African History And Black Liberation

Even modern Christianity could not get rid of the striking similarities between the African version of Creation and the one described in the Christian Bible. According to African religious legend, Mogai (the Divider of the Universe) summoned the man Gikuyu and gave him dominion over the earth, the rivers and the forests. Mogai, in all his omnipotence resided at the top of Mount Kenya in Africa. Mogai told his servant that he should make his home at the foot of the mountain and that if he wanted anything he had only to lift his hands towards the mountain and offer a sacrifice and his wishes would be granted.

 Gikuyu reached the appointed place and found his wife, Noombi, waiting for him. From that union came nine daughters, and Gikuyu wanting to populate the earth implored Mogai to provide them with husbands. Mogai instructed his faithful servant to kill one lamb and one kid and place them under a fig tree near his homestead. When the ritual was completed Gikuyu returned home to find nine young men waiting to marry his daughters.  Sounds familiar? That story dates back donkey’s years before the Christian era, and is perhaps as old as 40,000 years. It is not hard to see how it became to be adapted into Christianity. But wait, there is more.         

AFRICAN INFLUENCE ON EUROPEAN CHRISTIANITY

 It was Egyptian religious thought and philosophy which gave the European Christian and Protestant religions the belief in monotheism. And even though it was very difficult for European scholars to acknowledge the African character of Egyptian civilization, the undisputed proof is there.                

 During the reign of the 18th Dynasty in Egypt (1354 -1345 BCE) an Egyptian Pharaoh named Amenhotep IV (1378 - 54 BCE), challenged the existing practice and belief in many gods. His reign was characterized by the devoted worship of one god - the sun god, Aton. Amenhotep demanded total and exclusive worship to Aton and many scholars have concluded that this religious innovation greatly influenced monotheism or the one-god system of religious belief existing in the world today.

 As we celebrate the glorious African antecedent, it is apropos to remember some of the great contributions that came out of Mother Africa. There are many who extol the wisdom of Greek thinkers like Socrates and Plato but forget the Egyptian founder of wisdom and the sciences in the person of Hermes Trismegistus, or the achievement of the great astronomer Ptolemy. Little is written about the famed center of learning called Timbuktu or the glory of Nubia or Kush.

  It was in Nubian civilization that fire was mastered, tools fashioned, pottery developed and the use of iron in industry developed. It was the Nubians who ventured up the Nile River in 3,200 BCE to influence the culture of Upper Egypt. Here they cultivated crops, developed irrigation systems for large-scale agricultural production, made pottery and axes and wove baskets. It was from this culture that the calendar was invented in 4,241 BCE.

 African civilization grew in leaps and bounds around 1354 BCE when Egyptian scientists invented the art of shaving; the wearing of tunics, sandals and kilts. They institutionalized and created the use of wigs and amulets, scented oils and perfume, as part of accepted dress. Make-up, now a feature of modern society originated in Egypt as was the use of dyes as well as the invention of board games (like chess and checkers) and musical instruments.

 Military teachings and history would be incomplete without a study of the brilliant African general and military leader named Hannibal, who led his magnificent army from the African city of Carthage, and invaded Spain. For all of 13 years the Carthaginians dominated the Italian peninsula, establishing strongholds in Naples and Sicily.  African History is replete with the famed kingdoms of Zimbabwe, Ghana, Mali and Ethiopia. For example the Malian king, Mansa Musa (1307 - 1332), will be remembered for his great skill in organization that brought about an accord between nation states in Africa at a political level well in advance of such developments in Europe. At that time Europe was still several decades from developing its nation states.   

Over the years there are many that have attempted to deny Africa her importance in world history. And consequently, many have tried to create in Africans, especially in the Diaspora, a people without a culture. They have tried to bury the African past, to hide it from those who seek knowledge and understanding and to "color" the parts of it that they let surface. This shameless action underlines the monumental hypocrisy when it comes to history: Eurocentric history with its villains, thieves and mercenaries, who arrogantly claimed to have "discovered" lands and peoples for this or that nation are still glorified today.

 On the other hand Black innovators, diplomat-kings, politicians and statesmen are spoken about as inferior, backward and primitive. Their contributions are belittled at every turn. But try as they may the African Antecedent with its timeless wisdom keeps rising like a phoenix, that mythical bird, so full of surprises.

   "But now, my children, the drums have halted, and only the lilting Kora knows the heart of the darkness...it is time for silence, time to listen to the night spirits, time to rest and prepare for another African Dawn....” -  listen to the Talking Drums, let them reach into your very soul and know that you are African.

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