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"....freedom is not free. Freedom is something you take with your own hands. You maintain it with your own hands. Freedom is not handed down from one generation to another. Each generation must assume the responsibility of securing their manhood, their womanhood, the definition of their being on earth, that in the final analysis is nationhood." ------ John Henrik Clarke

 
  • The total area of the land and water of the planet  Earth is 196,940,000 square miles.
  • The circumference of the planet Earth is 24,896 miles.
  • The diameter of the Earth is 7,926 miles.
  • The area of the Land is 57,255,000 square miles.
  • The area of the Water is 139,685,000 square miles.
  • The Pacific Ocean covers 68,634,000 square miles,
  • The Atlantic Ocean covers 41,321,000 square miles.
  • The Indian Ocean covers 29,430,000 square miles.
  • The Lakes and Rivers cover 1,000,000 square miles.
  • The Hills and Mountains cover 14,000,000 square miles.
  • The Islands are 1,910,000 square miles.
  • The Deserts are 4,861,000 square miles.
  • Mount Everest is 29,141 feet high.
  • The Producing Land is 29,000,000 square miles.
  • The Earth weighs six sextillion tons - (a unit followed by 21 ciphers).
  • The Earth is 93,000,000 miles from the Sun.
  • The Earth travels at the rate of 1,037 1/3 miles per hour.
  • Light travels at the rate of 186,000 miles per second.
  • Sound ravels at the rate of 1,120 feet per second.
  • The diameter of the Sun is 853,000 miles.
  •  What Is HOTEP ?
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    Imhotep, the world’s first multi-genius, was called ‘Imouthes’ in Greece and deified as Aesculapius, the Greek god of Medicine. Today, most doctors are aware of the Hippocratic Oath and its pledge referencing the Proverb-maker, Imhotep.

    Loosely translated, “He who Cometh in Peace”, Imhotep was Chief Physician and Grand Vizier (Prime Minister) to King Zoser, the Egyptian Pharoah in the 3rd Dynasty (5345-5307) B.C. But, he was more than just a noble statesman and doctor. Imhotep was also an astronomer, mathematician, engineer, poet, musician, philosopher, and the architect who designed and constructed the first stone building, the step pyramid of Sakkara near Cairo, Egypt, defining architecture for the world.

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    Ankh : The Original Cross ?
     

    The Ankh is defined as: The symbolic representation of both Physical and Eternal life. It is known as the original cross, which is a powerful symbol that was first created by Africans in Ancient Egypt.

    The Ankh is commonly known to mean life in the language of Ancient Kemet (land of the Blacks) renamed Egypt by the Greeks. It is also a symbol for the power to give and sustain life, the Ankh is typically associated with material things such as water(which was believed by Egyptians to regenerate life), air, sun, as well as with the Gods, who are frequently pictured carrying an Ankh. The Egyptian king is often associated with the Ankh also, either in possession of an Ankh (providing life to his people) or being given an Ankh (or stream of Ankhs) by the Gods. This can be seen in the picture of King Senworsert below who is holding two Ankhs to his chest. There are numerous examples that have been found that were made from metal, clay and wood. It is usually worn as an amulet to extent the life of living and placed on the mummy to energize the resurrected spirit. The Gods and the Kings are often shown carrying the Ankh to distinguish them from mere mortals. The Ankh symbolized eternal life and bestowed immortality on anyone who possessed it. It is believed that life energy emanating from the Ankh can be absorbed by anyone within a certain proximity. An Ankh serves as an antenna or conduit for the divine power of life that permeates the universe. The amulet is a powerful talisman that provides the wearer with protection from the evil forces of decay and degeneration.

    The loop of the Ankh is held by the Gods. It is associated with Isis and Osiris in the Early Dynastic Period. The Loop of the Anhk also represent the feminine discipline or the (Womb), while the elongated section represent the masculine discipline or the (Penis). These two sacred units then come together and form life. Because of its powerful appeal, the Ankh was used in various religious and cultural rituals involving royalty. In the Treasures of Tutankhumun, the Ankh was a major artifact found in the tomb. The circle symbolizes eternal life and the cross below it represents the material plane. The Ankh is called the "Crux Ansata," it is of Egyptian origin and can be traced to the Early Dynastic Period, appearing frequently in artwork of various material and in relief, depicting the Gods.

    It is usually held to the nose of the deceased king by the Gods to represent the breath of life given in the after-world. The Ankh also resembles a key and is considered the key to eternal life after death. Its influence was felt in every dynastic period and survives as an icon possessing mystical power throughout the Coptic Christian era. The Ankh possessed by each God had power associated with that God. The Ankh of the God Anubis (shown in the picture to the right) is related to the protection of the dead, that of Sekmet, War, Hapi related to the living waters of the Nile and Amen, the spirit God, the breath of life.

    DOES THE BIBLE AND QURAN TAKES US FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH?
     
    Plagiarized Holy Books

    Both of these so-called holy books [Bible and Koran] that you hold in your hand today, were plagiarized and taken from ancient tablets such as the Enuma Elish (which can be found in The Holy Tablets), as a guide for you by Tammuz, one of the Eloheem (Elo-Heem, Aramic/Hebrew—these beings) assigned to you.

    Originally, the Torah was produced. Then humans came up with the New Testament, subsequently, the Koran.

    Each copy was getting *further away* from the original written truth.

    Zuen, also known as Shakar (whom you are calling the Devil), 6,000 years ago cast the Spell of Kingu called *Leviathan* aka The Spell of Sleep.

    The text was manipulated and used to help enforce the Spell of Kingu. Thus, the scriptures that you hold in your hand today are not divinely inspired (and are spellbinding).

    Excerpted from
    "The Bride of Christ"
    by Dr. Malachi Z. York 33*/720*

    Who was Yakub ?
     
    This article covers the figure in the theology of the black nationalist organization Nation of Islam. The name, also spelled Yaqub or Yakob, also applies to the mainstream (traditional) Islamic view of the Biblical Jacob. See Yaqub and Jacob for information on the latter.

    According to the Nation of Islam (NOI), Yakub (also spelled Yacub or Yakob), was an evil scientist responsible for creating the white race — a race of devils, in their view. Yakub created white people by a process of grafting the "black germ" to a "white germ" from the original black population of the world. It took 600 years for Yakub and his successors to fully whiten his creations. This was achieved under a despotic regime on the island of Patmos.[1] The reasons for Yakub's actions are unclear. According to NOI doctrine, his progeny were destined to rule for 6,000 years before the original black peoples of the world regained dominance, a process that began in 1914.[citation needed]

    The doctrine of Yakub was first proclaimed by Wallace Fard Muhammad and was later developed by his successor Elijah Muhammad.

    The name Yakub is a variant of the Semitic name referred to in European language versions of the Bible as Jacob or in modern Jewish communities as Ya’akov. Fard Muhammad appears to have adapted the Biblical Jacob's role as the father of the tribes of Israel to reposition him as the originator of white people as a whole (including Jews).

    In recent times, the doctrine of Yakub has been rationalized within the NOI as an allegory for the evolution of whites from the original black-skinned human populations of Africa, and as a parable warning of the dangers of eugenics. Yakub's 600-year experiment is seen as colorful storytelling, little different from the Bible's account of God creating Eve from Adam's rib, or the creation of heaven and earth in six days. In his autobiography (written with Alex Haley), El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X) notes that, in his travels in the Middle East, many Muslims reacted with shock upon their discovery of the doctrine of Yakub.

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    What Is The Black Madonna ?
     
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    What Is The Black Madonna ?

    "A man's mind is elevated to the status of the women with whom he associates."
    --Alexander Dumas


    For thousands of years the African woman has been worshipped and idolized by individuals, families and nations in Africa and around the world. Ancient records show her as queen, goddess and saint. The African woman has led mighty nations into battle, founded splendid royal dynasties, performed sacred miracles and given birth to messiahs. No other human of any racial or ethnic type has been or should be as broadly venerated as the African woman. This is as it should be. All praises due the African woman.

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    ..
    Check me out!


    The Black Madonnas of Europe are perhaps the most venerated icons in European Christendom. According to L.W. Moss and S.C. Cappannari:

    "All the Black Madonnas are powerful images; they are miracle workers. They are implored for intercession in the various problems of fertility. Pilgrimages covering hundreds of kilometers are made to these specific shrines. The degree of adorational fervor far exceeds that attached to other representations of the Virgin. For example, until the last decade, when the practice was explicitly forbidden by church authorities, pilgrims journeying to the shrine of Mount Vergine would climb the steps of the church on their knees, licking each step with their tongues. We are, thus equating the blackness of the images with their power. The attitude of the pilgrim approaches not reverence but worship (latrial)."

    In Russia during the nineteenth century the Russian General Kutuzov had his army pray before the Black Madonna of Kazan before the historic victory at Borodina. The same Madonna is said to have inspired Rasputin and may now be in the United States. In reference to the Black Madonna of Montserrat, Spain, it said that "He is not well wed who has not taken his wife to Montserrat." Spain has more than fifty images of the Black Madonna. Nineteen have been documented in Germany. Italy has more than thirty Black Madonnas. France has more than three-hundred
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    WHAT IS KWANZAA ?

    KWANZAA is derived from the Kiswahili phrase "matunda ya kwanza", which means "first fruits of the harvest" which is a depiction of the celebration of harvesting the first crops in traditional Africa. Kwanzaa is an Afrocentric centered institution that is celebrated by people of African descent in North America, the Caribbean and other parts of the African Diaspora. It was created in 1966 by M. Ron Karenga. The celebration of Kwanzaa is a means for Black people to reaffirm their commitment to themselves, their families, their community, and the black struggle for equality. There are seven days of Kwanzaa (The Black Cultural Celebration of the holiday season) December 26th thru Jan 1st. Each day focuses on a specific principle, so there are seven principles.

    The Seven Principles

    December 26th Unity (Umoja)
    27th Self-Determination (Kujichagulia)
    28th Collective Work & Responsibility (Ujima)
    29th Cooperative Economics (Ujamaa)
    30th Purpose (Nia)
    31st Creativity (Kuumba)
    January 1st Faith (Imani)

    The seven principles are collectively referred to as the Nguzo Saba, and are intended to serve as guideposts for meditation and daily living. The greeting for each day of Kwanzaa is Habari Gani and the reply is Habari Gani followed by the Principle of the day. Kwanzaa also incorporates seven symbols from African Culture that have a significant ritualistic meaning.

    The seven symbols are mazao (fruits, vegetables, and nuts), mkeba (place mat, representing as our foundation, our ancestors and our cultural history as a people), kinara (candleholder), vibunzi or muhindi (ears of corn, one for each child in the family), zawadi (gifts, usually made or selected to represent the principle of the day), Kikombe cha umoja (communal cup of unity), and mishumaa saba (seven candles, one lit each day starting with the black in the center on Unity Day, the first red (which are all located to the left) and rotating to the first green on the third day (which are all located on the right) red, green, red, green.

    The candles are incrementally lighted, so on the day of Imani all seven candles are burning uniformly. To see a description of a Model Kwanzaa Ceremony click HERE. Also to read about the Kwanzaa Symbols click HERE . At the time of Kwanzaa, we come together and commit ourselves to work and study for the World liberation of African people now and forever.

    The Nguzo Saba - The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa
    NGUZO SABA
    (The Seven Principles)

     
     
    Kwanzaa Symbol - Umoja (unity)
    Umoja (Unity)
    To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.
    Kwanzaa symbol- Kujichagulia (self-determination
    Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)
    To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.
    Kwanzaa Symbol - Ujima (collective work and responsibility)
    Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)
    To build and maintain our community together and make our brother's and sister's problems our problems and to solve them together.
    Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)
    To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.
    Kwanzaa symbols - Nia (purpose)
    Nia (Purpose)
    To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
    Kwanzaa symbol - Kuumba (Creativity)
    Kuumba (Creativity)
    To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
    Kwanzaa symbol - Imani (faith)
    Imani (Faith)
    To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

    Shaka Zulu - The Untold Struggle -
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    Some historians offer that Shaka (1787 - 1828) was as child of prophecy, destined to conquer and then to lead the previously unknown Zulus to unite the tribes of South Africa, through bloody spears and shields, into a strong economic co-existence... a military nation, all under a single, brilliant ruler... the warrior King... Shaka.

    Shaka Zulu's journey from his mother's (Nandi) unwed pregnancy, by young Zulu Chief Senzangakhona... the young chief trying to avoid political conflict, denying responsibility by stating "perhaps she is simply bearing iShaka (an intestinal beetle)... to Nandi and unborn Shaka's virtual banishment... to Shaka becoming a young man, fighting as another tribe's common soldier, his innovative leadership eventually enabling him to quickly surpass his military trainers, teaching them new strategies and devising new weapons...

    Becoming the master, he led his new army to return and conquer both his birth land and his father, where Shaka fulfilled his compelling destiny to create and lead new, dominant armies to conquer rival tribes and fold them into his newly supreme, Zulu empire.

    "The Ultimate African-warrior King", his matchless armies swept through South Africa, like the Roman Legions of antiquity moved through Europe and Asia, repeatedly achieving countless victories, uniting a fractured South Africa to grow in strength and newfound prosperity.

    Anticlimactically, however, and like Julius Caesar, Shaka eventually suffered betrayal and assassination by those within in his small, trusted inner circle... Dingane and Mhlangana, his half-brothers.

    Shaka's famous broad-blade stabbing-spear, the "iKlwa", as legendary as King Arthur's Excalibur, is romanticized to have either been magically forged for or to have been conceived by Shaka.

    Whether the sword type was already available prior to Shaka is not important, relative to history's reverent memory of the great King Shaka's renowned rise to power. His dominant leadership and conquering fame rivals that of Alexander the Great, the Caesars, Napoleon, and Genghis Khan.

    At Shaka's apex, the European colonization of Africa encountered King Shaka's armies of nearly 85,000 Zulu Warriors, repeatedly suffering tremendous losses. Nonetheless, the imperialist colonists' desire to exploit the continent's abundant resources was too powerful to withstand. The Zulu empire, just as history's other great empires, declined to it demise and Shaka's assassination.

    The Zulu empire had finally suffered a deathblow, and the European invaders eventually ensured the people's instability and inability to fight back, when using vastly superior firepower, they later defeated and exiled Zulu King Cetshwayo and divided the vast Zulu empire amongst 13 pro-European-colonists chiefs. Their plan has since endured, casting the nation into nearly two centuries of constant turmoil, apartheid and persistent civil wars.

    Reputed by some to be heroic, and by others to be cruel and ruthless in his bloody carnage and empire building, Shaka's history will always be tainted by the fact that those events were mostly recorded by the literate Europeans who had invaded the continent, ultimately intent on its abundant riches, minerals, gold, silver, gems, and generous diamond mines. The colonists left written accounts intended to both document and serve their own interests.

    Nonetheless, history's fascination with Shaka's omnipresent character, both regal and ruthless, reverberates through his descendants and the spirit of his Zulu people.

    The greatest African leader in history, Shaka's strength of convictions, doctrine of discipline, powerful life force, and belief in a united South Africa has been imprinted on the annals of time and the legend of what was one of the world's most dominant empires.

    One of history's greatest leaders, uniters of people, and most important warrior Kings, he is... Shaka Zulu.

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    1787
    Shaka Born to Nandi, who was not wed to young Zulu Chief Senzangakhona. Trying to cover up his pre-marital pregnancy, Senzangakhona is said to have claimed that Nandi was suffering stomach pains from iShaka (an intestinal beetle). Nandi gave birth to Shaka, not iShaka.


    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    1793
    Shaka and Nandi go to live with the Elangeni

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    1803
    Nandi sends Shaka to live with the Mthethwa clan


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    1809
    Dingiswayo becomes chief of the Mthethwa clan


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    1810
    Shaka challenges the Buthelezi warrior and Chief Pungashe is defeated


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    1816
    Senzangakhona dies and Shaka takes over as Chief of the Zulu and establlishes his kraal at Bulawayo


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    1817 "Mfecane" begins and lasts until Shaka's death

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    1818
    Death of Dingiswayo -- Battle of Qokli hill


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    1819
    The great harvest festival - The second Ndwande war - The great hunt


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    1820
    The new Bulawayo is built


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    1821
    Shaka's millipede attacks the Pepeta clan - Shaka unifies the Zulu homestead


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    1822
    Attack on the Ranisi clan


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    1823
    Shaka sends a regiment against Mzilikazi and puts him to flight


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    1824
    The great "smelling out" and the death of Nobela - Fynn and Farewell arrives in Port Natal - Shaka grants Farewell possession of Port Natal


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    1825
    John Ross lands at Port Natal


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    1826
    Death of Nandi


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    1828
    Country released from mourning Nandi - Shaka assassinated at Dukuza in September

    Are We Really "Black"?

    We - in the United Nuwaubian Nation, say give them back "Black".

    We have to define ourselves and not allow others to define us.
    black[1]

    (adjective) 1 a : of the color black; b (1) : very dark in color ;

    (2) : having a very deep or low register ;

    (3) : HEAVY , SERIOUS ; 2 a : having dark skin, hair, and eyes : SWARTHY ; b (1) : of or relating to any of various population groups having dark pigmentation of the skin < black Americans>; (2) : of or relating to the Afro-American people or their culture < black literature> < black pride> < black studies>; (3) : typical or representative of the most readily attended parts of black culture ; 3 : dressed in black;

    4 : DIRTY , SOILED ;

    5 a : characterized by the absence of light ; b : reflecting or transmitting little or no light < black water>; c : served without milk or cream < black coffee>;

    6 a : thoroughly sinister or evil : WICKED ; b : indicative of condemnation or discredit ;

    7 : connected with or invoking the supernatural and especially the devil < black magic>;

    8 a : very sad, gloomy, or calamitous < black despair>; b : marked by the occurrence of disaster < black Friday>;

    9 : characterized by hostility or angry discontent : SULLEN < black resentment filled his heart>;

    10 chiefly British : subject to boycott by trade-union members as employing or favoring nonunion workers or as operating under conditions considered unfair by the trade union;

    11 a of propaganda : conducted so as to appear to originate within an enemy country and designed to weaken enemy morale; b : characterized by or connected with the use of black propaganda < black radio>;

    12 : characterized by grim, distorted, or grotesque satire < black humor>;

    13 : of or relating to covert intelligence operations < black government programs>

    So "black" is an indo-aryan word and they've made it into something negative.

    We are Nubians - which means "brown skinned people/of a color inclined towards black" - look at the back of your hand, do you see black?

    Of course not, you see brown and we are all varying shades of brown from lightest to darkest. Even if you look at the darkest of our African brothers you can tell where their hair line is - because they are dark brown, not black.

    Nubia once encompassed most of Africa and was a kingdom earlier and longer than Egypt. In fact, there are a lot more pyramids in Sudan than there are in Egypt. So Nubian gives us an ancestral home and a title befitting our lineage and heritage. If you were to do little research you'd find that the original way of saying Nubian was actually Nuwaubian.

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    By the time Alexander the Great was sweeping the civilized world with conquest after conquest from Chaeronia to Gaza, from Babylon to Cabul; by the time the first Aryan conquerors were learning the rudiments of war and government at the feet of the
    philosopher Aristotle; and by time Athens was laying down the foundations of European civilization, the earliest and greatest Ethiopian culture had already flourished and dominated the civilized world for over four centuries and a half.
     
    Ethiopia had conquered Egypt and founded the XXVth Dynasty, and for a century and a half the central seat of civilization in the known world was held by the ancestors of the modern Negro, maintaining and defending it against the Assyrian and Persian Empires of the East.
     
    Thus, at the time when Ethiopia was leading the civilized world in culture and conquest, East was East, but West was not, and the first European (Grecian) Olympiad was yet to be held. Rome was nowhere to be seen on the map, and sixteen centuries were to pass before Charlemagne would rule in Europe and Egbert became first King of England.
     
    Even then, history was to drag on for another seven hundred weary years, before Roman Catholic Europe could see fit to end the Great Schism, soon to be followed by the disturbing news of the discovery of America and the fateful rebirth of the youngest of world civilizations.

    In 325 A.D. Constantine decided to make Christianity the religion of the whole Roman Empire. This is when the Roman domination of the church corrupted the church and the Africans began disenchantment with the Roman interpretation of Christanity. Constantine calls a counsel of Bishops and Priests at a place called Nice. It's was called the "Council of Nicaea." At this conference the Europeans created a European concept of Christianity. It was at this conference they began to take the African Saints out of the literature of Christianity. That's when the corruption had started. The physical concept of Jesus Christ did not exist.

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    The Truth About Columbus
     
    Christopher Columbus, whose real name is Cristobol Colon, of course did not discover America in 1492. In fact, he never claimed to have done so; white historians did it for him. Indigenous people and Afrikans were already living in the western hemisphere, thousands of years before his expedition.

    Colon never stepped foot on the American mainland. He landed in the Caribbean islands.

    Upon landing there, he received reports of Afrikans having visited there before Colon's voyages.

    In fact, ancient Afrikans had traveled to the western hemisphere at least two thousand years before Colon was born. Afrikans, (ancient Kemetics (Egyptians)), had also sailed to the Pacific Islands at least 1,000 years before Colon was born.

    Colon praised the hospitality of the Indigenous people, yet said that they had to be destroyed in order to take control of the wealth of the lands.

    Colon came to the western hemisphere by mistake. He was searching for the "East" looking for, among other things, spices and other commodities to help a starving Europe to preserve their meats.

    Since Europeans did not, at that time, have knowledge of longitude and latitude, Colon ended up sailing West to the Caribbean Islands. Arriving there, he called the Indigenous people "Indians", thinking he was in the Asian country of India. Thus, he re-named all of the Indigenous people "Indians" which was not their natural names. He later had Afrikan navigators on board who knew longitude and latitude.

    Prior to sailing to the West, Colon sailed along the coast of West Afrika, capturing Afriknas for enslavement in Portugal.

    Enslavement of Afrikans and Indigenous people in the West was facilitated by Papal Bulles (bulletins/edicts) issued by Popes of the Christian Roman Catholic Church. In 1455, the Pope issued a bulle to Portugal that authorized it to reduce to servitude (enslave) "infidels" (non-christian) people. This was followed by a Papl bulle issued by Pope Innocent VIII in 1491 that divided the world into two halves for the purpose of enslaving Afrikan and Indigenous people. The Pope gave the eastern half (Afrika, etc.) to Portugal, and the western half (the Americas, ect.) to Spain. Colon came to the Americas representing Spain. Britain, France, and other enslaving European countries did not follow this protocol and the mad dash to slice up the world for European benefit began and its damaging effects persist to this day.

    The significance of Cristobol Colon's voyages to the western hemisphere, is that this opened up Afrika and the Americas to mass murder, rape, destruction of entire cultures, stolen wealth of the people, and mass enslavement of Afrikans and the Indigenous people of the Americas for hundreds of years by Europeans. European profits from enslavement were upwards of 5000 percent!!

    Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop has esteimated that upwards of 300 MILLION Afrikans lost their lives during the 400+ years of European enslavement.

    Many Indigenous people of the Caribbean Islands were totally destroyed by European enslavement.

    It is this mass enslavement that provided America and Europe with the vast resources of wealth, natural resources, and free labor that enabled them to gain world domination on the backs of Afrikan and other Indigenous people of the world.

    To Afrikans, celebrating Columbus Day is celebrating the mass destruction of your own people! Columbus Day ought to be a day of mourning, not of celebration.

    You might have seen the Willie Lynch papers or you might own you a copy of the Willie Lynch papers, but have you done the math on the Willie Lynch papers. Question  #1 OK,  If he give his speech on 1712 and it was to lasted for 300 years what year is it suppost to end?          2012

    WILLIE LYNCH
    The Making Of A Slave


    This speech was delivered by Willie Lynch on the bank of the James River in the colony of Virginia in 1712.  Lynch was a British slave owner in the West Indies.  He was invited to the colony of Virginia in 1712 to teach his methods to slave owners  there. The term "lynching" is derived
          from his last name.

    Table Of Contents
    CLICK ONE TO READ THE LETTER
     Greetings 

    Death To The Willie Lynch Letter is a frase and a HOAX people... WILLIE LYNCH is a HOAX !

    BLACK CIVILIZATIONS OF
    ANCIENT AMERICA (MUU-LAN),
    MEXICO (XI)

    Gigantic stone head of Negritic African
    during the Olmec (Xi) Civilization

    By Paul Barton

    Negritic African The earliest people in the Americas were people of the Negritic African race, who entered the Americas perhaps as early as 100,000 years ago, by way of the bering straight and about thirty thousand years ago in a worldwide maritime undertaking that included journeys from the then wet and lake filled Sahara towards the Indian Ocean and the Pacific, and from West Africa across the Atlantic Ocean towards the Americas. According to the Gladwin Thesis, this ancient journey occurred, particularly about 75,000 years ago and included Black Pygmies, Black Negritic peoples and Black Australoids similar to the Aboriginal Black people of Australia and parts of Asia, including India.

    Ancient African terracotta portraits 1000 B.C. to 500 B.C.

    African terracotta Recent discoveries in the field of linguistics and other methods have shown without a doubt, that the ancient Olmecs of Mexico, known as the Xi People, came originally from West Africa and were of the Mende African ethnic stock. According to Clyde A. Winters and other writers (see Clyde A. Winters website), the Mende script was discovered on some of the ancient Olmec monuments of Mexico and were found to be identical to the very same script used by the Mende people of West Africa. Although the carbon fourteen testing date for the presence of the Black Olmecs or Xi People is about 1500 B.C., journies to the Mexico and the Southern United States may have come from West Africa much earlier, particularly around five thousand years before Christ. That conclusion is based on the finding of an African native cotton that was discovered in North America. It's only possible manner of arriving where it was found had to have been through human hands. At that period in West African history and even before, civilization was in full bloom in the Western Sahara in what is today Mauritania. One of Africa's earliest civilizations, the Zingh Empire, existed and may have lived in what was a lake filled, wet and fertile Sahara, where ships criss-crossed from place to place.

    ANCIENT AFRICAN KINGDOMS PRODUCED
    OLMEC TYPE CULTURES

    The ancient kingdoms of West Africa which occupied the Coastal forest belt from Cameroon to Guinea had trading relationships with other Africans dating back to prehistoric times. However, by 1500 B.C., these ancient kingdoms not only traded along the Ivory Coast, but with the Phoenicians and other peoples. They expanded their trade to the Americas, where the evidence for an ancient African presence is overwhelming. The kingdoms which came to be known by Arabs and Europeans during the Middle Ages were already well established when much of Western Europe was still inhabited by Celtic tribes. By the 5th Century B.C., the Phoenicians were running comercial ships to several West African kingdoms. During that period, iron had been in use for about one thousand years and terracotta art was being produced at a great level of craftsmanship. Stone was also being carved with naturalistic perfection and later, bronze was being used to make various tools and instruments, as well as beautifully naturalistic works of art.


    The ancient West African coastal and interior Kingdoms occupied an area that is now covered with dense vegetation but may have been cleared about three to four thousand years ago. This includes the regions from the coasts of West Africa to the South, all the way inland to the Sahara. A number of large kingdoms and empires existed in that area. According to Blisshords Communications, one of the oldest empires and civilizions on earth existed just north of the coastal regions into what is today Mauritania. It was called the Zingh Empire and was highly advanced. In fact, they were the first to use the red, black and green African flag and to plant it throughout their territory all over Africa and the world.

    The Zingh Empire existed about fifteen thousand years ago. The only other civilizations that may have been in existance at that period in history were the Ta-Seti civilization of what became Nubia-Kush and the mythical Atlantis civilization which may have existed out in the Atlantic, off the coast of West Africa about ten to fifteen thousand years ago. That leaves the question as to whether there was a relationship between the prehistoric Zingh Empire of West Africa and the civilization of Atlantis, whether the Zingh Empire was actually Atlantis, or whether Atlantis if it existed was part of the Zingh empire. Was Atlantis, the highly technologically sophisticated civilization an extension of Black civilization in the Meso-America and other parts of the Americas?


    Shaman or priest
    Stone carving of a Shaman or priest
    from Columbia's San Agustine Culture


    African Oni
    An ancient West African Oni or King holding similar artifacts as the San Agustine culture stone carving of a Shaman


    The above ancient stone carvings (500 t0 1000 B.C.) of Shamans of Priest-Kings clearly show distinct similarities in instruments held and purpose. The realistic carving of an African king or Oni and the stone carving of a shaman from Columbia's San Agustin Culture indicates diffusion of African religious practices to the Americas. In fact, the region of Columbia and Panama were among the first places that Blacks were spotted by the first Spanish explorers to the Americas.

    From the archeological evidence gathered both in West Africa and Meso-America, there is reason to believe that the African Negritics who founded or influenced the Olmec civilization came from West Africa. Not only do the collosol Olmec stone heads resemble Black Africans from the Ghana area, but the ancient religious practices of the Olmec priests was similar to that of the West Africans, which included shamanism, the study of the Venus complex which was part of the traditions of the Olmecs as well as the Ono and Dogon People of West Africa. The language connection is of significant importance, since it has been found out through decipherment of the Olmec script, that the ancient Olmecs spoke the Mende language and wrote in the Mend script, which is still used in parts of West Africa and the Sahara to this day.

    ANCIENT TRADE BETWEEN THE AMERICAS AND AFRICA

    The earliest trade and commercial activities between prehistoric and ancient Africa and the Americas may have occurred from West Africa and may have included shipping and travel across the Atlantic. The history of West Africa has never been properly researched. Yet, there is ample evidence to show that West Africa of 1500 B.C. was at a level of civilization approaching that of ancient Egypt and Nubia-Kush. In fact, there were similarities between the cultures of Nubia and West Africa, even to the very similarities between the smaller scaled hard brick clay burial pyramids built for West African Kings at Kukia in
    pre Christian Ghana and their counterparts in Nubia, Egypt and Meso-America.

    Although West Africa is not commonly known for having a culture of pyramid-building, such a culture existed although pyramids were created for the burial of kings and were made of hardened brick. This style of pyramid building was closer to what was built by the Olmecs in Mexico when the first Olmec pyramids were built. In fact, they were not built of stone, but of hardened clay and compact earth.

    Still, even though we don't see pyramids of stone rising above the ground in West Africa, similar to those of Egypt, Nubia or Mexico, or massive abilisks, collosal monuments and structures of Nubian and Khemitic or Meso-American civilization. The fact remains, they did exist in West Africa on a smaller scale and were transported to the Americas, where conditions
    such as an environment more hospitable to building and free of detriments such as malaria and the tsetse fly, made it much easier to build on a grander scale.


    Meso-American pyramid
    Meso-American pyramid with stepped appearance,
    built about 2500 years ago


    Pyramid of Sakkara
    Stepped Pyramid of Sakkara, Egypt, built over
    four thousand years ago, compare to Meso-American pyramid


    Large scale building projects such as monuent and pyramid building was most likely carried to the Americas by the same West Africans who developed the Olmec or Xi civilization in Mexico. Such activities would have occurred particularly if there was not much of a hinderance and obstacle to massive, monumental building and construction as there was in the forest and malaria zones of West Africa. Yet, when the region of ancient Ghana and Mauritania is closely examined, evidence of large prehistoric towns such as Kukia and others as well as various monuments to a great civilization existed and continue to exist at a smaller level than Egypt and Nubia, but significant enough to show a direct connection with Mexico's Olmec civilization.

    The similarities between Olmec and West African civilization includes racial, religious and pyramid bilding similarities, as well as the similarities in their alphabets and scripts as well as both cultures speaking the identical Mende language, which was once widespread in the Sahara and was spread as far East as Dravidian India in prehistoric times as well as the South Pacific.

    During the early years of West African trade with the Americas, commercial seafarers made frequent voyages across the Atlantic. In fact, the oral history of a tradition of seafaring between the Americas and Africa is part of the history of the Washitaw People, an aboriginal Black nation who were the original inhabitants of the Mississippi Valley region, the former Louisiana Territories and parts of the Southern United States. According to their oral traditions, their ancient ships criss-crossed the Atlantic Ocean between Africa and the Americas on missions of trade and commerce..

    Some of the ships used during the ancient times, perhaps earlier than 7000 B.C. (which is the date given for cave paintings of the drawings and paintings of boats in the now dried up Sahara desert) are similar to ships used in parts of Africa today. These ships were either made of papyrus or planks lashed with rope, or hollowed out tree trunks.

    These ancient vessels were loaded with all type of trade goods and not only did they criss-cross the Atlantic but they traded out in the Pacific and settled there as well all the way to California. In
    fact, the tradition of Black seafarers crossing the Pacific back and forth to California is much older than the actual divulgance of that fact to the first Spanish explorers who were told by the American Indians that Black men with curly hair made trips from California's shores to the Pacific on missions of trade.

    On the other hand, West African trade with the Americas before Columbus and way back to proto historic times (30,000 B.C. to 10,000 B.C.), is one of the most important chapters in ancient African history. Yet, this era which begun about 30,000 years ago and perhaps earlier (see the Gladwin Thesis, by C.S.Gladwin, Mc Graw Hill Books), has not been part of the History of Blacks in the Americas. Later on in history, particularly during the early Bronze Age.

    However, during the latter part of the Bronze Age, particularly between 1500 B.C. to 1000 B.C., when the Olmec civilization began to bloom and flourish, new conditions in the Mediterranean made it more difficult for West Africans to trade by sea with the region, although their land trade accross the Sahara was flourishing. By then, Greeks, Phoenicians, Assyrians, Babylonians and others were trying to gain control of the sea routes and the trading ports of the region. Conflicts in the region may have pushed the West Africans to strengthen their trans-Atlantic trade with the Americas and to explore and settle there.


    Ancient sea-going vessel
    Ancient sea-going vessel used by the Egyptians
    and Nubians in ancient times.


    West African Trade and Settlement in the Americas Increases Due to Conflicts in the Mediterranean

    The flowering of the Olmec Civilization occurred between 1500 B.C. to 1000 B.C., when over twenty-two collosal heads of basalt were carved representing the West African Negritic racial type.
    This flowering continued with the appearance of "Magicians," or Shamanistic Africans who observed and charted the Venus planetary complex (see the pre-Christian era statuette of a West African Shaman in the photograph above) These "Magicians," are said to have entered Mexico from West Africa between 800 B.C. to 600 B.C. and were speakers of the Mende language as well as writers of the Mende script or the Bambara script, both which are still used in parts of West Africa and the Sahara.

    These Shamans who became the priestly class at Monte Alban during the 800's to 600's B.C. ( ref. The History of the African-Olmecs and Black Civilization of the Americas From Prehistoric Times to the Present Era), had to have journied across the Atlantic from West Africa, for it is only in West Africa, that the religious practices and astronomical and religious practices and complex (Venus, the Dogon Sirius observation and the Venus worship of the Afro-Olmecs, the use of the ax in the worship of Shango among he Yoruba of West Africa and the use of the ax in Afro-Olmec worship as well as the prominence of the thunder God later known as Tlalock among the Aztecs) are the same as those practiced by the Afro-Olmec Shamans. According to Clyde Ahmed Winters (see "Clyde A. Winters" webpage on "search."

    Thus, it has been proven through linguistic studies, religious similarities, racial similarities between the Afro-Olmecs and West Africans, as well as the use of the same language and writing script, that the Afro-Olmecs came from the Mende-Speaking region of West Africa, which once included the Sahara.

    Sailing and shipbuilding in the Sahara is over twenty thousand years old. In fact, cave and wall paintings of ancient ships were displayed in National Geographic Magazine some years ago. Such ships which carried sails and masts, were among the vessels that swept across the water filled Sahara in prehistoric times. It is from that ship-building tradition that the Bambara used their knowledge to build Thor Hayerdhal's papyrus boat Ra I which made it to the West Indies from Safi in Morroco years ago. The Bambara are also one of the West African nationalities who had and still have a religious and astronomical complex similar to that of the ancient Olmecs, particularly in the area of star gazing.

    A journey across the Atlantic to the Americas on a good current during clement weather would have been an easier task to West Africans of the Coastal and riverine regions than it would have been through the use of caravans criss-crossing the hot by day and extremely cold by night Sahara desert. It would have been much easier to take a well made ship, similar to the one shown above and let the currents take it to the West Indies, and may have taken as long as sending goods back and forth from northern and north-eastern Africa to the interior and coasts of West Africa's ancient kingdoms. Add to that the fact that crossing the Sahara would have been no easy task when obsticales such as the hot and dusty environment, the thousands of miles of dust, sand and high winds existed. The long trek through the southern regions of West Africa through vallies, mountains and down the many rivers to the coast using beasts of burden would have been problematic particularly since malaria mosquitoes harmful to both humans and animals would have made the use of animals to carry loads unreliable.

    Journeys by ship along the coast of West Africa toward the North, through the Pillars of Heracles,
    eastward on the Mediterran to Ports such as Byblos in Lebanon, Tyre or Sydon would have been two to three times as lengthy as taking a ship from Cape Verde, sailing it across the Atlantic and landing in North-Eastern Brazil fifteen hundred miles away, or Meso America about 2400 miles away. The distance in itself is not what makes the trip easy. It is the fact that currents which are similar to gigantic rivers in the ocean, carry ships and other vessels from West Africa to the Americas with relative ease.

    West Africans during the period of 1500 B.C. to 600 B.C. up to 1492 A.D. may have looked to the Americas as a source of trade, commerce and a place to settle and build new civlilzations. During the period of 1500 B.C. to 600 B.C., there were many conflicts in the Mediterranean involving the Kushites, Egyptians, Assyrians, Phoenicians, Sea Peoples, Persians, Jews and others. Any kingdom or nation of that era who wanted to conduct smoothe trade without complications would have tried to find alternative trading partners. In fact, that was the very reason why the Europeans decided to sail westwared in their wearch for India and China in 1492 A.D. They were harrassed by the Arabs in the East and had to pay heavy taxes to pass through the region.

    Still, most of the Black empires and kingdoms such as Kush, Mauri, Numidia, Egypt, Ethiopia and others may have had little difficulty conducting trade among their neighbors since they also were among the major powers of the region who were dominant in the Mediterranean. South of this northern region to the south-west, Mauritania (the site of the prehistoric Zingh Empire) Ghana, and many of the same nationalities who ushered in the West African renaissance of the early Middle Ages were engaged in civilizations and cultures similar to those of Nubia, Egypt and the Empires of the Afro-Olmec or Xi (Shi) People.


    Nubian-Kushite King and Queen (circa 1000 B.C.)

    Nubian-Kushite King and Queen It is believed that there was a Nubian presence in Mexico and that the West African civilizations were related to that of the Nubians, despite the distance between the two centers of Black civilization in Africa. There is no doubt that in ancient times there were commercial ties between West Africa and Egypt. In fact, about 600 B.C., Nikau, a Pharaoh of Egypt sent ships to circumnavigate Africa and later on about 450 B.C., Phoenicians did the same, landing in West Africa in the nation now called Cameroon. There they witnessed what may have been the celebration of a Kwanza-like harvest festival, where "cymbals, horns," and other instruments as well as smoke and fire from buring fields could be seen from their ships.

    At that period in history, the West African cultures and civilizations, which were offshoots of much earlier southern Saharan cultures, were very old compared to civilizations such as Greece or Babylon. In fact, iron was being used by the ancient West Africans as early as 2600 years B.C. and was so common that there was no "bronze age" in West Africa, although bronze was used for ornaments and instruments or tools.

    A combination of Nubians and West Africans engaged in mutual trade and commerce along the coasts of West Africa could have planned many trips to and from the Americas and could have conducted a crossing about 1500 B.C. and afterwards. Massive sculptures of the heads of typical Negritic Africans were carved in the region of South Mexico where the Olmec civilization flourished. Some of these massive heads of basalt contain the cornrow hairstyle common among West African Blacks, as well as the kinky coiled hair common among at least 70 percent of all Negritic people, (the other proportion being the Dravidian Black race of India and the Black Australoids of Australia and South Asia).


    Afro-Olmec head
    Collossol Afro-Olmec head of basalt wearing
    Nubian type war helmet, circa 1100 B.C.


    Afro-Olmecs Came from the Mende Regions of West Africa

    Although archeologists have used the name "Olmec," to refer to the Black builders of ancient Mexico's first civilizations, recent discoveries have proven that these Afro-Olmecs were West Africans of the Mende language and cultural group. Inscriptions found on ancient monuments in parts of Mexico show that the script used by the ancient Olmecs was identical to that used by the ancient and modern Mende-speaking peoples of West Africa. Racially, the collosal stone heads are identical in features to West Africans and the language deciphered on Olmec monuments is identical to the Mende language of West Africa, (see Clyde A. Winters) on the internet.

    The term "Olmec" was first used by archeologists since the giant stone heads with the features of West African Negritic people were found in a part of Mexico with an abundance of rubber trees. The Maya word for rubber was "olli, and so the name "Olmec," was used to label the Africoid Negritic people represented in the faces of the stone heads and found on hundreds of terracotta figurines throughout the region.

    Yet, due to the scientific work done by deciphers and linguists, it has been found out that the ancient Blacks of Mexico know as Olmecs, called themselves the Xi People (She People).
    Apart from the giant stone heads of basalt, hundreds of terracotta figurines and heads of people of Negritic African racial reatures have also been found over the past hundred years in Mexico and other parts of Meso-America as well as the ancient Black-owned lands of the Southern U.S. (Washitaw Proper,(Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Arkansas), South America's Saint Agustin Culture in the nation of Colombia, Costa Rica, and other areas) the "Louisiana Purchase,"
    lands, the south-eastern kingdom of the Black Jamassee, and other places including Haiti, see
    the magazine Ancient American).

    Various cultural clues and traces unique to Africa as well as the living descendants of prehistoric and ancient African migrants to the Americas continue to exist to this very day. The Washitaw Nation of Louisiana is one such group (see
    www.Hotep.org), the Garifuna or Black Caribs of the Caribbean and Central America is another, the descendants of the Jamasse who live in Georgia and the surrounding states is another group. There are also others such as the Black Californian of Queen Calafia fame (the Black Amazon Queen mentioned in the book Journey to Esplandian, by Ordonez de Montalvo during the mid 1500's).

    Cultural artefacts which connect the ancient Blacks of the Americas with Africa are many. Some of these similarities can be seen in the stone and terracotta works of the ancient Blacks of the Americas. For example, the African hairline is clearly visible in some stone and terracotta works, including the use of cornrows, afro hair style, flat "mohawk" style similar to the type used in Africa, dreadlocks, braided hair and even plain kinky hair. The African hairline is clearly visible on a fine stone head from Veracruz Mexico, carved between 600 B.C. to 400 B.C., the Classic Period of Olmec civilization. That particular statuette is about twelve inches tall and the distance from the head to the chin is about 17 centemeters. Another head of about 12 inches, not only posesses Negroid features, but the hair design is authentically West African and is on display at the National Museum of Mexico. This terracotta Africoid head also wears the common disk type ear plugs common in parts of Africa even today among tribes such as the Dinka and Shilluk.

    One of the most impressive pieces of evidence which show a direct link between the Black Olmec or Xi People of Mexico and West Africans is the presence of scarification marks on some Olmec terracotta sculpture. These scarification marks clearly indicate a West African Mandinka (Mende) presence in prehistoric and ancient Meso-America. Ritual scarification is still practiced in parts of Africa and among the Black peoples of the South Pacific, however the Olmec scarification marks are not of South Pacific or Melanesian Black origins, since the patterns used on ancient Olmec sculpture is still common in parts of Africa. This style of scarification tatooing is still used by the Nuba and other Sudanese African people. In fact, the face of a young girl with keloid scarification on here face is identical to the very same keloid tatoos on the face of an ancient Olmec terracotta head from ancient Mexico. Similar keloid tattoos also appear on the arms of some Sudanese and are identical to similar keloid scars on the arms of some clay figures from ancient Olmec terracotta figurines of Negroid peoples of ancient Mexico.



    Bronze head of an ancient king from Benin
    Bronze head of an ancient king from Benin, West Africa,
    The tradition of fine sculpture in West Africa goes back long before 1000 B.C.


    Afro-Olmec
    Collosal head of Afro-Olmec (Xi) warrior-king, circa 1100 B.C.


    Descendants of Ancient Africans in Recent America

    In many parts of the Americas today, there are still people of African Negritic racial backgrounds who continue to exist either blended into the larger African-Americas population or are parts of separate, indigenous groups living on their own lands with their own unique culture and languages.

    One such example is the Washitaw Nation who owned about one million square miles of the former Louisiana Territories, (see
    www.Hotep.org), but who now own only about 70,000 acres of all their former territory. The regaining of their lands from the U.S. was a long process which concluded partially in 1991, when they won the right to their lands in a U.S. court.

    The Black Californian broke up as a nation during the late 1800's after many years of war with the Spanish invaders of the South West, with Mexico and with the U.S. The blended into the Black population of California and their descendants still exist among the millions of Black Californians of today.

    The Black Caribs or Garifunas of the Caribbean Islands and Central America fought with the English and Spanish from the late fifteen hundreds up to 1797, when the British sued for peace. The Garifuna were expelled from their islands but they prospered in Central America where hundreds of thousands live along the coasts today.

    The Afro-Darienite is a significant group of pre-historic, pre-columbian Blacks who existed in South America and Central America. These Blacks were the Africans that the Spanish first saw during their exploration of the narrow strip of land between Columbia and Central America and who were described as "slaves of our lord" since the Spaniards and Europeans had the intention of enslaving all Blacks they found in the newly discovered lands.

    The above mentioned Blacks of precolumbian origins are not Blacks wo mixed with the Mongoloid Indian population as occurred during the time of slavery. They were Blacks who were in some cases on their lands before the southward migrations of the Mongoloid Native Americans. In many cases, these Blacks had established civilizations in the Americas thousands of years ago.


    An early Black Californian
    An early Black Californian, a member of the original Black
    aboriginal people of California and the South Western U.S.


    original Black nations of the Americas
    A member of one of the original Black nations of the Americas, the Afro-Darienite of Panama.


    Stone carving of Negroid person
    Stone carving of Negroid person found in area
    close to Washitaw Territories, Southern U.S.


    THE USE OF ANCIENT AFRICAN SHIPS AND BOATS TO TRADE WITH THE AMERICAS

    Protohistoric, prehistoric and ancient Negritic Africans were masters of the lands as well as the oceans. They were the first shipbuilders on earth and had to have used watercraft to cross from South East Asia to Australia about 60,000 years ago and from the West Africa/Sahara inland seas region to the Americas. The fact of the northern portion of Africa now known as a vast desert wasteland being a place of large lakes, rivers and fertile regions with the most ancient of civilizations is a fact that has been verified, (see African Presence in Early America, edt. Ivan Van Sertima and Runoko Rashidi, Transaction Publishers, New Bruinswick, NJ "The Principle of Polarity," by Wayne Chandler: 1994.)

    From that region of Africa as well as East Africa, diffusions of Blacks towards the Americas as early as 30,000 B.C. are believed to have occurred based on findings in a region from Mexico to Brazil which show that American indians in the region include Negritic types (eg. Olmecs, Afro-Darienite, Black Californians, Chuarras, Garifunas and others). Much earlier journeys occurred by land sometime before 75,000 B.C. according to the Gladwin Thesis written by C.S. Gladwin. This migration occurred on the Pacific side of the Americas and was began by Africans with Affinities similar to the people of New Guinea, Tasmania, Solomon Islands and Australia. The earliest migrations of African Blacks through Asia then to the Americas seemed to have occurred exactly during the period that the Australian Aborigines and the proto-African ancestors of the Aborigines, Oceanic Negroids (Fijians, Solomon Islanders, Papua-New Guineans,and so on) and other Blacks spread throughout East Asia and the Pacific Islands about one hundred thousand years ago. The fact that these same Blacks are still among the world's seafaring cultures and still regard the sea as sacred and as a place of sustinence is evidence of their ancient dependance on the sea for travel and exploration as well as for commerce and trade. Therefore, they would have had to build sea-worthy ships and boats to take them across the vast expanses of ocean, including the Atlantic, Indian Ocean (both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans were called the Ethiopean Sea, in the Middle Ages) and the Pacific Ocean.

    During the historic period close to the early bronze or copper using period of world history (6000 B.C. to 4000 B.C. migrations of Africans from the Mende regions of West Africa and the Sahara across the Atlantic to the Americas may have occurred. In fact, the Mende agricultural culture was well established in West Africa and the Sahara during that period. Boats still criss-crossed the Sahara, as they had been doing for over ten thousand years previously. The ancient peoples of the Sahara, as rock paintings clearly show, were using boats and may have sailed from West Africa and the Sahara to the Americas, including the Washitaw territories of the Midwestern and Southern U.S. Moreover, it is believed by the aboriginal Black people of the former Washitaw Empire who still live in the Southern U.S., that about 6000 B.C., there was a great population shift from the region of Africa and the Pacific ocean, which led to the migrations of their ancestors to the Americas to join the Blacks who had been there previously.

    As for the use of ships, ancient Negritic peoples and the original Negroid peoples of the earth may have began using boats very early in human history. Moreover, whatever boats were used did not have to be sophisticated or of huge size. In fact, the small, seaworthy "outrigger" canoe may have been spread from East Africa to the Indian Ocean and the Pacific by the earliest African migrants to Asia and the Pacific regions. Boats of papyrus, skin, sewed plank, log and hollowed logs were used by ancient Africans on their trips to various parts of the world.



    Afro-Olmec
    Gigantic stone head of Afro-Olmec (Xi People)
    of ancient Mexico, circa 1100 B.C.


    Afro-Olmec child
    Face of Afro-Olmec child carved on the waste "belt" of an Olmec ballplayer


    This stone belt was used by the Olmec ballplayers to catch the impact of the rubber balls in their ball games. This face is typical Negritic, including the eyes which seem to "slant," a common racial characteristic in West Africa, the Sahara and in South Africa among the Kong-San (Bushmen) and other Africans.

    TRADE ROUTES OF THE ANCIENT BLACKS

    During the years of migrations of Africans to all parts of the world, those who crossed the Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Pacific also used the seas to make trips to the northern parts of Africa. They may have avoided the northern routes across the deserts at particular times of the year and sailed northward by sailing parallel to the coastslines on their way northward or southward, just as the Phoenicians, Nubians and Egyptians had done.
    Boats made of skin, logs, hollowed ttee trunk, lashed canoes and skin could have been used for trading and commerce.

    The reed boat is a common type of watercraft used in West Africa and other parts of the world, yet there were other boats and ships to add to those already mentioned above. Boats similar to those of Nubia and Egypt were being used in the Sahara just as long or even longer than they were being used in Egypt. In fact, civilization in the Sahara and Sudan existed before Egypt was settled by Blacks from the South and the Sahara.

    The vessels which crossed the Atlantic about 1500 B.C. (during the early Afro-Olmec period) were most likely the same types of ships shown in the sahara cave paintings of ships dating to about 7,000 B.C. or similar ships from Nubian rock carvings of 3000 B.C..

    Egyptologists such as Sir Flinders Petrie believed that the ancient African drawings of ships represent papyrus boats similar to the one built by the Bambara People for Thor Hayerdhal on the shores of Lake Chad. This boat made it to Barbadose, however they did not reinforce the hull with rope as the ancient Egyptians and Nubians did with their ancient ships. That lack of reinforcement made the Bambara ship weak, however another papyrus ship built by Ayamara Indians in Lake Titicaca, Bolivia was reinforced and it made it to the West Indies without difficulty.

    Naval historian Bjorn Landstrom believes that some of the curved hulls shown on rock art and pottery from the Nubian civilization (circa 3000 B.C.) point to a basic three-plank idea. The planks would have been sewn together with rope. The larer version must have had some interior framing to hold them together. The hulls of some ot these boats show the vertical extension of the bow and stern which may have been to keep them bouyant.

    These types of boats are stilll in use in one of the most unlikely places. The Djuka and Saramaka Tribes of Surinam, known also as 'Bush Negroes,"
    build a style of ship and boat similar to that of the Ancient Egyptians and Nubians, with their bows and sterns curving upward and pointing vertically.

    This style of boat is also a common design in parts of West Africa, particularly along the Niger River where extensive river trading occurs. They are usually carved from a single tree trunk which is used as the backbone. Planks are then fitted alongside to enlarge them. In all cases, cabins are built on top of the interior out of woven mat or other strong fiberous material. These boats are usually six to eight feet across and about fifty feet long. There is evidence that one African Emperor Abubakari of Mali used these "almadias" or longboats to make a trip to the Americas during the 1300's.(see, They Came Before Columbus, Ivan Van Sertima; Random House: 1975)

    Apart from the vessels used by the West Africans and south western Sahara Black Africans to sail across the Atlantic to the Americas, Nubians, Kushites, Egyptians and Ethiopians were known traders in the Mediterranean. The Canaanites, the Negroid inhabitants of the Levant who later became the Phoenicians also were master seafarers. This has caused some to speculate that the heads of the Afro-Olmecs represent the heads of servants of the Phoenicians, yet no dominant people would build such massive and collosol monuments to their servants and not to themselves.

    Check for historical references and literature

    ANTHROPOLOGISTS BELIEVE THERE WAS AN ANCIENT BLACK PRESENCE IN THE AMERICAS


    During the International Congress of American Anthropologists held in Bacelona, Spain in 1964, a French anthropologist pointed out that all that was missing to prove a definite presence of Negritic Blacks in the Americas before Columbus was Negroid skeletons to add to the already found Negroid featured terracottas. Later on February of 1975 skeletons of Negroid people dating to the 1200's were found at a precolumbian grave in the Virgin Islands. Andrei Wierzinski, the Polish crainologist also concluded based on the study of skeletons found in Mexico, that a good portion of the skulls were that of Negritic Blacks,

    Based on the many finds for a Black African Negroid presence in ancient Mexico, some of the most enthusiastic proponents of a pre-columbian Black African presence in Mexico are Mexican professionals. They conclude that Africans must have established early important trading centers on the coasts along Vera Cuz, from which Middle America's first civiliztion grew.

    In retrospect, ancient Africans did visit the Americas from as early as about 100,000 B.C. where they stayed for tens of thousands of years. By 30,000 B.C., to about 15,000 B.C., a massive migration from the Sahara towards the Indian Ocean and the Pacific in the East occurred from the Sahara. Blacks also migrated Westward across the Atlantic Ocean towards the Americas during that period until the very eve of Columbus' first journey to the Americas.

    Trade, commerce and exploration as well as the search for new lands when the Sahara began to dry up later in history was the catalyst that drove the West Africans towards the Atlantic and into the Americas.

    REFERENCES


    Washitaw Nation (
    www.Hotep.org)

    Clyde A. Winters (The Nubians and the Olmecs)

    Blacks of India
    dalitstan.org

    Blacks of the Pacific and Melanesia:
    www.cwo.com/~lucumi/pacific.html

    If you ever visit the ancient Afro-Olmec monuments of Mexico, the Washitaw Nation of Louisiana, the monuments of Nubia, Egypt or West Africa you need to take great pictures:
    www.photoalley.com

    harrybelafonte.jpg

    Harry Belafonte Reaffirms a Proud Tradition
     
    "He [President George W. Bush] lied to the people of this nation, distorted the truth, declared war on a nation who had not attacked us . . . put America's sons and daughters in harm's way . . . and destroyed the lives of tens of thousands of [Iraqi] women and children who had nothing to do with it. It was an act of terror."
    —Harry Belafonte, Amsterdam News, (January 25, 2006 p. 1)

    Harry Belafonte did more than speak truth to a President who lied to justify an invasion that has taken the lives of more than 2,000 Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqis. He became part of a proud African American tradition Frederick Douglass started in 1848.
    Frederick Douglass excoriated President Polk's administration for "grasping ambition, atrocious aggression, and wholesale murder of an unoffending people" in "a disgraceful, cruel, and iniquitous war," and demanded "the instant recall of U.S. forces from Mexico." Since President Polk lied to justify a U.S. invasion that seized land stretching from Texas to California for new slave states, Douglass said, "I would not care if tomorrow, I should hear of the death of every man who engaged in that bloody war." (Congressman Abraham Lincoln also reviled Polk for using a lie to order an invasion and land seizure from an innocent neighbor.)

    During the Spanish American War of 1898, another conflict based on a lie, anti-lynching crusader Ida B. Wells urged her people to oppose all overseas actions until African Americans were safe from lynching. Lewis Douglass, Civil War hero and the son of Frederick Douglass, said the McKinley administration's invasion of the Philippines would bring "race hate and cruelty, barbarous lynchings and gross injustice to dark people." A.M.E. Bishop Henry M. Turner not only denounced the occupation but was appalled the U.S. sent 6,000 Black soldiers "to subjugate a people of their own color. I can scarcely keep from saying that I hope the Filipinos wipe such soldiers from the face of the earth."

    Black U.S. troops in the field expressed their anger at being part of, as one soldier charged, "a gigantic scheme of robbery and oppression." Another Black solider admitted, “These people are right and we are wrong, terribly wrong.” Twenty U.S. soldiers, including 12 African Americans, defected to Filipino General Emilio Aguinaldo and his freedom-fighting army.

    In 1951 during the Korean War Paul Robeson opposed U.S. help for "a corrupt clique of politicians [in South Korea]." "If we don't stop our armed adventure in Korea today," he warned, "tomorrow it will be Africa." W.E.B. Du Bois saw the war as "the culmination of a wicked and shameful policy...which our government has ruthlessly pursued with respect to the colonial people of the world." Government agents harassed Robeson and Du Bois, and the U.S. State Department lifted their passports. Du Bois, who had founded a Peace Information Center to circulate the "Stockholm Peace Petition" demanding a ban on nuclear weapons, was arrested and tried as a foreign agent. After Du Bois won in court, he told a Madison Square Garden Rally "We are peddling freedom to the world...and dropping death on those who refuse to use it."

    African Americans were a vital part of the massive protests that helped end the Viet Nam War. In 1965 the first organization to denounce the war was the Black-led Freedom Democratic Party of McComb, Mississippi. Stokely Carmichael and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. brought a huge anti-war march to the United Nations where Carmichael led the chant: "Hell no, we won't go." King called the United States "the largest purveyor of violence in the world today" and urged young men to avoid the draft. When world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali was stripped of his title because he refused to report for military service, he also refused to be silenced: "No, I am not going ten thousand miles to help murder and kill and burn other people simply to help continue the domination of white slave masters over the dark people of the world."

    Harry Belafonte has raised to new heights a proud, patriotic, American and African American tradition—opposition to a President who lies and sacrifices American lives in order to promote and justify wars of aggression.

    Read the related Amsterdam News article, Belafonte continues his Bush onslaught; gov’t put on trial.


    1871 Wagon Trail Celebrating Black History
    The Black West

    "If the American frontier did not exist, it would have to have been invented." —Voltaire

    "The frontier is the most American part of America." —Lord Bryce

    "The Westerner has been the type and master of our American life." —Woodrow Wilson

    In the nineteenth century scholars transformed our frontier saga from a grim duel with nature that unleashed the worst and best in people into a national mythology to honor Europeans for building a nation in the wilderness. This revised tale was not subject to Indian claims. It forever omitted people of African descent, and denied them a place in dime novels, school texts and tales of pioneer life. When 20th Hollywood's central casting selected actors to race across silver screens, African Americans were invisible.

    This has begun to change. Like the dark, mysterious figures in "horse operas" that suddenly ride into town only to be recognized as missing earlier settlers, African American men and women of the West have come home. Scholarly diligence has cleared a path for these long neglected pioneers to enter the public consciousness.

    From the dawn of the earliest foreign landings Africans were a crucial force in the New World. Professor van Van Sertima has documented their presence before Columbus thought of sailing westward to reach the riches of Asia. Their presence after Columbus has been affirmed in explorers' diaries, viceroys' letters, church records, government reports, fur company ledgers, recollections of Indians and whites, newspaper accounts, and census reports. Their faces have been captured in sketches by artists Charles Russell and Frederick Remington, and by early professional and amateur cameramen, military and civilian. Some sat for portraits in pencil or oil and others kept diaries, notes or wrote letters. These tell of Black families that forded rivers, scaled mountains, and slogged through marshes and deserts, and on the way enriched the culture and economy of America's frontier. The frontier role of African Americans—often buried, strayed or lost from view—is now clear.

    Pietro Alonzo il Negro, traveling with Columbus in 1492 was pilot of the Nini. In 1513 African laborers marched with Vasco Balboa when he stumbled on a village of African people near Panama whose existence has never been fully explained. Other Africans marched into the wilderness alongside of, or a little ahead of Father Serra, Chief Pontiac, Ponce de Leon and Davy Crockett. Slaves, fugitive slaves, or free, they entered the continent as explorers, fur trappers, adventurers, school teachers, homesteaders, deputy sheriffs, cowboys, soldiers, outlaws, miners, journalists and entrepreneurs.

    Europeans first built their American labor system on Native American enslavement, and soon began to feed in captured Africans. Two peoples of color became husbands, wives, sisters and brothers, and with Native Americans showing the way, together they fled their chains. In 1503 when Governor Ovando of Hispaniola reported his African slaves fled to the rainforest, his complaint that they “never could be captured” probably meant they had found a red hand of friendship. Africans were welcomed by an Indian adoption system that drew no color lines. They also arrived with unique agricultural skills and a familiarity with European weapons and diplomacy.

    In a grim record filled with ironies, the subjugation of the New World was led by Spain, since 711 when Moors invaded the Iberian Peninsula, a nation of mixed races. The opening of Africa by European merchants in 1442 and Spain's expulsion of the Moors in 1492 enabled the invaders to make the New World a massive experiment in colonization and enslavement.

    Africans, slave and free, traveled as soldiers or laborers with each European expedition to the Americas. They landed in Florida with Ponce de Leon and in 1519 Africans dragged the cannons Hernando Cortez used to vanquish the Aztec empire. Others marched under the Pizarro brothers in their conquest of Peru and still others aided Francisco de Montejo to subdue Honduras. In 1539 Estevanico, an African Moor who easily picked up Indian languages, served as the scout for an exploration led by Farther Marcos de Nizza.  Estevanico, accompanied by 300 Indians, became the first non-Indian to enter Arizona and New Mexico.

    Though colonial officials warned about the danger of Africans  associating with Native Americans, European armies of occupation invariably included men of African descent. Many took the opportunity to flee to Indian villages beyond the European bastions that dotted the coastlines. A European report from Mexico in 1537 noted: "The Indians and the Negroes daily wait, hoping to put into practice their freedom from the domination and servitude in which Spaniards keep them." That year Black miners in Amatepeque, Mexico revolted, elected a ruler, and assisted by Native Mexicans, militarily challenged Spanish hegemony.

    In 1579 four Africans accompanied Sir Francis Drake when he landed in San Francisco. In 1588 Africans helped Juan de Onate colonize New Mexico and remained to take part in its civil wars two generations later. They joined and helped lead the Pueblo Indian uprising of 1680 that overthrew Spanish rule. Beginning in 1769 Africans helped Father Junipero Serra's Jesuit missionaries build missions in California. Those who remained appear in church birth, marriage and death records, and others melted into Native villages.

    From the North Carolina's Great Dismal Swamp to Brazilian rainforests two peoples of color fled together and formed "maroon societies." Though most maroon communities were committed to trade and/or agriculture, Europeans considered them bandits and one scholar called them "the gangrene of colonial society." Europeans conducted unrelenting legal and military assaults on their right to survive as alternative societies. By the American Revolution hundreds of armed Africans and Seminoles had settled along Florida's Apalachicola River. The Africans taught arriving Seminoles, a breakaway segment of the Creek nation, methods of rice cultivation they had learned in Senegambia and Sierra Leone. On this basis these red and black people formed an agricultural and military alliance that held the United States Army, Navy and Marines at bay for forty-two years.

    The New World's first written protest was a declaration signed in 1600 by Isabel de Olivera before she accompanied Juan Guerra de Resa's expedition to New Mexico. Born of an African father and Indian mother, Olivera said she had "some reason to fear I may be annoyed [because of race]." She wrote: "I demand justice."

    In 1781 Los Angeles was founded by 46 people (11 different families) and 26 were of African descent. One, Manuel Camero, served on the city council from 1781 to 1816. Another, Francisco Reyes, owned the San Fernando Valley and until he sold it and became the city's first mayor. Maria Rita Valdez, daughter of a Black founder, owned Beverly Hills, and still others owned large tracts of land and large herds of cattle. In 1790 a Spanish census of California uncovered a sizable African presence: San Francisco, 18%, San Jose, 24%, Santa Barbara 20%, Monterey, 18%.

    Texas also had a richly diverse population. San Antonio was founded in 1718 by 72 people, many of African descent, and in 1777 151 Africans were listed among its 2,060 residents. In 1789 of Laredo's 708 residents 119 were of African parentage. However, after 1795 when Spain's King Charles III declared Africans inferior to Spaniards, and the Crown sold certificates allowing residents to claim greater Spanish blood, the census reported a sharp drop in the number of Black people.

    In the 1820s enslaved men and women, free people of color and runaways, some responding to Stephen Austin's invitation, entered east Texas from the United States. Fugitive slaves and others sought the liberty promised by anti-slavery Mexican officials. In 1829 Vicente Guerrero, a revolutionary hero born of African and Indian parents, became president of Mexico, wrote its new constitution and liberated its slaves.

    By the 1830s free African Americans in Texas had made their mark. In the southeast the four Ashworth brothers owned almost two thousand acres of land and 2,500 cattle, and were able to avoid military service by hiring substitutes. In 1831 Greenbury Logan traveled to Texas with Stephen Austin where he volunteered for and was severely wounded in the war that freed Texas from Mexico. The slaveholders who came to rule the Lone Star Republic showed no respect for the rights of this wounded Black veteran. During the Mexican War Texas' slaves fled plantations to the Colorado, the Nueces and the Red Rivers, or to Commanches or Santa Ana's armies. Pio Pico, born to a prominent family of mixed African descent, was the last Mexican governor of California. He served from 1845 to 1846 when he surrendered to the victorious U.S. army.

    In San Francisco, William Leidesdorff of Danish-African de-scent, a wealthy and fervent U.S. partisan, in 1845 was appointed a U.S. vice-consul by President Polk. He secretly plotted to overthrow Mexican rule and not only welcomed U.S. Captain John Montgomery and his army, but spent a night translating the proclamation on the transfer of power that Montgomery read to the assembled citizens at the plaza the next day.

    Leavenworth, Kansas 1902 Celebrating Black History Month 2006
    The Black West

    The American Revolution led to settlement of the Ohio and Mississippi valley. Some Black people arrived as missionaries, others as trappers, schoolteachers, adventurers and runaways. In 1779 Jean Baptiste Point Du Sable built a trading post near a lake in the Illinois territory, married a Potawatomie woman, made friends with Chief Pontiac and Daniel Boone, and his settlement grew into the city of Chicago. Colonel James Stevenson, who lived for 30 years among Native Americans, in 1888 wrote: "The old fur trappers always got a Negro if possible to negotiate for them with the Indians, because of their 'pacifying effect.' They could manage them better than white men, with less friction."

    James P. Beckwourth, a handy man with a Bowie knife, gun or hatchet, cut a jagged path from St. Louis to California and back to Florida as a fur trader, army scout and warrior-for-hire. In April 1850 he discovered a pass in the Sierra Nevadas important to the California 49'ers, and Beckwourth pass, a nearby town and a peak still bear his name. In the age of Daniel Boone, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett, a western writer called Beckwourth "the most famous Indian fighter of this generation."

    Thousands of slave runaways lived among the Six Nations of the northeast or the Five Civilized Nations of the southeast. Frontier artist George Catlin described their offspring as “the finest looking people I have ever seen.” When the U.S. government forced 14,000 Cherokees into a mid-winter "Trail of Tears" march from Georgia to Oklahoma the Cherokees had 1,600 African members.

    During the Gold Rush upwards of two thousand African Americans flocked to California and one thousand called themselves prospectors. Some were free, and some of the enslaved were sent or taken by their gold-seeking masters. A few Black men gathered enough gold nuggets and dust to purchase their freedom. In cities some African Americans became chefs, entrepreneurs and land investors, and California soon boasted the wealthiest African American community in the country.

    California's Black intellectuals built a two-story "Athenaeum"—an educational center complete with 800 books and a Black museum—and developed a civil rights agenda. In 1855 the new capitol at Sacramento hosted the first of three annual Black state conventions to demand the right to testify in court, to vote and to have their children educated in public schools. The Black convention of 1856 created a newspaper, Mirror of the Times to carry news of their successes and protest campaigns to the state's thirty counties.

    California became an early battleground over human rights. In 1846 Mary, a Missouri slave, sued for liberty in a Mexican court in San Jose and won. During Gold Rush days other enslaved people, often assisted by white attorneys, took their masters to court or tried to flee to Canada. Slave Biddy Mason reached California the hard way: she walked all the way from Mississippi in charge of her owner's livestock. Aided by a white Los Angeles sheriff, she served her master with a writ of habeas corpus and after two days in court was granted liberty for herself and her three daughters. A successful midwife, she invested wisely in Los Angeles real estate, and became a noted philanthropist.

    Of all the western territories only Utah made slavery legal. In 1848 the 1700 Mormons who settled in the Salt Lake Valley clung to a belief the Scriptures condemned Blacks to servitude. But Mormons and their four dozen enslaved African Americans began by sharing scarce food, crowded shelters and the cruelties of nature. Two years later Black Mormons were able to hold assemblies for social and political purposes in their own Salt Lake City building. Though the Mormons promulgated a "slave code" in 1852 its aim was to discipline masters by requiring them to provide the enslaved decent clothing, food, and opportunities. It permitted a slave sale only with consent. In 1862 Congress ended slavery in Utah and other western territories.

    By then more than a few slaves had freed themselves and headed west. Clara Brown arrived by covered wagon in Denver in 1859 when it was still called Cherry Creek, began a laundry, started the first Sunday school, and used her home to organize the Saint James Methodist Church. After the Civil War Brown used money she had saved to search for her relatives lost during slavery. Before she found one daughter, she had brought dozens of former slaves to Colorado and helped them gain an education and find jobs. In 1885 her funeral was attended by the Governor of Colorado, the Mayor of Denver and conducted by the Colorado Pioneers Association.

    War and emancipation spurred an African American migration to the West. By 1865 Kansas had a Black population of 12,527, and Leavenworth had two Black churches and 2,400 Black residents. Organized drives for the “sacred right to vote” were mounted in Kansas, Colorado and Nevada. However, that year Colorado voters rejected an equal suffrage by ten to one, and the suffrage issue found western Democratic and Republican politicians largely opposed. Congress' Territorial Suffrage Act of 1867 and the post-war constitutional amendments finally brought the Black suffrage to the West. By 1868 when 120 black Denver voters provided the margin of victory for the Republican congressional candidate, the party moved toward firmer support for equality.

    Long before they had become free African Americans in the southwest were roping and branding cattle. After the Civil War they were among 35,000 cowboys who drove Texas cattle up the Chisholm Trail to rail depots in Kansas. In 1925 George Saunders, president of the Old Time Drivers Association, recalled "about one third of the trail crews were Negroes and Mexicans."

    Most cowpunchers were ordinary men such as Nat Love, a former Tennessee slave later known as Deadwood Dick, who honed his skills on the long drives and worked for $30 a month and grub. Few were as lucky as former slave D.W. Wallace of Texas who rose from a penniless teen-age cowhand to wealthy ranch owner.

    Even fewer had the exceptional skills of Bill Pickett. Called "the greatest sweat and dirt cowhand that ever lived" by Zack Miller, boss of the sprawling 101st Ranch in Oklahoma, Pickett created the rodeo sport of "bull-dogging” or steer wrestling, one of the seven traditional rodeo contests. Billed as "The Dusky Demon,” Pickett was star attraction when the 101st rodeo performed in Oklahoma, England, Mexico and at New York's Madison Square Garden. Pickett's daring finale had him biting into the steer's lip to show his only grip on the beast was with his teeth.

    Most cowhands followed the law but some rode in to break it. In 1877 the Texas wanted list with 5,000 names included every race. The first man shot in Dodge City was a Black cowhand named Tex, an innocent bystander to a gun duel between two whites. The first man thrown into Abeline's new stone prison was not innocent and he was black, but his black and white trail crew shot up the town and rescued him. Black desperadoes such as Cherokee Bill and the Rufus Buck gang of the Oklahoma Territory were cut in the mold of Billy the Kid and the Dalton gang: they killed without regard to race, color or creed, and paid with their lives.

    Some Black men carried a lawman's badge. Dozens of Black deputies served under "Hanging Judge" Isaac Parker. One, Bass Reeves, became a legend in his time. In 32 years he shot 14 men, but largely relied on his disguises, detective skills and knowledge of Indian languages and customs to outwit and arrest dozens of criminals. In 1874 Willie Kennard convinced a skeptical mayor of Yankee Hill, Colorado to hire him as marshall be facing down Casewit, a deranged killer and rapist, shooting the two guns from his hands and marching him to jail.

    Law and order rode into the western territories with the U.S. Cavalry, which included the Black Ninth and Tenth Regiments, a fifth of the U.S. Cavalry soldiers in the West, and the 24th and 25th U.S. Infantry Regiments. Native Americans called them "Buffalo Soldiers" after an animal they relied on for food, clothing and shelter. The Buffalo Soldiers patrolled from the Rio Grande to the Canadian border, from the Mississippi to the Rockies, and won the respect of every military friend and foe they encountered. For acts beyond the call of duty more than a dozen Black troopers earned the Congressional Medal of Honor. However, in Texas they faced harassment and assault from the townspeople they defended.

    Rarely did African American women head west alone, but in1868 Elvira Conley arrived in Sheridan, Kansas, a raucous railroad town ruled by vigilantes. She began a laundry and wisely made friends with two of her best customers, Wild Bill Hickok and Buffalo Bill. In Sheridan she also met the wealthy Sellar-Bullard merchant family and spent more than half a century serving as a governess to generations of their children.

    The first major Black migration from the southern states began in 1879 when an estimated 8,000 African American men, women and children who agreed “It is better to starve to death in Kansas than be shot and killed in the South” headed west. Founded in 1877, Nicodemus, Kansas served as a beacon, especially after Mrs. Francis Fletcher began a one-room school for 15 Black boys and girls with donated books and a curriculum of literature, hygiene, moral values and mathematics. Mobilized largely by women, often widows of men slain by white marauders in the deep South, they saw Kansas as a promised land of safety, education, farms and decent work.

    Like the European immigrants who poured into the United States at this time, Black pioneers largely rejected rural life—which they associated with slavery—for town jobs. Black women pioneers were largely in their 20s to 40s, older and more likely to be married than white women, and had a lower child-bearing rate than either white women or Black women in the East. They were five times as likely to have jobs (usually as domestic servants) as white women and twice as likely to be employed as Indian women.

    Cathy Williams Celebrating Black History Month 2006
    The Black West

    In 1889 another great land rush to Oklahoma attracted ten thousand of people of color. Most came from the Deep South and fled mounting violence hoping to see their women and children protected, gain an education and other opportunities. Leaving home in kinship and friendship caravans of a hundred or more people, this travel arrangement provided women a protective, comforting blanket. Since these large caravans included many skilled artisans, the early days of settlement was smoother for Black towns than for white towns. Residents did not have to solicit or wait for missing artisans, as did white communities. The simultaneous arrival of so many families and friends also insured cooperation, minimized conflict and spurred town growth and spirit.

    The political career of Edwin P. McCabe charts the ebb and flow of power brought by the Black migrations. In the 1880s, at the height of the Black migration to Kansas, Republicans twice nominated and elected McCabe state auditor, only to denied him a third term. In 1890 he arrived in Oklahoma, helped found Langston City the next year, and championed Oklahoma as a Black refuge from racist violence. He planned to settle a black majority in each congressional district and set his eyes on Oklahoma's territorial governorship. Within eight years Langston City boasted a public school, later a college, and within a decade had virtually eliminated illiteracy among its 15 to 45 year old men (5%) and women (6%).

    Boley, Oklahoma, formed in 1904 on land owned by Abigail Barnett, a Black Indian, in two years had a school with two teachers, and later a high school that sent half of its graduates to college. In 1908 Booker T. Washington called Boley "striking evidence" of "land-seekers and home-builders . . . prepared to build up the country." By World War I a thousand Black people lived in Boley, and two thousand ran nearby farms.

    Between 1890 and 1910 32 all-Black towns sprouted in Oklahoma. Men ran the governments but women organized community events, built schools, churches and self-help societies and planted middle class values. Then, in 1907 Oklahoma entered the Union as another white supremacy state, the first to segregate telephone booths. Blacks towns still elected local officials but not national or state officers, and Oklahoma fell under the bigoted hand of the state's justice system. Segregation laws and declining agricultural prices spelled ruin, and most Black towns became ghost towns. McCabe's political goal sputtered to earth and he left for Chicago where in 1920 he died in poverty. But his dream lived on in Black migrants' resounding victories over illiteracy.

    Women remained a major staple of Black community strength. They put up the walls and nailed down the floors of frontier schools, churches, and self-help societies. In 1864 women in Virginia City, Nevada began the First Baptist Church with a new bound Bible and a dozen hymnbooks. These pioneers went on to demand public education for their children, to begin literary societies, and in 1874 held a Calico Ball for the 374 Blacks living largely in western Nevada.

    In Montana, in 1888 Black women started a St. James Church and the next year a Methodist Episcopal Church. By 1924 31 delegates assembled in Bozeman as representatives of Montana's Federation of Black Women's Clubs. In Denver, Colorado in 1906 the Colored Women's Republican Club proudly reported a larger percentage of Black women voted in the city election than white women. By 1910, and largely due to the efforts of women, illiteracy among African Americans in California, Oregon and the Mountain States had been reduced to less than 10%. Even in western prisons 87% of Black women inmates could read and write.

    In many locales Black women were so rare that Black bachelors would meet incoming stagecoaches and trains seeking a marriage partner. Western women were far more likely to marry than their sisters in the east. In Arizona mining towns it was married Black women who, distressed by the single men who disturbed the peace at night and on weekends, formed the “Busy Bee Club.” Their strategy was to contact Black churches and newspapers in the east and arrange for the transportation of mail order brides-to-be for unmarried miners. Young women, promising to wed the men who paid their fare, boarded trains for Arizona. Young brides survived tense wedding days to meet the challenges of frontier family life.

    Other Black towns sprouted. California gave birth to Albia, Allensworth, Bowles, Victorville, and Texas produced Andy, Booker, Board House, Cologne, Independence Heights, Kendleton, Oldham, Mill City, Roberts, Shankleville and Union City. The last high plains Black settlement was Dearfield, Colorado, founded in 1910 by Oliver and Minerva Jackson and settled by 700 poor, older women and men with little capital and scant farming experience. During World War I Dearfield prospered only to be struck by water shortage and searing winds and finally toppled by the post-war agricultural depression.

    Black farming communities had marched into battle without the necessary weapons. Black pioneers, having less capital than whites, were unable to purchase the large acreage required for survival. Unable to get easy credit, they became less able to weather economic and natural disasters. And like rural whites, in the age of the automobile and movies, the jobs and bright lights of cities constantly lured their young.

    The West produced unusual and distinguished women and men of color. In 1866 Cathy Williams dressed as "William Cathy" and served for two years as a soldier in the Buffalo Soldiers. Barney Ford built a palatial Inter-Ocean Hotel in Denver and then another in Cheyenne, Wyoming. An African American cowpuncher named Williams taught a New York City tenderfoot named Theodore Roosevelt how to break in a horse, and another Black cowboy named Clay taught movie star Will Rogers his first rope tricks. Mifflin Gibbs rose from a California bootblack to start the state's first Black newspaper, graduated college and became a judge in Little Rock, Arkansas.

    In Texas, Sutton Griggs at 26 became a Baptist minister and a published novelist, and went on to write seven books of fiction and essays. Born a slave in Texas, Lucy Gonzales Parsons became the first prominent socialist revolutionary of color, an advocate for the wretched of the earth and a voice for the working class in the United States. As editors of the popular Seattle Republican, Susan and Horace Cayton became wealthy and leading citizens of the new state of Washington. Six foot, 200 pound Mary Fields ran a restaurant and laundry in Cascade, Montana, and in her sixties as "Stagecoach Mary" delivered the U.S. Mail and drove a stagecoach. In 1898 widow May Mason of Seattle rushed off to the Yukon, Alaska gold rush and returned with $5,000 in gold and a $6,000 land claim. Oscar Micheaux wrote seven novels, including two fictionalized autobiographies of his life in South Dakota, and as a pioneer movie producer wrote 45 films that cast his people as cowboys, detectives and doctors.

    African American pioneers were a hearty breed and they had to be, for they faced more than their white counterparts. To live at peace on the frontier, they had to survive the raging storms of nature and man, and overcome the bony hand of bigotry.

    Like the other pioneers, African Americans strode across the broad plains and mountains seeking their dream, and some found it by dint of hard work and luck. But their sojourn often was a frontier experience with a difference. Their families needed a place where skill would count more than skin color, where women and children would find safety, education and a chance in the race for life, and where men would find decent jobs. Most Black pioneers sought to avoid the genocidal bigotry and murderous land-hunger that stained European trails into the wilderness, and tried to be good neighbors on all sides.

    With undaunted spirit, raw courage and a dogged persistence, Black pioneers added a new dimension to western life. They more than earned a right to ride off into the sunset and across the pages of history books.

    Did You Know?
     
    Who was the first African mentioned in the Gospels?

    The first African in the New Testament was mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew, Simon of Cyrene (Matthew 27:32). Simon was pressed into service to carry the cross of Jesus. This event is highlighted in the fifth station of the cross.

    Tell the story of the account of the baptism of the Ethiopian eunuch.

    In the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 8:26-40, we read the account of the Ethiopian eunuch. This person was a black person baptized by Philip. The Ethiopian eunuch was the court official in charge of the treasury of the Queen of the Ethiopians. "Ethiopian" refers to a person of color from Africa. The Greeks used this word, which means "burnt" or darker skin.

    Who was the Black "Wise Man" at the birth of Jesus?

    The Magi, in the Infancy Narrative, refers to Melchior, whose blackness remains today in the christian crib set.
    Was Frumentius a saint?

    Frumentius (d. 380) was from Syria. He was a slave and held a trusted position in the royal court at Axum. Frumentius was a person of great faith. He opened chapels in Ethiopia and did mission work. Frumentius was very instrumental in the conversion of the Ethiopian king Ezana. After his freedom, he was later ordained Bishop by St. Athnasius, the Patriarch of Alexandria. Frumentius was the first Bishop of Ethiopia.

    How many Popes were African?
    Three:

    St. Victor I (186-197)
    St. Miltiades (311-314)
    St. Gelasius (492-496)

    St. Moses the Black was a convert and leader of a band of monks in the desert who were martyred about 410 AD. He was one of the most influential monks in the East and West. Because of Moses the Black, many women and men sought a life of prayer in the desert in the cenobitic style of sharing meals and community in Upper Egypt and Ethiopia.

    St. Monica was the Mother of St. Augustine. Monica was an African woman of great faith who prayed for her son to turn against evil. Before her death, Monica had the great joy of knowing that her son had come back to God and used his talents to build up Christ’s Church.

    Saint Augustine was born in Tagaste, Africa and was the son of Saint Monica. At the age of 33, he turned back to God and was baptized Catholic. Saint Augustine was ordained a priest and later Co-Bishop of Hippo. He led a holy and simple life, writing over 200 books, letters, and sermons. His writings are still read today. Saint Augustine's feast day is August 28th.

    Read and Act Out the Story of St. Charles Lwanga and the Ugandan martyrs.

    In the resource Black Christian Saints and Other Exemplary Black Men and Women (pp. 128-131), we read the story of the faithfilled witness of the Ugandan Royal Pages. This story highlights how to death they didn’t give up their faith and celebrated their execution with joy instead. What a great witness of love. The Martyrs of Uganda were beatified in 1902 and canonized by Pope Paul VI on October 18, 1964.

    African American History

    St. Martin de Porres (1579-1639) was the first African American saint. Martin de Porres was from Spanish and African descent. He was the first Dominican professed brother in 1603. Martin de Porres is called "Father of Poor" because of his charitable acts and his dedication to prayer. He was canonized a saint in 1962.

    Pierre Toussaint was a slave who after freedom performed extraordinary works.

    Harriet Thompson (1853) wrote to Pope Pius IX to plead for the Catholic Church to minister to black people in New York and address the concern of racism. This was the beginning of the Black Catholic Movement. (Davis, 1990, pp. 94-95)
    Who was the founder of the Blessed Sacrament Sisters?

    Katherine Drexal was the founder of the Blessed Sacrament Sisters and the first and only Black Catholic University in the United States: Xavier University in New Orleans, Louisiana.

    Who was the first black Bishop in the United States?

    Bishop James Healy, Bishop of Portland, Maine in 1875.

    Who was the first black priest?

    Fr. Augustus Tolton from Illinois in 1886.

    Name the first Black President of Georgetown University.
    Fr. Patrick Healy, SJ in 1874.

    A Modern Day Saint

    Sr. Thea Bowman (1937-1990) was a Franciscan sister of Perpetual Adoration, a gifted teacher, preacher, and evangelizer. Watch a video of her life.

    What is the name of the African American Catholic Hymnal?
    Lead Me, Guide Me (1987). Select a few songs for the class.

    What is the meaning of the colors of the African American Flag?

    The Flag is a symbol of Liberation as a people created by Marcus Garvey.

    Red: symbolizes blood and our past, present, and future suffering for dignity and freedom.
    Black: symbolizes the people of African descent.
    Green: symbolizes the land of Africa and the future.

    What are the principles of Nguzo Saba?

    The Nguzo Saba principles are “Seven Values” which originated with the Harvest Festival in Kenya and Tanzania from the Swahili tribes. Please refer to the “Zawadi Saba…” book of translations, scripture, and reflections to celebrate the Nguzo Saba principles.

    What is the number of African American Catholic Bishops in the United States?

    In the U.S., there are 13 African American Bishops.

    benjaminbanneker1.jpg

    Benjamin Banneker Washington, DC stands as a reminder of ?
     
    In 1792, when it seemed as if work on the United States of America's new capital city was about to come to a grinding halt, Benjamin Banneker came to the rescue. The French
    architect who had been in charge of planning the city, Pierre L'Enfant, was fired because of his hotheaded behavior. He immediately left the country and returned to France, taking with him all the plans for the city of Washington.

    President George Washington and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson were distressed. Would they have to start all over, having a year's worth of work go to waste? Perhaps not. Noted surveyor Benjamin Banneker had been working closely with L'Enfant and Chief Surveyor Andrew Ellicott. Banneker thought he might be able to redraw all the plans— from memory! Two days later he delivered the plans, and construction proceeded without significant delay. Today the city of Washington, D.C., stands as a reminder of Banneker's genius.
    Who was this individual who gave us our elegant capital? Benjamin Banneker was born in the colony of Maryland in 1731. On his mother's side, he was the grandson of a woman from England and an enslaved man from Africa. His mother, Mary, a free woman, married an enslaved man named Robert. Since Benjamin's mother was free, he was born into freedom.

    When Benjamin was twelve, he began attending a school near his family's farm. There he became interested in
    mathematics. He was so good at the subject that soon he knew more than his teacher!

    One day, when Banneker was a teenager, he saw something that caught hold of his imagination and wouldn't let go. It was a pocket watch, something totally new to him. The watch belonged to a man named Joseph Levi. When Levi saw how the watch fascinated the young man, he told him he could keep it. Banneker's fascination with the watch went beyond simply admiring its function.

    He wanted to discover how it worked so he could make his own timepiece! By taking the watch apart and examining its works, and then reading a few books, Banneker was able to draw up plans for a large clock. That clock took him two years to construct; he carved all the pieces out of wood. It was probably the first clock built entirely in America. Banneker's timepiece was a sensation: people came from far away to see it. The clock kept near-perfect time for decades to come.

    After finishing his clock, Banneker continued his studies. He was given a telescope and some books on astronomy, and he used these to learn about the stars and planets. Putting to use
    his new knowledge of astronomy and his skills in mathematics, Banneker successfully predicted a solar eclipse in 1789. Three years later he published the first of ten almanacs. His almanacs predicted when eclipses would occur, when the sun would rise and set each day, what the weather would be like, and more. These books also included writings by Banneker and others. They became quite popular with the American public.

    Benjamin Banneker was an outspoken opponent of slavery. He printed writings against slavery in his almanacs. He even sent a copy of his almanac along with a letter arguing against slavery to Thomas Jefferson, who was then secretary of state and a slave owner. Jefferson was impressed with Banneker's
    talent. He and many others saw Banneker as proof that intelligence and ability were not linked to the color of a person's skin.

    Today we remember Banneker for many different reasons. His great mind saved the plans for our nation's capital. He wrote practical books as well as passionate appeals for equality. At a time when many Americans believed otherwise, he showed that people of all races and backgrounds possess great minds. Benjamin Banneker was truly an early American Hero.
     
     

    johnhanson.gif

    Was George Washington the first President ?
     
    Was the First President of the United States! 1781-1782 A.D.??? George Washington was really the 8th President of the United States!

    George Washington was not the first President of the United States. In fact, the first President of the United States was one John Hanson. Don't go checking the encyclopedia for this guy's name - he is one of those great men that are lost to history. If you're extremely lucky, you may actually find a brief mention of his name.

    The new country was actually formed on March 1, 1781 with the adoption of The Articles of Confederation.
    This document was actually proposed on June 11, 1776, but not agreed upon by Congress until November 15, 1777. Maryland refused to sign this document until Virginia and New York ceded their western lands (Maryland was afraid that these states would gain too much power in the new government from such large amounts of land).

    Once the signing took place in 1781, a President was needed to run the country. John Hanson was chosen unanimously by Congress (which included George Washington). In fact, all the other potential candidates refused to run against him, as he was a major player in the revolution and an extremely influential member of Congress.

    As the first President, Hanson had quite the shoes to fill. No one had ever been President and the role was poorly defined. His actions in office would set precedent for all future Presidents.

    He took office just as the Revolutionary War ended. Almost immediately, the troops demanded to be paid. As would be expected after any long war, there were no funds to meet the salaries. As a result, the soldiers threatened to overthrow the new government and put Washington on the throne as a monarch.

    All the members of Congress ran for their lives, leaving Hanson as the only guy left running the government. He somehow managed to calm the troops down and hold the country together. If he had failed, the government would have fallen almost immediately and everyone would have been bowing to King Washington. In fact, Hanson sent 800 pounds of sterling siliver by his brother Samuel Hanson to George Washington to provide the troops with shoes.

    Hanson, as President, ordered all foreign troops off American soil, as well as the removal of all foreign flags. This was quite the feat, considering the fact that so many European countries had a stake in the United States since the days following Columbus.

    Hanson established the Great Seal of the United States, which all Presidents have since been required to use on all official documents.

    President Hanson also established the first Treasury Department, the first Secretary of War, and the first Foreign Affairs Department.

    Lastly, he declared that the fourth Thursday of every November was to be Thanksgiving Day, which is still true today.

    The Articles of Confederation only allowed a President to serve a one year term during any three year period, so Hanson actually accomplished quite a bit in such little time.

    Six other presidents were elected after him - Elias Boudinot (1783), Thomas Mifflin (1784), Richard Henry Lee (1785), Nathan Gorman (1786), Arthur St. Clair (1787), and Cyrus Griffin (1788) - all prior to Washington taking office.

    So what happened?

    Why don't we ever hear about the first seven Presidents of the United States?

    It's quite simple - The Articles of Confederation didn't work well. The individual states had too much power and nothing could be agreed upon.

    A new doctrine needed to be written - something we know as the Constitution.

    And that leads us to the end of our story.

    George Washington was definitely not the first President of the United States. He was the first President of the United States under the Constitution we follow today.

    And the first seven Presidents are forgotten in history.



    What is on the Back of the Two Dollar Bill?

    two_dollar_bill.gif

    The back of the $2 bill has an engraving of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In the image is a man who has dark skin and wearing a powdered wig while sitting at the table just to the left of the men standing in the center of the engraving. This dark skinned man is John Hanson in his position as president of the continental congress.

    In the original painting hanging in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, the dark skinned man does not appear!!!

    2vi5ugj.jpg

    noble-2.jpg

    What was the relationship between Noble Drew Ali and Garvey?
     
    Noble Drew Ali (who was born Timothy Drew, in North Carolina) (1886-1929) was the founder of the Moorish Science Temple of America. He first founded the Temple in Newark, N.J., in 1923 and soon there were branches in Pittsburgh, Detroit, and other major industrial cities of the northeast, especially in neighborhoods that had attracted mass black migration from the South.

    Ali moved to Chicago in 1925 and it was there that his movement took on its greatest force. Noble Drew Ali very much saw Marcus Garvey as an inspiration for his own efforts. He spoke of Garvey as a voice in the wilderness on the issue of racial pride, an orator and prophet who had prepared black people to be receptive to Ali's own message. Like Garvey, Ali preached the importance of developing unity among all peoples of the African diaspora. Marcus Garvey was specifically lauded as a John the Baptist who prepared the way for the coming of Noble Drew Ali at Moorish Science Temple meetings.

    Unlike the Garvey movement, which was predominantly Christian, and which adopted many of the rituals of Christian worship in its meetings, Noble Drew Ali stressed his belief that all blacks, Asiatics, Turks, Arabs, and Latin Americans--i.e. what we would today describe as people of color--were in origin Moorish, or Moslem. Ali used many of the same tactics to attract and hold followers as Marcus Garvey did with the UNIA.

    The Moorish Science Temple had street orators, members had badges and membership cards and certificates, and the organization was structured with several branches in different cities, just like the UNIA. While Ali lauded Garvey, and used Garvey's name to attract Garveyites into his own movement, Garvey on his side was skeptical about Ali and his motives.

    In 1927 Garvey claimed to know nothing about Ali or his organizing efforts using his name. The connection, though, was an important one. Noble Drew Ali and others who urged black people to feel black pride and endorse clean living and the Muslim faith, and who pointed to the earlier teachings of Garvey, were in turn links to other important leaders and developments within the Nation of Islam. Importantly, Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam, praised both Ali and Garvey as forerunners for his own movement, and the legacy of Garveyism and Islam is continued in the work of Louis Farrakhan and others.

    Enter supporting content here

    The Muslim Roots, U.S. Blues
    &amp;#8220;History changes things,&amp;#8221; says author Cornelia Walker Bailey, who lives on Sapelo Island, Georgia. Her surname started out as Bilali, the given name of her ancestor Bilali Mohammed. Trained as a Muslim prayer leader in his native Guinea, he was enslaved in 1803 and brought to Sapelo Island W. C. Handy, &amp;#8220;Father of the Blues&amp;#8221; and a son of former slaves, recorded a 1903 encounter with a man playing an instrument that was evolving from an African zither into an American slide guitar.
    BRIDGEMAN ART LIBRARY MACDUFF EVERTON / CORBIS
    “History changes things,” says author Cornelia Walker Bailey, (above) who lives on Sapelo Island, Georgia. Her surname started out as Bilali, the given name of her ancestor Bilali Mohammed. Trained as a Muslim prayer leader in his native Guinea, he was enslaved in 1803 and brought to Sapelo Island, where a small community of his descendants still lives. Bailey grew up saying Christian prayers facing east, the direction of Makkah—the same direction in which her Muslim ancestor prayed. Above Left : W. C. Handy, “Father of the Blues” and a son of former slaves, recorded a 1903 encounter with a man playing an instrument that was evolving from an African zither into an American slide guitar.

    Written by Jonathan Curiel

    Sylviane Diouf knows her audience might be skeptical, so to demonstrate the connec- tion between Muslim traditions and American blues music, she’ll play two recordings: The athaan, the Muslim call to prayer that’s heard from minarets around the world, and “Levee Camp Holler,” an early type of blues song that first sprang up in the Mississippi Delta more than 100 years ago.

    “Levee Camp Holler” is no ordinary song. It’s the product of ex-slaves who worked moving earth all day in post-Civil War America. The version that Diouf uses in presentations has lyrics that, like the call to prayer, speak about a glorious God. But it’s the song’s melody and note changes that closely resemble oneof Islam’s best-known refrains. Like the call to prayer, “Levee Camp Holler” emphasizes words that seem to quiver and shake in the reciter’s vocal chords. Dramatic changes in musical scales punctuate both “Levee Camp Holler” and the adhan. A nasal intonation is evident in both.

    ALAN LOMAX COLLECTION / SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION / "PRISON SONGS", VOL. 1, TRACK 11, ROUNDER RECORDS

    “I did a talk a few years ago at Harvard where I played those two things, and the room absolutely exploded in clapping, because [the connection] was obvious,” says Diouf, an author and scholar who is also a researcher at New York’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. “People were saying, ‘Wow. That’s really audible. It’s really there.’” It’s really there thanks to all the Muslim slaves from West Africa who were taken by force to the United States for three centuries, from the 1600’s to the mid-1800’s. Upward of 30 percent of the African slaves in the United States were Muslim, and an untold number of them spoke and wrote Arabic, historians say now. Despite being pressured by slave owners to adopt Christianity and give up their old ways, many of these slaves continued to practice their religion and customs, or otherwise melded traditions from Africa into their new environment in the antebellum South. Forced to do menial, backbreaking work on plantations, for example, they still managed, throughout their days, to voice a belief in God and the revelation of the Qur’an. These slaves’ practices eventually evolved—decades and decades later, parallel with different singing traditions from Africa—into the shouts and hollers that begat blues music, Diouf and other historians believe.

    African Muslim slaves influenced later blues both through their musical style and through their instruments, which, in late-18th-century Suriname, included percussion, wind and string devices. Among the latter were a one-string benta (top left), and a Creole-bania (top right), an ancestor of the American banjo. Right: This Creole-bania was made in the late 18th century from a half-gourd covered with skin; it had a fretless neck.
    JOHN GABRIEL STEDMAN, NARRATIVE… (LONDON, 1796) / THE MARINER’S MUSEUM
    African Muslim slaves influenced later blues both through their musical style and through their instruments, which, in late-18th-century Suriname, included percussion, wind and string devices. Among the latter were a one-string benta (top left), and a Creole-bania (top right), an ancestor of the American banjo.

    Another way that Muslim slaves had an indirect influence on blues music is the instruments they played. Drumming, which was common among slaves from the Congo and other non-Muslim regions of Africa, was banned by white slave owners, who felt threatened by its ability to let slaves communicate with each other and by the way it inspired large gatherings of slaves.

    Slave owners often banned drumming but tolerated stringed instruments.

    Stringed instruments, however—favored by slaves from Muslim regions of Africa, where there’s a long tradition of musical storytelling—were generally allowed because slave owners considered them akin to European instruments such as the violin. So slaves who managed to cobble togethera banjo or other instrument—the American banjo originated with African slaves—could play more widely in public. This solo-oriented slave music featured elements of an Arabic–Muslim song style that had been imprinted by centuries of Islam’s presence in West Africa, says Gerhard Kubik, a professor of ethnomusicology at the University of Mainz in Germany. Kubik has written the most comprehensive book on Africa’s connection to blues music, Africa and the Blues (1999, University Press of Mississippi).

    Kubik believes that many of today’s blues singers unconsciously echo these Arabic–Muslim patterns in their music. Using academic language to describe this habit, Kubik writes in Africa and the Blues that “the vocal style of many blues singers using melisma, wavy intonation, and so forth is a heritage of that large region of West Africa that had been in contact with the Arabic–Islamic world of the Maghreb since the seventh and eighth centuries.” (Melisma is the use of many notes in one syllable; wavy intonation refers to a series of notes that veer from major to minor scale and back again, something that’s common in both blues music and in the Muslim call to prayer as well as recitation of the Qur’an. The Maghreb is the Arab–Muslim region of North Africa.)

    Kubik summarizes his thesis this way: “Many traits that have been considered unusual, strange and difficult to interpret by earlier blues researchers can now be better understood as a thoroughly processed and transformed Arabic–Islamic stylistic component.”

    The extent of this link between Muslim culture and American blues music is still being debated. Some scholars insist there is no connection, and many of today’s best-known blues musicians would say their music has little to do with Muslim culture. Yet a growing body of evidence—gathered by academics such as Kubik and by others such as Cornelia Walker Bailey, a Georgia author whose great-great-great-great-grandfather was a slave who prayed toward Makkah—suggests a deep relationship between slaves of Islamic descent and us culture. While Muslim slaves from West Africa were just one factor in the formation of American blues music, they were a factor, says Barry Danielian, a trumpeter who’s performed with Paul Simon, Natalie Cole and Tower of Power.

    Danielian, who is Muslim, says non-Muslims find this connection hard to believe because they don’t know enough about Arabic or Muslim music. The call to prayer and other Muslim recitations that were practiced by American slaves had a musicality to them, just as these recitations still do, even if they aren’t thought of as music by westerners, Danielian says.

    The largest of the banjo ancestors is the kora of the Mandinka people in today&amp;#8217;s Senegal, Guinea-Conakry and Gambia. It traditionally uses 21 strings and a large calabash-gourd body.
    E. DEN OTTER / KIT TROPENMUSEUM

    Above: The largest of the banjo ancestors is the kora of the Mandinka people in today’s Senegal, Guinea-Conakry and Gambia. It traditionally uses 21 strings and a large calabash-gourd body.

    Below: The West African lute known as the ngoni is played in the “clawhammer style” formerly popular for playing today’s banjos. For almost every note of the scale, there is a different tuning for the ngoni and a different pattern of playing.

    The West African lute known as the ngoni is played in the &amp;#8220;clawhammer style&amp;#8221; formerly popular for playing today&amp;#8217;s banjos. For almost every note of the scale, there is a different tuning for the ngoni and a different pattern of playing.
    ROBERT C. NEWTON

    “In my congregation,” says Danielian, who lives in Jersey City, New Jersey, “when we get together, especially when the shaykhs [leaders] come and there are hundredsof people and we do the litanies, they’re very musical. You hearwhat we as Americans would call soulfulness or blues. That’s definitely in there.”

    What people now think of as blues music developed in the 1890’s and early 1900’s, in southern us states such as Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Blues music was an outgrowth of all the different music that was then being performed in the South, from minstrels to street shows. Early blues performers didn’t recognize the music’s African or Muslim roots because, by then, the songs had more fully merged with white, European music and had lost their obvious connections to a continent that was 4000 miles away. Also, by the turn of the 20th century, the progeny of America’s Muslim slaves had generally converted to Christianity, either by force or circumstance. Among southern blacks in that period, there were few exponents of Islam. But as more scholars research that period in history, they see plenty of signs that weren’t obvious 100 years ago.

    Take the case of W. C. Handy, who earned the moniker “Father of the Blues” for the way he formalized blues music over a 40-year career of writing songs and playing the cornet. In his autobiography, Handy, whose parents were slaves, writes about a life-changing moment that happened to him around 1903. Handy was sleeping at a train station in Tutwiler, Mississippi when “a lean, loose-jointed Negro had commenced plucking a guitar beside me while I slept. His clothes were rags; his feet peeped out of his shoes. His face had on it some of the sadness of the ages. As he played, he pressed a knife on the strings of the guitar…. The effect was unforgettable. His song, too, struck me instantly.... The singer repeated the line (“Goin’ where the Southern cross’ the Dog”) three times, accompanying himself on the guitar with the weirdest music I had ever heard.”

    The song was about a nearby train station where different train lines intersected. As Handy noted in the autobiography, published in 1941, “Southern Negroes sang about everything. Trains. Steamboats, steam whistles, sledgehammers, fast women, mean bosses, stubborn mules—all became subjects for their songs. They accompany themselves on anything from which they can extract a musical sound or rhythmical effect, anything from a harmonica to a washboard. In this way, and from these materials, they set the mood for what we now callthe blues.”

    The technique Handy witnessed&amp;#8212; pressing the back of a knife blade on guitar strings&amp;#8212;can be traced to Africa, and today we call it "slide guitar."While washboards, in fact, became popular among later blues musicians such as Robert Brown (known as “Washboard Sam”), the technique that Handy witnessed—that of pressing the back of a knife blade on guitar strings—can be traced to Central and West Africa, where, as Kubik points out in Africa and the Blues, people play one-string zithers that way. Handy assumed that the technique, now called “slide guitar,” was borrowed from Hawaiian guitar playing, but it’s more likely that the itinerant guitar player that Handy met in Tutwiler was manifesting his African roots. Kubik has traveled to Africa many times for his research and has lived there.

    Bailey, who visited West Africa in 1989, says the African and Muslim roots of southern us traditionsare often mistaken for something else.

    Bailey lives on Georgia’s Sapelo Island, where some blacks can trace their ancestry to Bilali Mohammed, a Muslim slave who was born and raised in what is now the African nation of Guinea. Visitors to Sapelo Island are always struck by the fact that churches there face east. In fact, as a child, Bailey learned to say her prayers facing east—the same direction that her great-great-great-great-grandfather faced when he prayed toward Makkah.

    Bilali was an educated man. He spoke and wrote Arabic, carried a Qur’an and a prayer rug, and wore a fez that likely signified his religious devotion. Bilali had been trained in Africa to be a Muslim leader; on Sapelo Island, he was appointed by his slave master to be an overseer of other slaves. Although Bilali’s descendents adopted Christianity, they incorporated Muslim traditions that are still evident today.

    To trumpeter Barry Danielian, Muslim prayers are &amp;#8220;very musical. You hear what we as Americans would call soulfulness or blues. That&amp;#8217;s definitely in there.&amp;#8221;
    COURTESY BARRY DANIELIAN / BDEEP MUSIC

    To trumpeter Barry Danielian, Muslim prayers are “very musical. You hear what we as Americans would call soulfulness or blues. That’s definitely in there.”

    The name Bailey, in fact, is a reworking of the name Bilali, which became a popular Muslim name in Africa because one of Islam’s first converts—and the religion’s first muezzin—was a former Abyssinian slave named Bilal. (Muezzins are those who call Muslims to prayer.) One historian believes that abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who changed his name from Frederick Bailey, may also have had Muslim roots.

    “History changes things,” says Bailey, who chronicled the history of Sapelo Island in her memoir God, Dr. Buzzard, and the Bolito Man (2001, Anchor). “Things become something different from what they started out as.”

    A good example is the song “Little Sally Walker.” It’s been recorded by many blues artists, but it’s also been recorded as “Little Sally Saucer” because the lyrics describe a girl “sittin’ in a saucer.” Frankie Quimby, a relative of Bailey’s who also traces her roots to Bilali Mohammed, says the song originated during slavery on the Georgia coast, written by songwriting slaves who took their slaveholder’s last name, Walker, as their own. “I’ve seen [people] take the song and use different words,” says Quimby, who sings slave songs with her husband in a group called the Georgia Sea Island Singers.

    Because there is little documentation about these slave-time origins, it’s easy to argue about what can be unequivocally linked to Africa and Muslim culture. Muslim and Arab culture have certainly been influences on other music around the world, including flamenco, which is rooted in seven centuries of Muslim rule in Spain, and Renaissance music. So far, knowledge of Muslim culture’s association with blues music seems limited to a select group of academics and musicians. Books such as Kubik’s Africa and the Blues and Diouf’s Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas (1998, New York University Press) are more geared toward university audiences.

    In terms of popular culture, it’s hard to find a single work—whether it’s a novel, movie, song or other art form—that covers the intersection of Muslim culture, music and African slaves. “Daughters of the Dust,” Julie Dash’s 1991 film about life on the Sea Islands of Georgia, features a Muslim man who portrays Bilali Mohammed, but a scene that shows him in prayer lasts just a few moments, and the movie received limited release.

    Roots, Alex Haley’s novel that was made into ahistoric television series in the 1970’s, featured a main character (Kunte Kinte) who is Muslim, although novelist James Michener and others doubted the authenticity of Haley’s work.

    The trading of African slaves led to a diaspora unlike any other in human history, with at least 10 million Africans bought and sold into bondage in the Americas. The pain felt by those slaves is evident in American blues music—a music that’s often about cruel treatment, sad times and a yearning to break free. Blues music is a unique American art form that went around the world and, in turn, influenced history. Without the blues, there wouldn’t be jazz and there wouldn’t be the bluesy music of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles.

    In the Memphis city park that carries his name, a statue of W. C. Handy commemorates his introduction of the blues along the city&amp;#8217;s famously musical Beale Street.
    RAYMOND GEHMAN / CORBIS

    In the Memphis city park that carries his name, a statue of W. C. Handy commemorates his introduction of the blues along the city’s famously musical Beale Street.

    In his book Black Music of Two Worlds (1998, Schirmer), author John Storm Roberts says he can hear patterns of African Muslim music in the songs of Billie Holiday. Roberts refers to the “bending of notes” that is evident in Holiday’s sad, soulful ballads, as it is in the call to prayer. This same note-bending can be heard in the music of B. B. King and John Lee Hooker.

    Blues music, with its strong tempos and many lyrical references to relationships, has been described as “the devil’s music” by those outside it. Many conservative Muslims think of blues music as decadent and indicative of permissive western morals. But people such as Diouf, Kubik and Moustafa Bayoumi, an associate professor of English at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, who has researched Muslim culture’s connection to American music, are trying to correct the public record. Bayoumi wrote a paper several years ago that examined African Muslim history in the United States. In it, he argues that John Coltrane’s best-known album, “A Love Supreme,” features Coltrane saying, “Allah supreme” in addition to the many refrains of“a love supreme.”

    “It’s about uncovering a hidden past,” says Bayoumi, asked about the spate of new scholarship on the subject of Islam and African–Americans. “You can hear [influences of Muslim culture] in even the earliest days of American blues music. What you’ve gotten lately is an ethnomusicology that’s trying to reconstruct that. These are deliberate attempts to rebuild a bridge, as it were.”

    WHO SAY THEY ARE JEWS ?

    ( Revelation 2 : 9 ) I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them, which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan .
     
    Jewish - there are two main sub divisions of them that call themselves Jews, the Sephardim and the Ashkenazim.

    1. Sephardim - are the descendants of those who lived in Spain until the 15th century when they were expelled.

    2. Ashkenazim - are the ancestors of the Khazars. They have no historical connection with Israel, but they are the ones who invaded Palestine and created the State of Israel with the justification that "GOD" promised them that land in the Old Testament.

    The Khazars - members of ancient Tatar an established an empire in Russia. They converted to Judaism in the 8th century.

    The Tatar- member of a people in Turkish origin.

    After the breakup of the Khazar empire by the thirteenth century, the people who adopted the Jewish faith either stayed on in Russia or in the case of the majority moved on into what became the Balkans, Lithuania, Poland, and Germany. Torah - the Hebrew name for the Mosaic Law, the first five books of the Old Testament, the scrolls of Moses.

    Talmud - Judaism holiest book, the body of oral Jewish law, comprising the Mishnah and the Germara, additional to the Torah, compiled (6th c.) in Babylonia. Jesus also spoke on the Talmud: (also see Mark 7:1-13).The modern day Jews (Khazars) took many of the stories and legends of the ancient world and adapted them to their own purposes. Few Jews today can trace their bloodline back to the thirteenth tribes (the Semite line in Palestine and Israel at the time of Jesus. They are the genetic descendants of the Turkish-Mongolian-Nordic called the Khazars. Who converted to the Jewish religion in 740A.D.. They lived in lower Russia.

    ( 1Thessalonians 2 : 14 - 16 ) For te, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus: for ye also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men: Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost .

    ( Titus 1 : 13-14 ) This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith; Not giving heed to Jewish fables, and commandments of men, that turn from the truth.


    Q. Would You Please Tell Us About The English Language?

    A. The Language That Is Spoken In This Country Is Not English...It Is American. People In England Speak "English", And How They Speak Is Totally Different Than The Way Americans Speak.

    Take A Look At The Word "English". What Does The Word English Mean? Exactly! You Don't Know!

    In Fact, All Of The Letters In Your English Alphabet Find Their Roots In Several Other Languages. You Know This Simply BecauseYou Cannot Spell Them In The English Language, For Example The Letter "A" Has The Sound Of "AY" And Its Origin...Alpha Is Greek And The First Letter Of The Greek Alphabet.

    B Is Pronounced "BEE" From The Greek "Beta", From The Hebrew Letter "Beth" The Second Letter Of The Hebrew Alphabet.

    Now It Gets Interesting......The Letter "F" Is Pronounced "AF"....This Is Not An English Letter, As Well As The Letter "W"..........It Is Really A Double "U". Two "V's" To You.

    If You Cannot Spell A Letter Beginning With The Letter That They Tell You It Is, Then It Is Not An Original Letter Of The American Language, Which Is Masonic Jargon.

    The Word "English" Comes From The Word, "Angel". The Letter "A" Was Exchanged For The Letter "E". The Word English Is A Grafted Word. It Is A Combination Of The Words "Angel" Which Were Germanic People And The Word "Ish", Meaning "Belonging To", That Means The English Belong To The Germans. Germ - Man, Man With The Disease Or Who Carries Germs.

    So The Combination Of The Words "Angel" And "Ish", Gives Angleish Or English...They Have YOU Calling Them "Angels", And You Don't Even Realize (Real-Eyes) It!

    English Is A Germanic Language Which Is A Branch Of The Indo-European Language Family. Indo-European As Well As Indo-Aryan Goes Back To The Sanskrit Language

    The Sanskrit Language ..)

    Which Is The Language Of The 200 Fallen Eloheem (Hindus).

    Indo, Is Simply Short For Indian. And Who Were These "Angels"? The Angels Were A Germanic People Who, Together With The Saxons And Jutes,

    Anglo-Saxon & Jutes Heathenism ..)

    Invaded The Island of Briton In The 5th Century From Schleswig-Holstein. These Angels Or Anglo People Were Tall, Blonde Haired And Blue-Eyed.

    The New Land That They Made For Themselves Was Called "Anglo-Saxons" Or For Short, "Angel-Land" Which Was Later Pronounced "England".

    And Their Language Is What We Are Calling Today...Old English, So When You're Looking In The "Dictionary", Which Should Rightly Be Called A "Definitionary", (Being Its Primary Reason For Use Is For Definitions As Opposed To Diction).

    And You See "Old English", These Are The People From Which It Came.
    The American Language Is A Language Of Confusion, (CON = Against...FUSION = People Coming Together).

    Just Take The Spelling Of Words Such As Sugar (S-U-G-A-R), However, When You Say It, It Is Pronounced SHUGAR, With A "Sh", As In The Word School Which Is Really "Sheol", The Hebrew Word For "Hell".

    Now Say, "Hello". Do You See What They Have You Saying?

    (O - HELL, Hel-lo, Hell Is Low).

    If You Pronounce The Word (Sugar) The Way It Is Spelled, You Will Be Saying The Arabic Word For Sugar Which Is "Sukkar". The Same Word Used In The Koran For "Drunkedness".

    Even The Name "Philip".

    Why Does The "Ph", Make The "F" Sound? Why Isn't Philip Spelled With The Letter "F"?

    Why Are There Two "L's" In The Name Lloyd?

    Why Is Psychology, Psychiatry, Etc; Pronounced With A "Si" Sound?

    That's How You Know That The American Language Is A Conglomeration Of Other Languages.
    Not Only Is The French Language Added...Latin, Slavic, German, Italian, Arabic, Greek, Hebrew, Portuguese, And Many Others Are Added As Well. The Year 1066 A.D. Is Used As A Dividing Point For The Ending Of Old English And The Beginning Of Middle English.

    Middle English Took Its' Root In Europe Between The 1100's And The 1500's A.D., And The Year 1476 A.D., Separates The Ending Of Middle English Which Is What You Are Calling Modern English, Which Is Simply "American".

    English Started Out As Letters With A Hard Sound Much Like The German And Greek Languages Of Today...That Is What Is Called Old English - Mere Grunting Sounds. The Language Finally Evolved Into What It Is Today.

    English Is The Most Widely Used Language In Every Country. World Leaders Had Planned To Have The Entire World Speaking English. The Only Other Language That Is Widely Recognized Like English Is Spanish.

    Speaking English, Spanish, French, And Various Other European Tongues Have Helped To Enslave The Minds And Bodies Of Nubians. The American Language Is A Tool Of The Luciferians To Keep You Trapped.

    This Is Why I Am Reinstituting Our Own Tongue...Nubic/Nuwaubic. In Our Language... No One Can Tell Us How To Say Or Pronounce Anything, And For Those Wo Say, "How Can You Make Your own Language?"

    I Say...."The Same Way Everybody Else Did!"

    With The Way Nuwaubu Is Spreading, Nuwaubic Will Be The Official Language Of The Nubians/Nuwaubians.

    Nuwaubu Is Spreading Across The Entire World!


    www.aeoeonline.com
    All Eyes On Egipt
    www.hesinnocent.com

    www.wnubradio.com
    Nuwaubian Internet Radio

    Q. Is Jesus In The Koran?
     
    A. Jesus' name is mentioned 25 times in the Koran; while on the other hand, Muhammads name is mentioned only 4 times!
    Quotes mentioning Muhammad:
    48:29   3:144   47:2
    Jesus name is mentioned in these verses;
    2:81   2:130   2:254   3:40   3:45   3:48   3:52   3:78   4:156   4:161   5:50   5:82   5:109   5:112   5:114   5:116   6:85   19:35   33:7   42:11   43:63   57:27   61:6   61:14
     
    A. Jesus In The Koran Is Called "Kalimaatullah", Meaning "The Word Of Allah" (Pronounced Uh-Law, With the Emphasis On The Law....Not The Way The Media Talking Heads Pronounce It,  "All-Lah",  With The Emphasis On The "All")
     
    Al Qur'aan  (The Koran)
     
    [3.45] When the angels said: O Maryam, surely Allah gives you good news with a Word from Him (Word Of Allah)....(of one) whose name is the '. Messiah, Isa son of Maryam, worthy of regard in this world and the hereafter and of those who are made near (to Allah).
     
    And "Ruhuw Allah", Meaning "Spirit Of Allah".
     
    Al Qur'aan  (The Koran)
    [2.253] We have made some of these apostles to excel the others among them are they to whom Allah spoke, and some of them He exalted by (many degrees of) rank; and We gave clear miracles to Isa son of Marium, and strengthened him with the holy spirit.  (Ruhuw Allah) And if Allah had pleased, those after them would not have fought one with another after clear arguments had come to them, but they disagreed; so there were some of them who believed and others who denied; and if Allah had pleased they would not have fought one with another, but Allah brings about what He intends.
    Jesus And His Mother Maryam Are Mentioned More Times In The Qur'aan Than Muhammad Is!!!
    There Is An Entire Chapter Dedicated To Jesus Mother, Maryam (Chapter 19)...When Muhammads' Mother Is Not Even Mentioned In The Qur'aan!

     

    Legacy Stolen


    Black people In Amerikkka, we need to start researching "our" history. And stop settling for the European lies--in books that are provided to you in high school and college. So much can open up to you... once you take the time to do research. The science of Philosophy was stolen from Ancient Kemet (Land of the Black), Egypt is what the greeks changed it to after they invaded. From 2700 to 1290 B.C., the Egyptians were the light of the ancient world. They produced many early medical instruments, designed the world's first step pyramid, and laid the empirical groundwork for scientific reasoning. Below is the research that I did on the subject of Northern Afrika.

    Suppose you walked out of your front door and looked up into the sky and instead of seeing the stars as separate entities, you saw them connected to each other by some visible linkage. To understand the African way of thinking it is necessary to suspend for a while linearity, and to consider the entire world, even the universe and universes, as one large system where everything’s connected and interconnected. This is the principle African way of equality (Asante 1990). Because of a legacy of denigration that portrays Africa as incapable of abstract thought, the question “What is African philosophy?” is often the first that occurs to those outside the field. This legacy is reinforced by the assumption that philosophy requires a tradition of written communication that is foreign to Africa (Samuel 1980). The African conception of reality is often difficult for those educated in the west, or influenced by the West, where the notion of reality is so mired in empiricism dependant solely upon the operation of the senses. Africa’s influence on ancient Greece, the oldest European civilization, was profound and significant in art, architecture, astronomy, medicine, geometry, mathematics, law, politics, and religion. Yet there has been a furious campaign to discredit African influence and to claim a miraculous birth for Western civilization. My assessment is to try and prove that Greeks were not the founders of philosophy, but the people of North Africa commonly known as Egyptians were.

    As one attempts to read the history of Greek philosophy, you will discover a complete absence of essential information concerning the early life and training of the so-called Greek philosophers, from Thales to Aristotle (James 2001). No writer or historian professes to know anything about their early education. All they tell us about them consists of doubtful dates and places of birth. The world is left to ponder who they were and what sources chartered there early education, and would naturally expect that men who rose to the position of a teacher among relatives, friends and associates, would be well-known, not by them, but by the entire community. Teachers in history who have taught others are represented as unknown, being without any domestic, social or early educational traces. This is unbelievable, and yet it is a fact that history of Greek philosophy has presented to the world a number of men whose lives we know little or nothing about, but expects the world to accept them as true authors of the doctrines which are alleged to be theirs (James 2001). In the absence of essential evidence, the world hesitates to recognize them as such, because the truth of this whole matter of Greek philosophy points in a very different direction. Namely, a direction found in North Africa.

    The astronomers, physicists and mathematicians of ancient Greece were innovators or just very good copycats. Ancient Greeks used letters and extra symbols to represent digits. But one thing it seems the ancient Greeks did not invent was the counting system on which many of their greatest thinkers based their pioneering calculations. New research suggests the Greeks borrowed their system known as alphabetic numerals from the Egyptians, and did not develop it themselves as was long believed. Greek alphabetic numerals were favored by the mathematician and physicist Archimedes, the scientific philosopher Aristotle and the mathematician Euclid, amongst others. There are striking similarities between Greek alphabetic numerals and Egyptian demotic numerals, used in Egypt from the late 8th Century BC until around AD 450 (Aaboe 1964). Both systems use nine signs in each base so that individual units are counted 1-9; tens are counted 10-90 and so on. Both systems also lack a symbol for zero. Egyptians used hieratic and, later, demotic script where the multiple symbols looked more like single symbols. Instead of seven vertical strokes, a particular squiggle was used. That’s the same scheme used in the Greek alphabetic numerals. Explosion in trade between Greece and Egypt after 600 BC led to the system being adopted by the Greeks (Aaboe 1964). Greek merchants may have seen the demotic system in use in Egypt and adapted it for their own purposes.

    In his magnum opus A Lost Tradition: African Philosophy in World History (1975), Thoephile Obenga documents the confessions of ‘famous’ revered Greeks (the world’s first Europeans) in their own Greek Hellenic language that they all received their education at the Temple of Waset in ancient Kemet (Egypt) and that their teachers were the master-thinkers or High priests in the Nile Valley.
     
    The Temple of Waset is the world’s first university and was built during the reign of Pharaoh Amenhotep 111 in the XV111 Dynasty, 1405-1370 B.C. For example, “it is generally taught that Thales of Miletus (624-547 B.C.) was the first Greek philosopher and the founder of the Presocratic Ionian school in Asia Minor (and) is traditionally the first (protos) to have revealed the investigation of nature”. The truism is that Thales “received his training from Egyptian priests in the Nile Valley. This is clearly recorded by the Greeks themselves. “According to “corpus of Greek testimonia with regard to the fruitful instruction received by Thales in Egypt: “Thales, one of the so called ‘Seven Sages’, had no regular teacher in his life save for the priests of Egypt, under whom he studied.” (pg. 28).
     
    “Thales of Miletus had never been taught by a master in Greece. Thales’ pursuit of instruction saw him go by sea to Egypt, where he spent time with the Egyptian priests.” Plato records that Thales was educated in Egypt under the priests: “Thales was well and truly indebted to Egypt for his education.” According to Aetius, “Thales studied philosophy in Egypt for a long enough period to be considered an elder when he returned.”(p.29). “The science of geometry was invented in Egypt. Thales transferred the speculative science of geometry to Greece. There was no method of intellectual inquiry such as geometry in Greece before Thales’ departure for Egypt.
     
    Upon his return, however, Thales introduced geometry (geometrein) in Greece.” (p.31). Indeed, “more than 1,000 years before Thales’ birth, Egyptians had correctly calculated the areas of rectangles, triangles and isosceles trapeziums. The area of a circle had also been obtained accurately.” (p.32). The Greek Hellenic record shows that Pythagoras (born circa 572 B.C.) like another ancient philosopher (he) Pythagoras journeyed in his youth to Egypt where, for an indefinite number of years, he pursued studies in astronomy, geometry, and theology under the tutelage of Egyptian priests.”(p.34). It was Thales who “had recommended that above all, Pythagoras should meet the clergy of Memphis and Thebes (old capitals of Kemet) in order to gain a higher level of knowledge.” (p.37)

    Plato also copied/derived his so-called four virtues: wisdom, justice, courage and temperance from the original Egyptian spiritual belief system which contained ten virtues. (p.8). The Greeks re-named this belief system the Mystery System. In his Nile Valley Contribution to Civilizations (1992), Anthony T. Browder points out that “Homer, the Greek poet, praised the glory of this great (Egyptian) city (“Thebes”) in The Illiad (circa 750 B.C.)” and “Rome’s classical literature of religious and moral teachings” was written in 1 B.C. by poet Virgil. This “great work”” called the Aeneid consisted of 12 books “Virgil based the first six books on the Odyssey and the last six books were modeled after the Illiad.” The truism is that “Virgil wrote the Aeneid to establish the divinity of the Roman empire, which he closely associated with that of Greece” which in turn, was closely associated with and derived from, the original Kemetic ennead of Gods and Goddesses as follows (p.169).

    Now, while the Africans/Kemites were writing these medical texts and performing all these medical operations, the Greek Hypocrates, was not born yet, until 333 B.C. almost 2,000 years after the African originality in medicine. Imhotep, the world’s “first recorded multi-genius” is regarded as the real Father of Medicine. He was born in 2800 B.C. So instead of taking the derived European-Greek Hypocratic Oath, (which contains two African/Kemetic Gods Heru and Imhotep), medical students today should take the true, original Imhotep Oath. Hypocrates only spent 20 years studying medicine at the Temple of Waset (renamed Thebes by the Greeks and Luxor by the Arabs). As such, he is a student/child of medicine, not the ‘Father’. Imhotep also built the Step Pyramid-the world’s first stone monument-at Saqqara, 111th Dynasty circa 2730 B.C.; this proves that Africans/Kemites invented architecture – a genre of architecture that was later copied and duplicated in Greece. As a philosopher, Imhotep is credited with having written the slogan: “Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we shall die.”