yet from this despised continent and her peoples emerged the foundations of world civilization. My purpose therefore in writing this book is to help shed light on the fact that Blacks, widely considered to be the scum of the Earth, have in actual fact contributed immensely to world civilization.
For the writing of this project, I referred to a number of sources that gave me insight and knowledge about Black history. After painstaking, time-consuming research, I finally managed to obtain enough information for the completion of this work. Some of the most important sources have evidently been labeled unworthy since they cannot be found on the shelves of major or minor bookstores and libraries. My fervent desire to reveal the truth about the immense contribution Blacks have made to the history of Mankind led to the creation of this work.
Some years ago, I had a candid discussion with a fellow Black who did his utmost to assure me of the fact that Blacks have never played any role in Biblical antiquity. Blacks have played very significant roles throughout the Bible, but its history has been distorted beyond recognition.
There is a lot of evidence to prove that Black mariners have been to the Americas before Christopher Columbus. The Nubian monarchy (in modern-day Sudan) is the oldest in recorded history, even before Europe dreamt of a monarchy. It was Aesop, a Black man who introduced his fables, using animals as characters into Greece. He inspired LaFontaine, the French writer; to begin his own fables and has had a profound impact on Western thought and morals. Aesop also influenced other famous personalities like Caxton, Shakespeare, Aristophanes, Socrates, Plato, Solon, Aristotle, Julius Caesar, Cicero and others.
Blacks built the pyramids of Egypt and the Sphinx. A close examination of the mummies has revealed that most of the Pharaohs came from Nubia and were Blacks. Seti I, Thutmose III, Tutankamen, Imhotep (the famed Prime Minister to the Pharaoh Zoser) and Rameses II were all Blacks. So were Khufu, (called Cheops by the Greeks) Amenhotep III (Amenophis) Ahmose I (Amos), Pharaoh Mentuhotep I (founder of the Eleventh dynasty), Mycerinus and Pharaoh Sesotris I of the twelfth Dynasty.
Thutmose III was the son of a Sudanese woman, and played a great role in Egyptian Imperialism. He hatched plans for world domination and is also believed to be the inspirer of the tales of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, as well as Homer’s Trojan horse in his monumental work, The Iliad. His able General, Thuty, made a conquest by capturing the town of Joppa with five hundred soldiers hidden in jars. (2) Thutmose III never lost a battle and he displayed great mercy towards his conquered foes. One of his obelisks was erected in Central Park in New York City and another was set up on the banks of the river Thames in London.
The Black Egyptians began to lose their color due to mixing with successive foreign invaders and settlers. Mass migrations by the Blacks to escape their oppressors ultimately led to the takeover of Egypt by foreigners. The Persians invaded in 525 BC. The Macedonians under Alexander the Great were next. Then it was Julius Caesar with his Roman Legions in 50 BC, followed by the Arabs in 640 AD. Other invaders included the Turks, the French and the British.
The Hyksos (sometimes called Shepherd Kings by some historians) also invaded Egypt in ancient times, about 1675 BC. They are believed to be White peoples or quasi-White although they have been classified as Semites. The word “Semite” is misleading. It refers more to geographic location and culture than to race. The Hyksos are believed to have originated from the Southern parts of the Caucasus Mountains and made their capital at Mitani in Syria and Assyria. These nomadic invaders later penetrated the Middle East and settled among the Blacks there, mixing with them. They managed to subdue Egypt at a time the Black Land had been weakened from internal struggles.
Scholars still differ as to the racial makeup of the Hyksos. To some, the Hyksos were Black giants. To others they were Hittites from Asia Minor. While the Hitties of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey, Greece, Syria, Iran, Iraq, parts of Palestine etc.) were originally black, some were eventually absorbed by Indo-Europeans and so lost their identity. Some believe they were not of homogeneous race, while others believe they were Black Phoenicians (Canaanites). It appears that they were composed of different races, with a significant Black presence.
In 1829, the British antiquary Godfrey Higgins stated in his book, Celtic Druids (using as his source Faber’s Origin of Pagan Idol):
Mr Faber then goes on to show that the PHOENICIANS, the Anakim, the Philistim, the Palli, and the Egyptian Shepherd Kings, were all descendants of Cush, or Cushites; which the translators of the Septuagint always render by the word Ethiopians, which, in fact, in the Greek language means nothing but blacks, (but not necessarily Negroes,) and as such it might very properly be translated. (3)
The Hyksos established the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Dynasties in Egypt, dynasties regarded by the Blacks of Egypt as the “Great Humiliation,” as they had to endure several indignities and the erosion of their culture and very lives. These barbaric invaders destroyed the monuments and temples of Egypt. Some historians believe that the Hebrews came to Egypt at this time to settle and to trade. The Hyksos treated the Hebrews better than the indigenous Black Egyptians. They made them their allies, clerks, assistants and so on.
Due to the presence of various White invaders of ancient Egypt, some of who ruled as to illegitimate Pharaohs, detractors of Black accomplishments have claimed that White peoples were the originators of Egyptian Civilization. The high-culture of Egypt was full-blown before the arrival of the Hyskos and other invaders. The Egyptologist, Margaret A. Murray, has pointed out that “The Hyksos were an illiterate people and have left no records, with the exception of scarabs. Even these have often only muddled hieroglyphs, showing that the wearers were not able to read them. Scarabs of earlier periods are found in great numbers in southern Palestine with other Egyptian objects, which prove that long before the invasion the Hyksos were in constant touch with Egypt.” (4)
Saturday, June 14, 2008
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| queen of scotland |
George Wells Parker's speech is still a classic. It was delivered to the Omaha Philosophical Society on April 1, 1917 and published in "The Journal of Negro History," Volume 2, 1917.
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[Pg 334]
The African Origin of the Grecian Civilization[401]
I im
agine, ladies
and gentlemen, that when you first read the subject of the address to be delivered before t
his society to-day, you were a bit surprised, and, I trust, a bit interested. To claim an African origin for the Grecian civilization is hardly in keeping with the historical traditions inherited from our school days. It savors of a sort of heresy and passes far beyond the limits of popular opinion. There is a peculiar unanimity among all historians to state without reservation that the greatest civilization the world has ever known was pre-eminently Aryan, but historians are not always to be relied upon. They write for their own race and times and are careful to give as little credit as possible to races and events which fall within the pale of their prejudices. I question, however, if there is to be gained any ultimate good by subverting truth and popularizing error. Indeed, I believe that if to-day our historians, authors, press and pulpit would give the public the truth as far as it is possible to attain it, to-morrow would find us filled with a new vigor and a fresh determination to conquer the wrongs and inconsistencies of human life.The old idea of the Grecian civilization was that it sprung, like Minerva, full armed from the brow of Zeus. It seemed to have no tangible beginning. The fabled kings and heroes of the Homeric Age, with their palaces and strongholds, were said to have been humanized sun-myths; their deeds but songs woven by wandering minstrels to win their meed of bread. Yet there has always been a suspicion among scholars that this view was wrong. The more we study the moral aspects of humanity the more we become convinced that the flower and fruit of civilization are evolved according to laws as immutable as those laws governing the manifestations of physical life. Historians have written that Greece was invaded by Aryans about 1400 B.C., and that henceforth arose the wonderful civilization; but the student knows that such was an impossibility and that some vital factor has been left out of the equation. When the Aryans invaded Greece they were savages[Pg 335] from Neolithic Europe and could not possibly have possessed the high artistic capacities and rich culture necessary for the unfolding of Ægean civilization. "Of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes."
Speaking of the two foremost Grecian states, Herodotus writes as follows: "These are the Lacedæmonians and Athenians, the former of Doric, the latter of Ionic blood. And, indeed, these two nations had held from very early times the most distinguished place in Greece, the one being Pelasgic, the other a Hellenic people, and the one having never quitted its original seas, while the other had been excessively migratory." "The Hellenes," wrote Professor Boughton in the Arena some years ago, "were the Aryans first to be brought into contact with these sunburnt Hamites, who, let it be remembered, though classed as whites, were probably as strongly Nigritic as are the Afro-Americans." "Greek art is not αυτοχθονυς," said Thiersch some fifty years ago, "but we derived from the Pelasgians, who, being blood relations of the Egyptians, undoubtedly brought the knowledge from Egypt." "The aptitude for art among all nations of antiquity," remarked Count de Gobineau a few years later, "was derived from an amalgamation with black races. The Egyptians, Assyrians and Etruscans were nothing but half-breeds, mulattoes." In the year 1884 Alexander Winchell, the famous American geologist, upset Americans with an article appearing in the North American Review. From it I quote the following: "The Pelasgic empire was at its meridian as early as 2500 B.C. This people came from the islands of the Ægean, and more remotely from Asia Minor. They were originally a branch of the sunburnt Hamitic stock that laid the basis of civilization in Canaan and Mesopotamia, destined later to be Semitized. Danaus and his daughters—that is, the fugitive 'shepherds' from Egypt—sought refuge among their Hamitic kindred in the Peloponnesus about 1700 B.C. Three hundred years before this these Pelasgians had learned the art of weaving from Aryan immigrants. In time they occupied the whole of Greece and Thessaly. Before 200 B.C. they established themselves in Italy. Thus do we get a conception of a vast Hamitic empire existing in prehistoric times, whose several nationalities were centered in Mesopotamia, Canaan, Egypt, Northwestern Africa, Iberia, Greece, Italy, Sicily, Sardinia and Central Europe—an intellectual ethnic family, the first of the Adamites to emerge into historic light, but with the records of its achievements buried in gloom[Pg 336] almost as dense as that which covers the ruder populations that the Hamites everywhere displaced. To this family, chiefly, are to be traced the dark complexions of the nations and tribes still dwelling around the shores of the Mediterranean."
It was to be expected that such statements as the foregoing would throw the scholastic world into a ferment. There was a scramble to bolster up the cause of Aryanism and to preserve this one civilization, at least, to the credit of the Caucasian race. Homer was scanned with a patience unknown to college students and the classic myths were refined in the alembics of master minds. Yet there were some who cared for truth more than for racial glory and among them was Dr. Schlieman. Armed with a spade he went to the classic lands and brought to light a real Troy; at Tiryns and Mycenæ he laid to view the palaces and tombs and treasures of Homeric kings. His message back to scholars who waited tensely for his verdict was, "It looks to me like the civilization of an African people." A new world opened to archeologists and the Ægean became the Mecca of the world. Traces of this prehistoric civilization began to make their appearance far beyond the limits of Greece itself. From Cyprus and Palestine to Sicily and Southern Italy, and even to the coasts of Spain, the colonial and industrial enterprise of the Myceneans has left its mark throughout the Mediterranean basin. The heretics were vindicated. "Whether they like it or not," declared Sir Arthur Evans before the London Hellenic Society a short time ago, "classical students must consider origins. The Grecians whom we discern in the new dawn were not the pale-skinned northerners, but essentially the dark-haired, brown-complexioned race." Perhaps Sir Arthur's words will carry weight with you when I remark that his wonderful discoveries in classical lands have brought him the honor of election last year as president of the British Association, the most notable assemblage of scholars in the world. I might further mention that Professor Sergi, of the University of Rome, has founded a new study of the origin of European civilization upon the remarkable archeological finds, entitled "The Mediterranean Race." From this masterly work I choose the following: "Until recent years the Greeks and Romans were regarded as Aryans, and then as Aryanized peoples; the great discoveries in the Mediterranean have overturned all these views. To-day, although a few belated supporters of Aryanism still remain, it is becoming clear that the most ancient civilization of the Mediterranean[Pg 337] is not of Aryan origin. The Aryans were savages when they invaded Europe; they destroyed in part the superior civilization of the Neolithic populations, and could not have created the Græco-Latin civilization. The primitive populations of Europe originated in Africa and the basin of the Mediterranean was the chief center of movement when the African migrations reached the center and north of Europe."
What, then, are some of those discoveries which have so completely destroyed the ethnic fetish of the Caucasian race? The greatest and most conclusive of them all was the discovery of the palace of Minos by Sir Arthur Evans. In 1894 this scientist undertook a series of exploration campaigns in central and eastern Crete; it has so happened that some years previous he had been hunting out ancient engraved stones at Athens and came upon some three or four-sided seals showing on each of their faces groups of hieroglyphics and linear signs distinct from the Egyptian and Hittite, but evidently representing some form of script. Upon inquiry Sir Arthur learned that these seals had been found in Crete, and to Crete he went. The legends of the famous labyrinth and palace of Minos came back to him and were refreshed by the gossipy peasants, who repeated the tales that had come down as ancestral memories. In wandering around the site of his proposed labors Sir Arthur noticed some ruined walls, the great gypsum blocks of which were engraved with curious symbolic characters, crowning the southern slope of a hill known as Kephala, overlooking the ancient site of Knossos, the city of Minos. It was the prelude to the discovery of the ruins of a palace, the most wonderful archeological find of modern times.
Who was Minos? In the myths that have come down to us he was a sort of an Abraham, a friend of God, and often appears as almost identical with his native Zeus. He was the founder and ruler of the royal city of Knossos, the Cretan Moses, who every nine years repaired to the famous cave of Zeus whether on the Cretan Ida or on Dicta, and received from the god of the mountain the laws for his people. He was powerful and great and extended his dominions far and wide over the Ægean Isles and coast lands, and even Athens paid to him its tribute of men and maidens. To him is attributed the founding of the great Minoan civilization.
I will not have time today to review the mass of archeological data which the discoveries of this civilization have produced.[Pg 338] They consist of cyclopean ruins of cities and strongholds, tombs, vases, statues, votive bronzes, and exquisitely engraved gems and intaglios. That which is most valuable in establishing the claim of the African origin of the Grecian civilization is the discovery of the frescoes on the palace walls. These opened up a new epoch in painting and are of the utmost interest to the world. The colors are almost as brilliant as when laid down more than three thousand years ago. Among these frescoes are numerous representations of the race whose civilization they represent. It was a race neither Aryan nor Semitic, but African. The portraitures follow the Egyptian precedent and for the first time the mysterious Minoan and Mycenean people rise before us. The tint of the flesh is of a deep reddish brown and the limbs finely moulded. The profile of the face is pure and almost classically Greek. The hair is black and curling and the lips somewhat full, giving the entire physiognomy a distinct African cast. In the women's quarters the frescoes show them to be much fairer, the difference in complexion being due, probably, to the seclusion of harem life. But in their countenances, too, remain those distinguishable features which link with the African race.
You will pardon me, I trust, if occasion is taken here to impress upon you the value of genuine archeological evidence. Historians may write anything to reflect their vanity or their prejudices, but when the remains of ancient civilizations rise out of the dust and sands and give the lie to their assertions there is nothing more to be said. Egypt, Mesopotamia, Phoenecia, Greece, and Rome, have all been claimed for the Aryan, but the spade has unearthed stone that bears sentient witness to the fact that Africa has been the pioneer in the field of civilization. We wonder, then, why the historians continue to ignore these remains and persist in continuing falsehood. There can be but one answer and that is racial vanity prefers falsehood to truth and prejudice demands suppression rather than expression.
Yet these frescoes of Crete need not be such a surprise to scholars and public after all. The very classics themselves have more than hinted of the great part played by Africa in the development of Grecian civilization. Let us revert to the myths and trace the descent of Minos and his progeny. You will recollect that the ancient heroes of Greece were divided into the older and younger branches, the former belonging to the house of Inachus, distinctly[Pg 339] Hamitic, while the latter belonged to the race of Japotus, distinctly a mixture.
The Pelasgic races of the south traced their descent from Inachus, the river god and son of Oceanus. The son of Inachus, Phoroneus, lived in the Peloponnesus and founded the town of Argos. He was succeeded by his son, Pelasgus, from whom the aforementioned races of the south derived their name. Io, the divine sister of Phoroneus, had the good fortune, or perhaps misfortune, to attract the attention of the all-loving Zeus and as a consequence incurred the enmity of Hera. She is transformed into a beautiful heifer by Zeus, but a gadfly sent by Hera torments her until she is driven mad and starts upon those famous wanderings which became the subject of many of the most celebrated stories of antiquity. Æschylus reviews her roamings in his great tragedy, "Prometheus Bound," and makes Io to arrive at Mount Caucasus to which the fire-bringer is chained. It is here that Prometheus delivers to her the oracle given him by his mother, Themis, Titan-born. He directs her to Canobos, a city on the Nile, and tells her that there Zeus will restore her mind.
"and thou shalt bear a child
Of Zeus begotten, Epaphos, 'Touchborn,'Swarthy of hue."
Aryan parents do not usually bear black children and to show that Æschylus was thoroughly cognizant of the ethnical relationship here implied, permit me to quote from "The Suppliants," another of his tragedies. The Suppliants were the fifty daughters of Danaus, the Shepherds of Egypt, and they described themselves as, "We, of swart sunburnt race," "our race that sprang from Epaphos," and when they appear before the Argive king, claiming his country as their ancestral home, their color causes him to question their claims in the following words:
"Nay, stranger, what ye tell is past belief
For me to hear, that ye from Argos spring;
For ye to Libyan women are most like,
And nowise to our native maidens here.
Such race might Neilos breed, and Kyprian mould,
Like yours, is stamped by skilled artificers
On women's features; and I hear that those
Of India travel upon camels borne,
Swift as the horse, yet trained as sumpter-mules,
E'en those who as the Æthiops' neighbors dwell.
And had ye borne the bow, I should have guessed,
Undoubting, ye were of the Amazon tribe."
[Pg 340]No, Æschylus made no mistake. He meant just what he wrote and the discoveries of the wonderful Minoan civilization have proven that the swarthy touch-born son of Zeus and Io was the incarnation of the African element that raised Greece to the very pinnacle of civilization. Minos is in direct descent from Epaphos and from the latter's prolific progeny we note such names as Agenor, Cadmus, Europa, Ægyptus, Danaus, Perseus, Menelaus, husband of the famous Helen, Hercules, and Agamemnon, chosen by the Greeks to lead them against Troy.
If I should conclude at this point my thesis would be complete and conclusive, but there are other subjects which demand some attention. I cannot pass in silence the supposed testimony to the presence of the fair type in Greece, and to its superiority over the darker population, furnished by the Homeric poems. This supposed testimony has precipitated wordy wars as terrible, though perhaps less sanguinary, as those which were engaged in by the gods and heroes themselves. The fault, however, lies with the translators rather than with the epics. From the work of these industrious authors we get the idea that golden hair and blue eyes were so common that there was little chance of any other sort of people lingering around. The truth of the matter is that these translators, like historians, have permitted their prejudices to warp their accuracy. There is not in the entire writings of Homer an adjective or description applying to any of the principals that even suggests a single one of them having blue eyes and golden hair. Indeed, it is quite the reverse. Athena is γλαυκωπις; γλαυκος means blue like the sea and the unclouded sky; the olive is γλαυκος also, and Athena is guardian of the olive. Γλαυκωπις means that her eyes are brilliant and terrible. Apollo in Homer is χρυσαορος, that is to say, bearing a golden sword; while ξανθος, which has been mistranslated to mean fair, means reddish brown and brown, Artemis is χρυσεη, golden, that is to say, brilliant, but never fair. Neptune is κυανοχαιτης, that is to say, bluish, blackish, like the dark and deep waves of the ocean. Eos, the dawn, is χρυσοθρονος, ροδοδακτυλος, κροκοπεπλος, because the color of the dawn is golden, rosy and red. Neither Hera nor Kalypsos is fair from the descriptive adjectives. Achilles is ξανθος which, as was said before, means reddish brown and brown. Agamemnon is also ξανθος and remember, if you please, that he is in direct descent from Epaphos, the swarthy ancestor of the Pelasgic houses.
So you see that even our translators are not to be trusted.[Pg 341] Professor Sergi made an extensive investigation of the supposed testimony to the presence of the fair type in Greece and his conclusions are as follows: "In Homer none of the individuals are fair in the ethnographic sense of the word. I could bring forth a wealth of facts to show that what I have just stated regarding the anthropological characters of the Homeric gods and heroes may also be said, and with more reason, of the types of Greek and Roman statuary which, though in the case of the divinities they may be conventionalized, do not in the slightest degree recall the features of a northern race." Hence the blue-eyed and golden-haired gods and goddesses who grace the canvases of our art galleries and theater curtains are but pigmentary creations from the minds of artists who visualize the peculiarities of their own race just as the Jewish Madonna is depicted as a Spanish, Dutch, German, English, Italian, Russian, Scandinavian, and even as an African mother by the different nationalities in turn.
Another idea which seems to be rapidly taking hold upon the scholastic mind is that the Iliad and Odyssey are in reality Minoan epics made over, if you please, to fit the later Grecian epochs. While the Homer we know professedly commemorates the deeds of Achaean heroes, everything about them is non-Hellenic. The whole picture of the civilization, including home life, dress, religious worship, and architecture, is Minoan and Mycenean. Warriors' weapons are of bronze when the age to which we attribute Homer was an iron age. The combatants use huge body shields when, as a matter of fact, such shields had been obsolete long previous to 1200 B.C. The form of worship, hymns and invocations to deities, and the use of certain sacrificial forms were all adaptations from the Mycenean ritual. The arrangements of the palaces and courts as narrated in the epics were counterparts of the Minoan and Mycenean palaces and had long since passed out of existence. Among the discoveries in Crete have been found pictorial scenes exactly as described in Homer, and the artistic representations upon the shield of Achilles and upon the shield of Hercules, as described by Hesiod, have been duplicated among the ruins of Crete. Upon intaglios recovered we find combatants striking at each other's throats and you will recollect that Achilles does just this thing in his fight with Hector. I might continue these coincidences indefinitely, but I believe that the point I desire to make is sufficiently clear to merit your attention. The great Grecian epics are[Pg 342] epics of an African people and Helen, the cause of the Trojan war, must henceforth be conceived as a beautiful brown skin girl.
In the press and periodicals of our country we read that the classics are doomed and about to pass out of our lives, but the classics can never die. I sometimes dream of a magical time when the sun and moon will be larger than now and the sky more blue and nearer to the world. The days will be longer than these days and when labor is over and there falls the great flood of light before moonrise, minds now dulled with harsh labor and commercialism will listen to those who love them as they tell stories of ages past, stories that will make them tingle with pleasure and joy. Nor will these story tellers forget the classics. They will hear the surge of the ocean in Homer and march with his heroes to the plains of Troy; they will wander with Ulysses and help him slay the suitors who betrayed the hospitality of the faithful Penelope; they will escape from Priam's burning city with Æneas, weep over Dido's love, and help him to found a nation beside the Tiber. And the translators who shall again bring into life the dead tongues will not let prejudice cloud their brains or truth make bitter their tongues. The heroes of Homer shall, like the Prince of Morocco, wear the livery of the burnished sun and be knit by binding ties to the blood of Afric's clime from whence civilization took its primal rise.
Permit me now, ladies and gentlemen, to show definitely the debt which Greece owes to the Minoan and Mycenean civilizations. Crete, as I have said before, appears to be the center from which the Mediterranean culture radiated. It is the "Mid-Sea Land," a kind of half-way house between three continents, and its geographical position makes it the logical cradle of European civilization. It is near the mainland of Greece, opposite the mouths of the Nile and in easy communication with Asia Minor, with which it was actually connected in late geological times. As I mentioned before, the civilization expanded in every direction and at the time of the conquest it had firm hold upon Greece, appearing at Mycenæ, Tiryns, Thebes, Orochomenos, and other places. That some vanguard of Aryan immigrants came into contact with this culture at its climax is plain from the evidence furnished by Homer. That they mingled with the inhabitants is certain. The later onrush about 1200 B.C. destroyed in part the civilization found there, but fortunately there was not utter destruction. These rude people[Pg 343] realized the difference between their savagery and their enemies' culture. They, too, merged with the inhabitants and formed the Grecian people of historic times. This amalgamation is clearly apparent in the Greeks to-day and because of it Count de Gobineau has called their ancestors half-breeds and mulattoes. Note, also, if you will, that Greek genius burned brightest in those parts of Greece where the Minoan elements were most thoroughly planted.
If you should inquire the source of the Minoan civilization I would first call your attention to the fact that Herodotus attributed much of the Grecian civilization to Egypt, and secondly to the opinion expressed by Sir Arthur Evans in his presidential address before the British Association last fall. "My own recent investigations," said he, "have more and more brought home to me the all pervading community between Minoan Crete and the land of Pharaohs. When we realize the great indebtedness of the succeeding classical culture of Greece to its Minoan predecessor the full significance of this conclusion will be understood. Ancient Egypt itself can no longer be regarded as something apart from general human history. Its influences are seen to lie about the very cradle of our civilization. The first quickening impulse came to Crete from the Egyptian and not from the Oriental side." Herodotus has been called the father of lies, but at this late date we again see him vindicated in a conclusion reached by the greatest living authority upon classical archeology.
Before closing I wish again to enforce the fact that the ferment creating the wonderful Grecian civilization was preeminently the ferment of African blood. Take all the archeological facts of the last fifty years and read them up or down, across or diagonally, inside and out, and this fact rises into your mind like a Banquo that will not down. Historians may distort truth and rob the African race of its historical position, but facts are everywhere throwing open the secret closets of nations and exposing ethnic skeletons that laugh and jest at our racial vanities. The Aryan savages of Europe came down upon Greece, found there a great civilization, merged with the inhabitants and builded a greater. The all but savage European of the Dark Ages knew nothing of culture save what had been taught him by the Roman legions, the heirs of the Mediterranean civilization. This little was almost forgotten until religious fanaticism started the Crusades and brought them into contact with the civilized refinement of the Arabians,[Pg 344] Moors and Saracens, likewise peoples in whose veins flowed the fiery ferment of African blood. If, as Sir Arthur Evans declares, classical students must consider origins and admit the ancient Grecians of African descent, so must they go a bit further and admit the Renaissance to have sprung because of contact between feudal Europe and African Mohammedanism. Again we must admit, no matter how bitter the taste, that the mixed race has always been the great race—the pure race always the stagnant race. One potent reason for the possible downfall of European civilization to-day is the fact that the Aryan element has proven incapable of the mighty trust. It has forgotten the everlasting lesson of history that mergence of distinct types means the perpetuation of nationalism. The sole tenet of Europe has been the domination of the world by the Caucasian and suddenly it discovers that the term Caucasian is too narrow to include both Saxon and Teuton. Hence a war for the extermination of both.
The end of the world is not near and the dream of a millennium is equidistant. The sum of all that is past is but a prelude of that which is to come. It has taken the brute a myriad of years for his gaze to reach beyond them. Civilization is a mixture of dictions and contradictions and none of us to-day is sure that we know just what it means. Through all there yet remain:
"Those first affections,
Those shadowy recollections,
Which, be they what they may,
Are yet the fountain light of all our day,—
Are yet the master-light of all our seeing,—
Upholds us, cherish and have powers to make
Our noisy years seem moments in the being
Of Eternal Silence."
I close with the hope of a time when earthly values will be measured with a justice now deemed divine. It is then that Africa and her sun-browned children will be saluted. In that day men will gladly listen with open minds when she tells how in the deep and dark pre-historic night she
made a stairway of the stars so that she might climb and light her torch from the altar fires of heaven, and how she has held its blaze aloft in the hall of ages to brighten the wavering footsteps of earthly nations.Footnotes:
[401] This address was delivered before the Omaha Philosophical Society,
WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO CORRECT HISTORY
Marissa Larsen WROTE:
1. Ancient Egyptians were black.
2. Ancient Egypt was superior to other ancient civilizations.
3. Egyptian culture had tremendous influence on the later cultures
2. Ancient Egypt was superior to other ancient civilizations.
3. Egyptian culture had tremendous influence on the later cultures
of Africa and Europe.
4. There has been a vast racist conspiracy to prevent the
dissemination of the evidence for these assertions.
Here is a list of Williams' observations:
In his book, The Destruction of Black Civilization, black scholar,
Chancellor Williams informs us that history has proven that a
number of tactics were employed by anthropologists to blot out
black accomplishments.
Chancellor Williams informs us that history has proven that a
number of tactics were employed by anthropologists to blot out
black accomplishments.
1. "Ignore or refuse to publish any facts of African history" that would
support their racial theories.
2. "Create a religious and 'scientific' doctrine" to ease the white
conscience for oppressing and enslaving African people.
3. "Flood the world with hastily thrown together African 'histories'"
that contain European perspectives only.
4. "Start renaming people and places. Replace African names of
persons, places, and things with Arabic and European names.
" This will disguise their true black identity.
5. Change the criteria for defining race. For example, one drop
of Negro blood in America makes you a Negro, no matter how
light your skin. When reporting ancient history, reverse the
standard. Make one drop of white blood render someone a Caucasian
no matter how dark the skin. (Test this criteria during the
"riding-at- the-back-of the-bus" era of the South during the
1940s in the USA. Be assured that any of the Pharaoh's of Egypt,
especially up to and including the 25th Dynasty, would have been
required to sit at the back of the bus.)
6. When black participation in civilization is so obvious ,your best
schemes can't hide it, find a way to attribute the success to outside
white influence.
7. When all the ancient historians contradict your theory, seek to
discredit them.
DR. CARTER GOODWIN WOODSON
Carter Goodwin Woodson (1875-1950) wrote: “If a race has no history, if it has no worthwhile tradition, it becomes a negligible factor in the thought of the world, and it stands in danger of being exterminated.” Woodson saw the educational system of his generation as solely dedicated to the glorification of Europeans and their achievements. Consequently, he dedicated his entire life to informing the masses, both black and white, about the magnificent history and “worthwhile traditions” of people of African descent.
Dr. Carter G. Woodson has been called the “Father of Negro History” because of his pioneering efforts to systematically and continuously have the accomplishments of Black people taught in our school systems. In 1915, he organized the “Association for the Study of Negro Life and History” and in 1916 started the “Journal of Negro History.” In 1926, he initiated the observance of “Negro History Week” which was later expanded to “Black History Month”. Dr. Woodson felt that any African American only exposed to the white educational system without any exposure to positive black achievements was “miss-educated and completely useless to his race.”
The founding of the “Association for the Study of Negro Life and History” in 1915 was one of Woodson’s most important accomplishments. Centered in Washington D.C., this association gathered as many books on black history and achievements as possible and many of these books were later used as textbooks in all grades of schools from elementary to the university. Dr. Woodson also published voluminously to help fill the initial textbook void. His most popular books include: “A Century of Negro Education,” “History of the Negro Church,” “The Rural Negro,” “Education of the Negro Prior to 1861,” “Miss-Education of the Negro,” “African Backgrounds Outlined,” “African Heroes and Heroines,” and “The Negro in Our History.” Dr. Woodson also collected vast quantities of original documents by people of African descent, which might otherwise have been lost.
Dr. Woodson’s “Journal of Negro History” which soon became established as one of the most scholarly and authoritative journals in America. The journal received contributions from some of America’s foremost scholars, both Black and White, with many of its articles widely quoted in the leading educational centers of Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the United States. Woodson hoped that articles from his journal would help black students develop a more self-respecting view of themselves. J.A. Rogers says: “Woodson’s outspokenness at the manner in which Negroes were being taught to despise themselves by their teachers brought him several powerful enemies among leading Negro educators; but undaunted, he attacked them fearlessly until they were forced to his point of view.”
“Negro History Week” was initiated in 1926 with Carter G. Woodson as the principal founder. “Negro History Week” forced both Black and White schools and colleges throughout the nation to gather and present information on “Negro” history and achievements, which they had never done before. Woodson once said at the annual meeting of the Georgia Teachers’ and Educational Association: “I lament the teachers’ ignorance of their rich heritage…Few of our college presidents could make more than 10% on an examination in Negro history.”
Dr. Woodson was extremely critical of the so-called “highly educated”; that is, “the Negroes who have put on the finishing touches of our best colleges.” He wrote: “The same educational process which inspires and stimulates the oppressor with the thought that he is everything and has accomplished everything worthwhile, depresses and crushes at the same time the spark of genius in the Negro by making him feel that his race does not amount to much and never will measure up to the standards of other peoples. The Negro thus educated is a hopeless liability of the race.” Woodson frequently told his audiences that it took him over 20 years to “get over” his Harvard education. He felt “modern education” meant bringing a person’s mind under the control of his oppressor. He wrote that once a black person’s mind is controlled, you won’t have to tell him to go to the back door because he will already know his “proper place.” He continued: “ In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one out for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary.”
Dr. Woodson had even less respect for the black professional class, believing it to be more culturally backward and less race conscious than the masses. In 1930, he analyzed 25,000 Black professionals including doctors, dentists, and lawyers and concluded that they were more interested in making money than contributing to the advancement of their professions or to their race. He wrote that Black professionals were less likely than their White counterparts to keep up with the professional literature in their fields and that Black professional associations tended to emphasize social rather than professional advancement. Although Black professionals were dependent upon the Black working class to earn a living, Woodson saw the Black professional as “just as much class prejudice against the poor Negro as his White professional counterpart” and the least socially responsible among all Black people. Woodson viewed the Black physician as the worst. He wrote that Black physicians, when attending meetings of the National Medical Association were more interested in discussing the merits or demerits of the latest Cadillac than discussing the proper treatment for Tuberculosis or Typhoid Fever.” He said that most successful Black physicians “frittered away much of their energy in quest of material things like fine cars, fine homes, and a fine time.” Woodson once told a group of professionals: “You spend millions yearly to straighten your hair and bleach your skin and some of you go so far as to have your noses lifted in the hope of looking like the White man. Well, monkeys too have straight hair and thin lips.”
Dr. Carter Goodwin Woodson was born on December 19, 1875 in New Canton, Virginia to parents who were former slaves. Woodson was the eldest of nine children and was forced to work in the coal mines of West Virginia at an early age to help his parents make ends meet. This precluded his attending school until he was twenty years old. However, his love of knowledge was so great that despite the hard work he studied by himself at night and was especially fond of Greek and Latin classics. When he finally was able to go to school, he scored so high on the high school entrance examination that he was given an advanced standing and thus earned a diploma in only 18 months. Woodson then went on to obtain his bachelor’s degree and master’s degree at the University of Chicago. He completed studies for his Ph.D. at Harvard University in 1912, and then went to Sorbonne, Paris where he was one of the most brilliant students in “French languages and literature” for that year. After teaching several years in West Virginia, he went to the Philippines as a teacher and five months later was promoted to “Supervisor of Education” where he served for three years. He subsequently returned to the United States to become dean of the School of Liberal Arts at Howard University and later, dean of the West Virginia Collegiate Institute.
Carter Goodwin Woodson would be proud to know that black history is now a well-established, legitimate, and respected subject of study, and that historians are finally acknowledging his pioneering contributions. Dr. Woodson was tremendously effective in helping to improve the self-respect of Black people and giving them a brighter, more optimistic outlook. As he so eloquently said: “If you read the history of Africa, the history of your ancestors - people of whom you should feel proud - you will realize that they have a history that is worthwhile. They have traditions that have value of which you can boast and upon which you can base a claim for the right to share in the blessings of democracy.”
MARCUS MOSIAH GARVEY
Marcus Mosiah Garvey (1887-1940) arrived in the United States from Jamaica almost penniless in 1916, but within six years he boasted of an organization with branches worldwide that had over six million registered members. He was almost worshipped by the Black masses throughout the world for his vision to organize the Black race through race pride, education, self-reliance, economic development, and the desire to build a strong African motherland controlled by Africans. Garvey wrote: “I read Booker T. Washington’s ‘Up From Slavery’ and then my doom - if I may so call it - of being a race leader dawned upon me. I asked, Where is the Black man’s government? Where is his king and kingdom? Where is his president, his country, his ambassadors, his army, his navy, and his men of big affairs? I could not find them. I decided, I will help to make them.”
Marcus Garvey founded the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) in Harlem in 1918. By 1924, there were over 700 branches in 38 states and over 200 branches throughout the world, as far away as South Africa at a time when there was no E-mail, television, or even radio to advertise. Those who could not hear Garvey directly received his views through his newspaper called the “Negro World”, which boasted a circulation as high as 200,000 by 1924. The most recent speeches of Marcus Garvey were published in addition to articles on race pride, self-reliance, and anti-colonialism. In 1919, the UNIA and “Negro World” were blamed for the numerous violent colonial uprisings in Jamaica, Grenada, Belize, Trinidad, and Tobago. British and French authorities deported all UNIA organizers and banned the “Negro World” from all their colonies, but seamen continued to smuggle the paper throughout the world. In 1921, the U.S. Marines invaded a UNIA meeting in the Dominican Republic and arrested every man, woman, and child in attendance. In Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), in 1927, an African was given life imprisonment for smuggling in only three copies of the newspaper. Although the “Negro World” was banned in Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, the first president of independent Kenya, told how “someone who could understand English would read Garvey’s ‘Negro World’ message to a group of Africans until they were able to memorize it. They would then spread the message far and wide throughout the countryside.”
“Race first” was the first major theme of Garvey in his attempt to restore race pride and to destroy the inferiority complex of Black people. Garvey demanded that Black people have Black heroes: “Take down the pictures of White men and women from your walls and elevate your own men and women to that place of honor. Mothers! Give your children dolls that look like them to play with and cuddle.” He demanded that his followers abandon skin lighteners and hair straighteners. Garvey said: “God made no mistake when he made us Black with kinky hair…take the kinks out of your minds instead of your hair.” In religion, Garvey insisted that Black people should worship images of God and angels that look like them. Marcus Garvey also thought history was extremely important and told his audiences: “We have a beautiful history, and we shall create another one in the future. When savages, heathens, and pagans inhabited Europe, Africa was peopled with a race of cultured Black men, who were masters in art, science, and literature. Whatsoever a Black man has done, a Black man can do.”
“Self-reliance and economic development” was Garvey’s second major theme. He founded the “Negro Factories Corporation” in 1919, with the ultimate objective of “manufacturing every marketable commodity” and establishing factories throughout the world, which could also employ and train thousands of Black workers. Garvey was proud that his corporate stock was only available to Black people. Yet, he still raised enough money in New York City alone to operate three grocery stores, two restaurants, a printing plant, a steam laundry, and a men’s and women’s manufacturing department that made uniforms, hats, and shirts for such groups as his Black Cross Nurses. Similar enterprises occurred throughout the United States, Central America, and the West Indies. In order to distribute these products worldwide, Marcus Garvey’s organization raised enough money within one year (1919) in $5 stock certificates to purchase three ships, which he called the “Black Star Line.” Hugh Mulzac, a black ship’s officer, said that hundreds of thousands of people throughout the Western Hemisphere welcomed them as conquering heroes wherever they docked. He wrote: “Thousands of peasants came down from the hills on horses, donkeys, and in makeshift carts, showering us with flowers, fruits, and gifts…we had the first ship they had ever seen entirely owned and operated by colored men.”
“Africa for Africans at home and abroad” was another very strong message from Marcus Garvey. He believed that if Black people could not develop a strong country in Africa as a protective base, then White people would eventually destroy all Blacks especially African Americans; just as they had done to the Tasmanians, native Australians, and native Americans. Garvey partitioned the League of Nations, after World War I, to give the African colonies of Germany back to native Africans and to allow the UNIA to serve as custodian. He also negotiated with Liberia for land that could serve as a beachhead for trained African Americans to spread modern technology and scientific skills throughout Africa. Garvey sent thousands of dollars of equipment to Liberia in preparation of transferring his headquarters to Monrovia, but was blocked at the last minute by extreme pressure from the neighboring British and French colonies. Garvey never gave up his dream of an independent African continent and even created the red, black, and green flag in addition to a national anthem for his future African Republic.
The UNIA held a total of eight international conventions but none was more spectacular than the first, which was held from August 1-31, 1920. Over 25,000 Black delegates from around the world packed Madison Square Garden, and the surrounding New York streets. Delegates reported to the convention on the problems of their native country and many of their grievances were contained in the “Declaration of Rights of the Negro People of the World.” The major demands included: “All persons of African descent anywhere in the world should be accepted as free citizens of Africa; Africans must set out to win justice by whatsoever means possible; Blacks must not be tried by all-White judges and juries; Use of the word ‘nigger’ must cease; Black history must be taught to Black children; and there must be no taxation without representation.”
Black intellectuals, especially W.E.B. DuBois, joined the NAACP and other Garvey haters and demanded that the U.S. Attorney General have Garvey arrested and deported back to Jamaica. They were exceptionally jealous of Garvey’s ability to amass millions of Black supporters and raise millions of dollars while refusing to accept any money from Whites. In 1922, Garvey was arrested and charged with mail fraud while promoting stock for the Black Star Line. The trial was a complete mockery of justice. Even the judge, Julian Mack, was a member of the NAACP, which instigated Garvey’s deportation. Garvey was given the maximum five-year prison sentence, but worldwide protests forced President Calvin Coolidge to commute his sentence after two years and have him deported. Marcus Garvey moved from Jamaica to London in 1935 and died of a stroke on June 10, 1940.
Upon his death, the man who had led the largest, most widespread, most powerful, and most influential movement among people of African descent in world history was completely ignored by our textbooks. Fortunately, his spirit lives through the millions of people he has uplifted. For example, Elijah Muhammad was a former UNIA member and while creating the “Nation of Islam,” he adopted many of Garvey’s ideas like race first, self-reliance, and a separate Black nation. Ho Chi Minh of Vietnam in his youth was a seaman and once spent several months in New York regularly attending UNIA meetings. Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana, attended many UNIA meetings as a student in New York and so admired Garvey that he named Ghana’s shipping company the “Black Star Line” after Garvey’s line. Tony Martin says: “No power could prevent the influence which Marcus Garvey has continued to exert on organizations and individuals since his death. As he himself was so fond of saying, ‘Truth crushed to earth shall rise again’ and ‘Up you mighty race you can accomplish what you will.’”
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