The Glory Of Africa

The Glory of Africa The glory of Africa is still a reality today as it was in the past. Scientists from numerous quarters pronounce Africa as the precise continent where human life originated from. Africa has gone through trials and tribulations. Likewise, Africa is accumulated with a lot of positive stories and histories to tell. Africa has some of the most beautiful and diverse fauna and flora in the world. Its residents are made up of very humble, strong, intelligent, resilient, and imaginative human beings. Africa is apart of my blood since my ancestors came from Africa. Therefore, it's certainly time to present an accurate, fair description about the great land of Africa. Also, I wanted these words to be a reference point in showing the world the truth. I really can't speak about Africa without discussing about Darfur and Sudan. For decades, the regions of Northern Sudan (who are mostly Arab and Muslim) and South Sudan (who are mostly black being Christians and animists) have fought with each other. The North readily enslaves those of the South to immorally force Arab, Islamic culture unto them for centuries. A peace treaty was "signed" in 2005, but conflicts are still occurring in Darfur. Darfur is a region in Western Sudan with a mostly black, Muslim population. Muslim Arab radical "Janjaweed" militias are murdering those in Darfur. The genocide is therefore extremist Muslims killing innocent Muslims. I saw a protest in Washington, D.C. talking about Darfur from CSPAN on April 30, 2006. People from the Left and Right agree that something must be done to stop this genocide. There is the issue of blood diamonds. What is that? It's about how diamonds in Africa (in places like Sierra Leone) are readily created by the work of poor Africans (even children). These workers are typically given bad working conditions, abused, and some die. These diamonds are owned by several corporations and spread

globally. Some activists have taken a stand to oppose blood diamonds. Many fights and conflicts come about in creating diamonds as well. The blood in blood diamonds represent the death and bloodshed many Africans have suffered by certain corporations' lust for diamonds along with huge profits. West Africa and other region have this problem. An African professor taught me and others about blood diamonds.

This statue is the image of Menes or Aha-Mena. Menes is ancient Egypt’s first Pharaonic Monarch.

According to many people, the Egyptian pharaohs in its first 12 dynasties (from 3150-1783 B.C.) were all Black Africans. Some would disagree with that view. Even White Archaeologists and Egyptologists like Gerald Massey have found evidence that Nubian Pharaohs pre-date the first Egyptian Dynasties by at least 300 years. In ancient Egypt, there was a diversity of people from the Semitic Shepherd Kings, Caucasians, to the black African Nubians. Yet, a Black African presence in ancient Egypt is even acknowledge by the most potent racist. The pyramids were built in this region and great literary texts (i.e. the Book of the Dead) were written. Dr. Ivan Van Sertima (an Anthropologist), in a lecture delivered to the Institute of Karmic Guidance, found iron and steel production in ancient throughout Africa (like Egypt with Tutankhamen, Zimbabwe, Tanzania [1500 years ago]), and other places with achieving temperatures of 1850 Degrees Celsius and using advanced machinery. Dr. Van Sertima also displayed a series of photographic slides proving that ancient Africans have attained a high level of scientific achievement. Count C. F. Volney accompanied the French Imperial Colonial Forces under the control of General Napoleon de Boneparte. De Volney was a French nobleman who was much troubled by the institution of slavery. His expressed the opinion that the ancient Egyptians were black Africans. This was much departed from the typical European view of the late

eighteenth century (because many Europeans in that time believed the lie that black African never did anything significant in human civilization), but it gave many people cause for reflection. Here are his words on ancient black civilizations in ancient Egypt, etc: "It was, then, on the borders of the Upper Nile, among a Black race of men, that was organized the complicated system of worship of the stars, considered in relation to the productions of the earth and the labors of agriculture; and this first worship, characterized by their adoration under their own forms and national attributes, was a simple proceeding of the human mind."3 "...THERE A PEOPLE NOW FORGOTTEN DISCOVERED WHILE OTHERS WERE YET BARBARIANS, THE ELEMENTS OF THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. A RACE OF MEN NOW REJECTED FOR THEIR BLACK SKIN AND WOOLLY HAIR, FOUNDED ON THE STUDY OF THE LAWS OF NATURE THOSE CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS WHICH STILL GOVERN THE UNIVERSE..." (THIS QUOTATION IS EXTRACTED FROM PAGE XVII OF Count C.F. Volney's masterpiece of the 19th Century C.C. Ruins of Empire) "When I visited the Sphinx, I could not help thinking that the figure of that monster furnished the true solution to the enigma (of how the modern Egyptians came to have their mulatto' appearance). (It's features) were those of the negro.. (the Egyptians therefore must have been) real negroes, of the same species of the natives of Africa…How are we astonished when we reflect that to the race of negroes, at present our slaves, and the objects of our extreme contempt, we owe our arts, sciences, and even the very use of speech; and when we recollect that in the midst of those nations who call themselves the friends of liberty and humanity, the most barbarous of slaveries is justified, and that it is even a problem whether the understanding of negroes be of the same species with that of white men!" (M. Constantine de Volney, Travels through Syria and Egypt in the Years 1783, 1784, and 1785 [London: 1787], p. 80-83).

Basil Davidson wrote, "Egypt was not born into a void; it emerged from a Neolithic womb, and this womb was African. The peasants of the Fayum Lake, those who laid the foundations of old Egyptian society, were not without their own ideas about like and the cosmos; the provenance of these ideas, or of most of them, was undoubtedly more African than Asian. "God's Land" with all it great ancestral spirits lay, for dynastic Egypt, neither in the east nor in the north, but far to the south and west. There is nothing to show that the earliest forms of ram and sun worship or of other cults made famous along the Nile did not take their rise in this obscure "God's Land" of "upper Africa." (Davidson, Basil. The Lost Cities of Africa. Boston: Little Brown, 1959, 75). Diodorus (63BC-14AD), an ancient Greek historian, recorded the popular belief that Egypt was an Ethiopian colony: "The Ethiopians (black people), as history relates, were the first of all men…They also say that the Egyptians are colonists sent out by the Ethiopians, Osiris having been the leader of the colony…And the larger part of the customs of the Egyptians are, they hold, Ethiopian, the colonists still preserving their ancient manners. For instance, the belief that their kings are gods, the very special attention which they pay to their burial, and many other matters of a similar nature are Ethiopian practices, while the shapes of their statues and the forms of their letters are Ethiopian." (Poe, Richard. Black Spark White Fire. Rocklin, CA: PRIMA, 1997. 352).

Tutankhamun from the back of his gold throne Therefore, according to French scholar C. F. Volney (1757-1830) in the Ruins of Empires, (from pgs. 16-17 in his 1991 version), he mentioned that that black people with frizzled hair founded the study of laws of nature, civil and religious system with the metropolis of Thebes and other places in Egypt and Ethiopia. Herodotus in his “Histories, Book II” acknowledges that the Egyptians had Black skin and Wooly Hair. The pharaoh Tuthmosis III was the son of an Egyptian father and Nubian mother. He founded the 18th Dynasty and crucial in expanding Egyptian land overseas. Pharaoh Rameses II had Black African features and one sign of that was that his hair was kinky as represented by the coils embossed on his helmet. The Egyptian King Sewosret who colonized Greece was the founder of Athens. The civilization of Cush existed for thousands of years B.C. From 3,300-2,200 B.C., the A, B, and Pan Group developed to form Iron making, trade, and commerce. The Kerma culture arose in 1800 B.C. One of its most prominent construction was the deffulfas which were massive towers made of mud bricks to store goods. Kerma, Meroe, and other cities in Cush had pyramids, gold trading, and elaborate forms of government to flourish. In Nubia, the black Nubians created an alphabet called the Meriotic script in the time of B.C. Piye (Piankhy or the living one) in 724-660 B.C., Shabaka (660 B.C.) Tannetamani (698-653 B.C.), and other kings ruled the land. The black man Taharka (698-690 B.C. and mentioned in the Bible) was a famous king who ruled Egypt. He was also called Taharqa. Taharqa was the son and third successor of King Piye. Some classified him as the greatest of the Nubian pharaohs.

These images of the Black Nubians existed from Tomb of Huy from about 1342-1333 BC.

King Taharqa empire even expanded up the Mediterranean Sea to as far as Spain. King Taharqa of the 25th Dynasty of Egypt was one of the ancient world’s greatest military tacticians. Queens came along as well like Teritekas (30 B.C.) and in the time of the Romans, they were called the Cancades. Axum came in ca. 500 B.C. at Ethiopia where many of them came from Saudi Arabia and migrated to Africa. They spoke in wrote in the language of Ge'ez. In their sophisticated agricultural system, they domesticated crops like coffee, grains, okra, etc. Before Axum, many tribes and kingdom existed in Ethiopia. Back then and today millions of Blacks live in isolated parts of Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, the Philippines, Australia, Melanesia, and the rest of the Pacific Isles. Ivan Van Sertima and Runoko Rashidi wrote a book called "The African Presence." It shows sources, images, documents, and other pieces of facts to prove that a black presence was in ancient Mesopotamia, ancient India, China, and the Pacific region of the world from ancient times into the present time. The Agta are Black people who live in the Philippines (there are also the Negritos of Southeast Asia and other tribes living in the Northern Islands).

Black Negritoes flourished in the Andaman Islands. Papua New Guinea had black in the Western part of the island, yet Papua New Guinea is facing racism and genocide. There was a Negriod presence in Britain: “Excerpt from J.A. Rodgers - Sex and Race: 'Were the first Britons, Negroes? There is considerable evidence that the might have been. Grimaldi relics have been dug up in England. 1 Very ancient huts, strikingly like those of Africa and the South Seas have been unearthed at Glastonbury. Ring money of the kind used by the Negroes of Sudan to pay tribute to the Pharaohs, which is still being hammered out by African goldsmiths, has also been found. 2 Blue beads of 1500 to 1200BC, that are common in the Egyptian ruins, have been found in considerable numbers in the Stonehenge district. [See article on Druids].3' In regards to color - J.A. Rodgers quotes Tacitus, a Roman historian of 80AD: 'The dark complexion and the unusual curly hair' of the Silures or Black Celts, who occupied England together with the 'fair-skinned, fair-haired' people. He believes the Black Celts migrated from Spain [pre-Moors]. According to Gerald Massey in his book ' A Book of Beginnings' to the Egyptian origins of the British Isles' He thinks that Stonehenge, the most famous ancient monument in England, was built by a Negro architect, named Morien. [that is Mor or Moor, from the ancient Egyptian]. JA Rogers also writes that:

"David McRitchie, a folklorist and researcher of British history - says' the best proofs of the Negro origins of some of the noble (blue-blood) British families are 'the thick lipped Moors' on their Coat of Arms. Some families are still named MOORE or MOHR, or MOOR. Berry 's encyclopedia Heraldia says; ' Moor's head is the heraldic term for the head of a black or Negro man,' (Sex and Race, pg 198)."

'He says, as a Negro is still known as Morien in English [British tongue], may not this indicate that Morien belonged to the black race, the Kushite [African] builders?' The word 'moor' is derived from Latin 'maures' meaning black. Maurice, Morris, Morrero, Moore, Maureen, Morien, Mary, Marie are the names of ancient African people in Europe. Also; Blackwell, Blackwood, Cole, Coker, Lenoir, Brown refer to Black people. Coke is a derivative of Coal. Old King Cole was a merry Black Soul. From the same root we derive: Maur, Maurus, Marra, Moro, Morisco, Mohr, Moritz, Moor, Moru, Maru, Morelo, Maureta, Mauretania, Morocco, Maurice, Morien, Morin, Moryan, Moreto, and so on….BTW: Ashan is also the word used for Jerusalem and it's environs after the destruction and dispersion in 70AD - The Ashan tribe or Ashan-Ti of Ghana derived their name from this even, since they were part of the tribe of Hebrews that ran from the destruction and relocated in what is now Ghana, Africa” (From www.essaysbyekowa.com/black_Britian.htm) Plus, Gerald Massey (a poet and Egyptologist), Godfrey Higgins (who traced religious origins), and David McRitchie (who worked from folklore) are archaeologists who found data of Blacks in Ancient Britain. Moors in Scotland came as late as 827-1016 A.D. They were written about in McRitchie’s “Ancient and Modern Britians” Also in J.A. Rogers’s Sex and Race, Vol. 1, there were wholly haired black leaders as the paramount king of Transmarine, Scotland. In 1507, Moors were at the court of King James IV of Scotland. Ellen More acted in a main tournament of the black Knight and the Black Lady. There were blacks in Sicily and Italy in the middle Ages like Allesandro, the DeMedici Duke of Florence (1510-1534). Allesandro was a biracial child of an African serving woman (a slave) and the 17 year old Cardinal Giulio de Medici (Pope Clement VII). Allesandro was a patron of the leading artists in the area and the first duke of Florence. He was the first black head of state in the modern Western World.

A Black man in early Rome

There was also a Black presence in Rome. Even in ancient Greece, there was the mention of Memmon, who was the black Ethopian King of the Illiad story. The Illiad was a fictional story written by the Greek author Homer. In the story, Memmon came to the aid of Priam at Troy with a noble character. In a battle, Memon slays Antilochus, then, in one of the more

sympathetic moments of the epic, Memmon spares Antilochus's defenseless father. Greco-Roman writers described the black Ethiopians as noble and trustworthy. There were so many blacks in ancient Rome that in 61 B.C., Nero allowed only blacks into the theater to watch 100 Ethiopian huntsmen perform (according to scholar Frank Snowden). Many black Africans in the Roman empire would be craftsmen, boxers, acrobats, actors, soldiers, business people, and even government officials. This is similar to the variety of jobs black people have today in the United States of America (which is similar to ancient Rome in numerous ways). According to Yosef-Ben Jochanan, Septimus Severus was an indigenous African (a Black Man). Septimus died in York at February 211 A.D. Africans had many contributions to Rome. There were far more Africans in the Roman Empire than what is shown indeed. The ancient Greeks and Romans did not display any hardcore race prejudice as is evidenced today in America (with exceptions of course like slavery, etc.).

This well-preserved coin depicting a black man, circa 208-207 BC, and dated by some at 217 BC., was found in the Chiana (Clanis) valley. This coin was in circulation in the vicinity of Lake Trasimeno and in the Chiana Valley. Could this be the face of Hannibal?

Here’s more information describing this vital topic: “On the contrary, some were writers, generals, philosophers, and emperors (a good example of a Roman general was Septimius Serverus, whom the Antiochene chronicler, John Malalas, said was dark-skinned). Moreover, a number of African slaves in Rome became prominent citizens and contributed to Roman culture. The African in the Roman Empire worked, lived without fear of racial animosity, entertained, and in many respects worshipped the same gods at the same place of worship together with other slaves, servants and freedmen. Seneca, the Roman statesman, philosopher, and intellectual said that among his own people the African's color was not noticeable… Tiro, an African born a slave about the year 103 B. C. in Arpium, a city of Latium. He was born on the estate of Cicero, the Roman statesman and lawyer. In fact, it was Tiro who invented shorthand. When Cicero, who was still his slave master died, Tiro opened a shorthand school in Rome. He died in 4 B. C. Terence, another African was born about 190 B. C. He was sent to Rome as a slave and was bought by a Roman Senator, Terentius Lucanus, who named Terence after him. He was emancipated because of his extraordinary talents. He wrote six plays and his works were studied with great interest. He was/is highly regarded as one of the greatest humanists of all time. He wrote: "Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto" (I am a man and nothing human is alien to me). Terence died in 159 B. C. Fronto was another exceptional African writer; he taught the Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, who was up to a point depicted accurately in the movie. There was Apuleius another African writer, and Slavius Julians, an African who edited the Paraetorian Edict. On another note as it relates to our subject, Lusius Quietus was one of Rome's greatest African generals (in the movie it is Maximus, he was of minor significance). Quietus served under Emperor Trajan. The Emperor named him his successor to the Imperial Purple. Quietus and other African soldiers defended the Dacians. Moreover,

when the Jews revolted, Trajan sent Quietus to suppress the revolt, which he did with extreme severity. The Jews called the rebellion "The War of Quietus." Similarly, African soldiers distinguished themselves under the reign of Emperor Diocletian. Interestingly, at least ten Africans became Emperors of Rome. They are listed on the historical record as the following: Macrinu, Firmus, Emilianus, Septimius Serverus, Pescennius Niger, Aquilus Niger, Brutidius Niger, Q. Caecilus Niger, Novius Niger, and Trebius Niger who was a proconsul in Spain… Africans were authorities on medicine and they were often quoted by Caelius Aurelianus and Galen. Other noted Africans were Domituis Afer, orator, Arnobius Afer, Christian writer; and Victorianus Afer, a scholar of rhetoric whose statue was erected in the forum of Emperor Trajan…” (“Africans Contributions to Rome” by Adib Rashad at June 13, 2001 From http://www.raceandhistory.com/historicalviews/rome.htm)

The following website talks about African Emperors and other Africans in the Roman Empire: “.."Interestingly, at least ten Africans became Emperors of Rome. They are listed on the historical record as the following: Macrinu, Firmus, Emilianus, Septimius Serverus, Pescennius Niger, Aquilus Niger, Brutidius Niger, Q. Caecilus Niger, Novius Niger, and Trebius Niger who was a proconsul in Spain. Africans were authorities on medicine and they were often quoted by Caelius Aurelianus and Galen. Other noted Africans were Domituis Afer, orator, Arnobius Afer, Christian writer; and Victorianus Afer, a scholar of rhetoric whose statue was erected in the forum of Emperor Trajan...Fronto was another exceptional African writer; he taught the Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, who was up to a point depicted accurately in the movie Gladiator. There was Apuleius another African writer, and Slavius Julians, an African who edited the Paraetorian Edict." (From http://www.edofolks.com/html/pub68.htm) Lloyd A. Thompson wrote a book called “Romans and Blacks” describing the history of black people in the ancient Roman Empire also. Jerome and Sophronius in the 4th century A.D. called Colchis a second Ethiopia because of its large black population. Here’s more facts on the black Presence in the Greco-Roman world according to scholar Frank Snowden: “…The exact number of Ethiopians who entered the Greco-Roman world as a result of varied military, diplomatic, and commercial activity is difficult to determine, but all the evidence suggests a sizable Ethiopian element, especially in the population of the Roman world….The black population in Greece and Italy was larger than has been generally realized…” (Snowden, 183, 184)

The person on the left is Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin. The person on the right is the black man Abram Petrovich Gannibal, who was Alexander’s great-grandfather.

The African Presence in Russia is interesting to discuss about. African presence in Russia and its surrounding regions existed in the ancient past. I didn’t even realize this information until a few years ago. There are more account of Black Colchians. In 522-443 B.C., a Greek poet named Pindar described the Colchians, whom Jason and the Argonauts fought, as being "dark skinned.” Apparently, in 1912, a Russian natualist by the name of V.P. Vradii found a small colony of Black people in the area of Batumi, which is on the southwestern coast of Georgia in Southern Russia. Vraddi noticed that they were quite black in skin color and had very African features, while others were mixed with black and Russian. Vradii published a book about the Black tribe called, Kavkaz. After the publishing of his book, reports of other Black populations around the Black Sea began to flood local media. As other scholars began to travel the land, here in modern times, they too began reporting tribes of Black populations. There is another source on this information:

"Passing for the first time through the Abkhazian community of Abzhiubzha... I was struck by the purely tropical landscape: Against the background of a bright green primeval jungle there stood huts and sheds built of wood and covered with reeds; curlyheaded Negro children played on the ground and a Negro woman passed by grandly

carrying a bundle on her head. Black-skinned people wearing white clothes in the bright sun resembled a picture of some African scene." (Allison Blakely, Russia and the Negro: Blacks in history and Thought, Howard University Press, Washington, DC, 1986, p.78). Moreover, a black Colchian writer, historian, and ethnographer, Dmitri Gulia (1874-1960) asserted that his peoples heritage stemed from Sesostris. He published a book called, History of Abkhazia, which shows that the black Colchian people of Southern Russia were really an Abyssinaian people of Egypt. he proves this by putting together a vast array of Abkhazian words that matched that of ancient Egypt. He also chronicles "family names, names of rivers and mountains, anems of pre-Christian deities, and much more." (Poe, 58).

Alexander Pushkin is a famous author in Russia (whose name in Russian is АлексаJндр СергеJевич ПуJшкин). A.V. Lunacharsky said that: “Pushkin was the Russian spring. Pushkin was the Russian morning. Pushkin was the Russian Adam." Alexander Sergeievich Pushkin was born in Moscow, Russia. Pushkin's great-grandfather, a page raised by Peter the Great (who lived from 1682 to 1725), was Abram Petrovich Gannibal, who was born in Eritrea. Major-General Abram Petrovich Gannibal was a Black African Prince who was brought to Russia by Peter the Great and became major-general, military engineer and governor of Reval. He is perhaps best known today as the great-grandfather of Alexander Pushkin, who wrote an unfinished novel about him, Peter the Great's Negro. In an unfinished work, The Moor of Peter the Great, Pushkin paid great homage to his illustrious ancestor, repeatedly referring to Hannibal as "the Moor", "the Black" and the "African." Gannibal’s first wife was Evdokia Dioper, a Greek woman. Alexander is a patriarch of Russian literature. In his day, most Russian writers composed their writers in French. Feodor Dostoevsky wrote that, "No Russian writer was ever so intimately at one with the Russian people as Pushkin." Maxim Gorky wrote that, "Pushkin is the greatest master in the world. Pushkin, in our country, is the beginning of all beginnings. He most beautifully expressed the spirit of our people." I. Turgeniev wrote that, "Pushkin alone had to perform two tasks which took whole centuries and more to accomplish in other countries, namely to establish a language and to create a literature." According to N.A. Dobrolyubuv: "Pushkin is of immense important not only in the history of Russian literature, but also in the history of Russian enlightenment. He was the first to teach the Russian public to read." Czar Nicholas I even hated and fear Pushkin, but called him the most intelligent man in Russia. Pushkin wanted to have social reform and that was why he was exiled from Russia. The Czars back then were apparently pro-authoritarian. Alexander Pushkin made many works like Eugene Onegin, the Ode to Liberty, the Captian’s Daughter, and Boris Godunf. To this day, bronze images of Pushkin exist around Moscow and St. Petersburg. His portraits are everywhere. Pushkin died on January 29, 1837 from a duel in defending his honor. In 1937, the town of Tsarskoe Selo was renamed Pushkin in his honor. Today, many black people still live in the nation of Russia.

Now, here's some history of Sub-Saharan Africa. Western Africa had many advanced civilizations. The culture of Nok came about in Ghana in the time of 200 B.C. Nok was definitely composed of complex artwork and various tools for resources. Benin and Ghana came up by ca. 200 A.D. The origins of Ghana existed in the time between 600 B.C. and 400 B.C. according to scholar Basil Davidson. Kings in Ghana settled disputes among different clans. He was the supreme leader in military affairs, religious rituals, and other parts of the atmosphere of the nation. A Moorish nobleman named Al Barki (from the 1000’s A.D.) described the Ghanaian King as setting near gold and plenty of horses. Ghanaian typically refused to convert to Islam, but they had a cordial relationship with Muslim merchants. They offered Islamic legal advice. The ancient Kingdom of Ghana traded in plenty of items like cotton cloth, metal ornaments, and leather goods. Of course, the gold and salt trade was a vital resource in Ghana’s trade procedures. Ibn Hawkal once called the King of Ghana the richest soverign on Earth with reserves of gold, 1,000 horses (with their own supplies), etc.

Al Barki (El Berki) described Ghana's city of Aoudaghast as: "A very large city with several markets, many date palms and henna trees as big as olives, filled with fine houses and solid buildings." (Davidson, Basil. The Lost Cities of Africa. Boston: Little Brown, 1959, 84) In 1067 A.D., Al Barki also described the king Ghana possessing the capability of putting 200,000 warriors in the field (with more than 20,000 of them being armed with bows and arrows). In ancient times, Africa was a rich land full of Kings and Queens of renown indeed. One was Tenkamenin of Ghana. His reign was from 1037 to 1075 A.D. He instituted religious tolerance, he promoted the great gold trade across the Sahara desert, and promoted justice in Ghana. Timbuktu was a large city with an University where scholars from around the world went into during the Middle Ages. King Askia Toure King of Songhay (from 1493-1529) had a historical record of efficiency and administrative genius. Mahnud Ka'ti wrote, "the great men

of the Songhay were versed in the art of war. They were very brave, very bold and most

expert in the deployment of military stratagems." (Africa from the twelfth to the sixteenth century/ editor, D.T. Niane [London; Heinemann Educational Books; Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984], 200). During the Middle Ages, Donald Levine and Almeida described the Ethiopians as "very amenable to reason and justice…intelligent and good natured…mild, gentle, kind…" (Hunwick, John, "Black Africans in the Islamic world: an understudied dimension of the Black Diaspora," Tarikh 5.4, 27). A Portuguese chronicler described an ambassador from Benin as, "a man of good speech and natural wisdom." (Lost Cities, 136). Here’s another source on West African history: "The Negroes are of all peoples those who most abhor injustice…Complete and general safety one enjoys throughout the land (Mali Empire in West Africa)." -Ibn Battua, 14th century Arab scholar who had traveled to China, India, East Africa, North Africa, and finally Mali (Davidson, Basil. African Kingdoms. New York: Time, Inc., 1966, 82) El Berki, writing in 1067 about the City of Aoudaghast in Ghana recorded that it is, "A very large city with several markets, many date palms and henna trees as big as olives, filled with fine houses and solid buildings." King Alfonso I of the Kongo (who reigned from 1506 to 1540) made his area to possess advanced knowledge and technology. Although a Roman Catholic, He opposed the slave trade because many European powers worked with traitorous native African tribes to kidnap people for slavery.

Writing in 1622 about the Kingdom of Benin, a Dutchman, Olfert Dapper, recorded that, "These Negroes…are people who have good laws and a well-organized police; who live on good terms with the Dutch and other foreigners who come to trade among them, and to whom they show a thousand marks of friendship." (African Kingdoms, 104). In fact, most African Americans who live in America today are descendants of the West Africans (especially among the tribes of the Yoruba, Benin, in the national of Senegal, etc.).

There is also the great black civilization of Zimbabwe in Africa. There were a small number of Iron Age people living in Zimbabwe by the 300’s A.D. Bigger settlements existed by the Middle Ages from the 1000’s to the 1300’s. In the 1300’s, Zimbabwe became a powerful kingdom. Gold of course was a major source of wealth as they traded with Africans, Arabic people, and others. There was the development of cattle there as well. From about the late twelfth century," Peter Garlake tells us, "diversification, expansion, affluence, and a concomitant of these, increased social, economic and functional specialization took place in both cultures so that in the end, entire settlements could, like areas within sites, be built and used for limited functions by certain groups or clusters of people." (Africa from the twelfth to the sixteenth century/ editor, D.T. Niane (London; Heinemann Educational Books; Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), 533). The territory of Zimbabwe back then reached from the Zambezi River to Transvaal. Their architecture was complex: “All serious scholars now perceive Great Zimbabwe as an essentially African development, built of local raw material and according to architectural principles that have endured from the use of these media over many centuries." ~B.M. Fagan, Oxford Archeologist Zimbabwe’s stonewalls were well constructed and had sophisticated drystone masonry. Great Zimbabwe is a sixty acre site having 2 massive stone structures. There was a royal palace and a fort. An Acropolis existed or a succession of stone buildings on a high hill that overlooked a much larger enclose (which was called the elliptical building). The elliptical building is over 300 ft long and 220 ft wide-somewhat larger than a football field. In 1929, Gertrude Caton-Thompson was the first to conclusively state that the site was indeed created by Africans. Archaeologists generally agree that the builders probably spoke one of the Shona languages, and so were members of the Bantu family. There are racists and others who believe that Phoenicians or Semites created the structures, which are lies. As noted by Connah, "There was never any doubt about its African origins in the minds of those who real understood the archaeological evidence.” The Heritage of World Civilization, a book compiled by Harvard and Yale historians, asserts that the, "civilization was a purely African one sited far enough inland never to have felt the impact of Islam." (The Heritage of World Civilizations: Volume One: To 1650, 4th ed. Editor, Owen, Cralyce. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall Simon & Shuster, 1997, 512). The ancient Zimbabwe civilization ended by the 1500’s mostly believe people migrated up north (because of land exhaustion), Portuguese colonialism, and other reasons. Zimbabwe, Ghana, Songhai, and other Kingdoms remain as some of the most complex civilizations in the ancient world. Also, these areas are a testimony to the great, advance civilizations of sub-Saharan Africa. Many passages from the Talmud and from other racists contributed to promoting the lie that being black was a curse. Colonialism against Africa didn't just occur by Europeans. Many Asian and Arabic people stole land in Africa and made slaves of black Africans as well back in the 700's A.D. European colonialism were more entrenched in the African continent with the British, French, German, Dutch, Belgium, and other nations lusting after the continent’s resources . The evilness and vileness of

population control is still promoted in Africa now in 2009. Steven Ranson wrote an article entitled, "AIDS and Population Control," in describing this problem succinctly. The deal is that pharmaceutical industries are trying to promoting cheap drugs under the guise of "helping" the suffering people of Africa (including the fight against AIDS). Yet, the catch is that sterilization, abortion, and population control is promoted in the process. Some of the drugs in Africa and other Third world nations are toxic in their cosmology. The World Bank and the IMF are using this same catch of population control under the guise of using loans to Third World nations. Many Africans are suffering through very treatable diseases. One of the old international bankers involved in these actions was population control adherent J.D. Rockefeller. Bill Gates. Steven writes: "...The Durban 2000 AIDS conference, held on July 9-14th 2000, had the funding of fifteen sponsors, eleven of whom are pharmaceutical industries and/organizations who have a direct interest in population control. That the Ford Foundation was one of the sponsors of Durban 2000 will come as little surprise to readers au fait with the population control 'league of friends'. They are billed on their web-site as 'providing grants and loans to projects that strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement....Whilst The Ford Foundation funds a number of worthwhile projects across the globe, it also funds various 'reproductive health' programs that do not best serve the interests of the recipient. Also, the Ford Foundation's longstanding links with the Rockefeller Institute, coupled with its own history of CIA collaboration in various destabilization programmes across Africa in the early 1970s, makes the purpose of the corporation's attendance at the Durban convention highly questionable...." It isn't just the Rockefellers involved with this agenda. The Gates Foundation, the Bilderbergers, the IMF, the World Bank, the WHO (or the World Health Organization), the Rothschilds, and others are involved in population control (and economic imperialism against the people of Africa). Kissinger's NSSM 200 from the 1970's blatantly calls for the population control of the Third World (including using food as a weapon to control people). Bill and Melinda Gates support abortion and have giving at least $24 billion to population control activities. Numerous vaccines are dangerous. You can only look at Gardasil to see evidence of this. Bill Gates regularly attends former Communist party boss Mikhail Gorbachev's annual State of the World Forum held at the former Presidio Army base in California. Bill Gates supports Planned Parenthood. The American Life League, a pro-life organization, confronted software mogul Bill Gates years ago. The AFL told him that a World Health Organization (WHO) tetanus vaccination program (undertaken with Gates' sponsorship) bears striking resemblance to a similar WHO program (which was exposed as a measure to involuntarily sterilize young women in the Philippines). Gates has donated $26 million to a WHO tetanus program in several developing countries. Bill Gates is a slick man indeed.

Black History Month is important to recognize the contributions among those of black descent indeed. Virgie M. Ammons (he created the fireplace chimney device called a damper to allow smoke upward out of the house), W.A. Lovette (He invented the advanced printing press), W. Johnson, W.B. Purvis (He created the fountain pen and the hand stamp), W. H. Sammons, and dozens of others were great black inventors of various things. It was a black man named Garret A. Morgan who invented the Automatic Traffic Signal in 1923. There are great modern black inventors and scientists today as well. For example, Dr. Philip Emeagwali (a Black Nigerian man) solved 100 math problems in one hour. The African American inventor from Virginia named Dr. James E. West (with his colleague Gerhard Sessler) invented the Electret Microphone, and a Black American woman who is named Dr. Shriley Jackson made many advances in science and mathematics.

Many believe in order to fight Africa's poverty is a return to basics. There needs to be a promotion of modernization in Africa, real trade, economic liberty and the promotion of real, personal liberty to those that are suffering. There is nothing wrong with voluntarily sending money and aid to help Africa. Yet, if a comprehensive solution isn't done, money will only have a limited reach to develop the continent. Now, there is some good news in Africa. Far too often, the mainstream media and other factions would focus too much on the negative news going on in Africa. There are positive news in Africa. According to a study from the United Nations report, in Zimbabwe, there has been a drop in the infection rate among pregnant women from 26% in 2002 to 18% in 2006 and that abstinence is playing a role in encouraging people to have less casual sex. In nations like Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, and others, younger people are reportedly waiting longer to begin having sex. In Cameroon, the UN study says the percentage of children under 15 having sex has dropped from 35% to 14%. Fewer people are dying -- a decline of 200,000 from 2006-2007 -- and new infections dropped by 300,000 last year. "The global HIV epidemic cannot be reversed, and gains in expanding treatment access cannot be sustained, without greater progress in reducing the rate of new HIV infections," the report says. To Bush's credit, he allowed some improvements in Africa, yet there is still a very long way to go in improving Africa. There are rural areas in Africa and urban cities with Internet and other technological marvels. There are also black people living today in Asia, Latin America, Mexico, and all of South Africa. So, I will never forget about those black people as well.. Tons

of sub-Saharan Africans (who include whites, blacks, Asians, etc.) possess a high level of contributions in the world whether people believe that or not. It's funny that many folks want to harbor hatred (especially against people of color) by using slick, condescending stereotypes, but rarely offer real solutions to help people the world over. I'm over stupid stereotypes and dehumanization. I'm all for solutions. Tons of believers in God and leaders still exist in Africa. Africans of many colors and ethnic groups in the past, present, and the future will continue to fight for liberty, truth, and justice for all human beings. These are good news. Black people like all people came from leaders and strong, very intelligent human beings that created elaborate contributions in human history. That great legacy of Africa from the past will continue in the present and the future.

By Timothy The truth is here and will remain forever. You can believe that.

Real Black History ought to be learned 24/7 365 not just in the month of February This is dedicated to all people of the world.