History Of African Civilization
The African Diaspora began at a time when black people were considered royalty. Also, slavery was not always associated with the color of one’s skin. When dealing with race and civilization, it is important to know that the definitions of these terms have changed over time. Race can be viewed as the phenotypical features of a group of people, while civilization can be interpreted as the current state of development of a society.
There are many contributing factors of the past that have merged to influence the way race and civilization are thought about in present day. The African Diaspora did not begin with the transatlantic slave trade as we were taught in grade school. Rather, earlier portions of black history and the history of slavery in civilization have contributed to modern perceptions of both race and civilization. Black history and slavery extend as far into the past as the early worlds of Graeco-Roman and Egyptian-Nubian relations, the Bible, Kebra Negast, and the classical Islamic world. Of all stages of black history, the period during which Egyptians and Nubians encountered the Mediterranean cultures reveal that race relations have changed radically.
At first contact, the Mediterranean people were mesmerized by the dark-skinned newcomers, who they called Ethiopians. As opposed to the negative connotation black skin would later acquire in European civilization, Greeks held Ethiopians in high esteem. Though the Greeks were unfamiliar with the people of Africa, they considered all people with dark skin to be Ethiopian, even those in India and the Middle East. The way the Egyptians and Nubians were viewed was innocent and not malicious. That being said, in contemporary society people with darker skin are perceived in a negative manner. In the case of Egyptian and Nubian encounters with Mediterranean peoples, we learn that racism did not take hold immediately, and thus is not inherent in people. The introduction of Africans in the bible begins with the Hamitic Curse.
The story behind this is as follows: Noah got drunk one night and his son “uncovered his nakedness”. This could have meant a number of things, not simply that he was seen without clothing. This led Noah to cursed Ham’s youngest child, Canaan. From then on, the descendants of Canaan were cursed to be slaves. This story was used to justify slavery in ancient times. Since some of Ham’s immediate descendants were Egyptians and they had darker skin, people began to associate dark skin with slavery. The Bible contributes to the concept of race because it convinced people that anyone with a darker skin complexion was destined to be a slave.
This is why slavery seems reasonable to some people: in their eyes, slavery was the will of God. This has fed into the expectation that black people stay in inferior, poor conditions. It has gotten to the point where subconsciously, some people have racist tendencies against dark-skinned people. Not all slavery originates from racial bias, however. Long before the transatlantic trade of African slaves, the Islamic world had embraced a completely different kind of slavery. In Islamic nations, no particular group of people was destined for slavery from birth. Instead, slaves were acquired through kidnapping, conquest, and markets. A number of kindnesses were shown to slaves that were not passed onto modern times, granting insight into how the institution of slavery has changed over time. When a slave had a child with a free person, the child would be born free.
Most of the 12 million slaves in the Islamic world between 650 A.D. and the 14th century were captured in Europe and Asia. This example shows that slavery was not originally based solely on race and did not necessarily imply malice or inferiority in ancient civilizations. Though we consider the European and American civilizations of the industrial era to be more advanced than the Islamic world, in the case of the institution of slavery the West was regressive. Kebra Negast is associated with the Ark of the Covenant, the historical container of the ten commandments, which is one of the most important entities described in the bible. Michael A. Gomez, Reversing Sail: A History of the African Diaspora, country has claimed to have the Ark except Ethiopia, so although skeptical, people believe it.
The Queen of Sheba and the King of Israel come together to have a child, Menelik, who becomes the first king of Ethiopia. When he gets older he travels to Israel to bring back the Ark for his country. This anecdote shows that black people were once seen as kings and queens, not 8always as a disadvantaged race. In addition, this entire story goes to show that Kebra Negast contributes to concepts of civilization because it gives Ethiopia a religious background. A narrative to place a group of people in a meaningful role benefits civilization, which is essentially a mass social contract. Without a common heritage, goal, or enemy, the people of a nation can have difficulty seeing their countrymen as collaborators. In this way, religion and civilization are closely linked. The events of the past have significant implications in contemporary race relations.
Race wasn’t considered in Ancient Egypt, Nubia, or Islamic civilizations. It became prevalent later in the 15th century due to the Hamitic Curse. In the Islamic world, slavery was not based on race. Additionally, the policies regarding slaves were less harsh even a thousand years before the modern slave trade began. This shows that the concept of race has evolved over the years. As for civilization, as time goes on societies grow and improve. At one point Ethiopian civilization or even Islamic civilization was deemed respectable, but now it is looked at as archaic. Whether it is for better or worse, events of the past have shaped the way we think about race and civilization in present day.
Bibliography:
- Gomez, Michael. “Africans in the Bible.” Lecture, from New York University, New York, NY, September 11, 2018.
- Gomez, Michael A. Reversing Sail: A History of the African Diaspora. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
- Gomez, Michael. “Islam and Slavery.” Lecture, from New York University, New York, NY, September 20, 2018.
- The Slave Kingdoms: Wonders of the African World, with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Performed by Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
