Mankind Stems from Africa
During and after the birth of the United States of America, it was understood that black people, or “negroes,” were considered the lowest form of humanity. The white race was always understood to be superior in every way, considering that they were thought to be the more intelligent race due to their larger skull size (Gould, 1996, 85) In a time where racism still was lurking behind every corner despite laws displaying equality for all races, Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop further researched the anthropology and biology around the “Out of Africa” theory. This theory states that all people descended from a black man. The idea that everyone on this earth, including white people, descended from a black Mitochondrial Eve was one of the most offensive ideas ever heard of in the primarily white field of anthropology (Piddington, 2002). Dr. Diop’s evidence on the “Out of Africa” theory was so offensive that scientists fabricated a fossil out of half a man’s skull and the jawbone of a primate just so they could prove that humans came from primates instead of a black man. The scientific name to this fake fossil was called the “Piltdown Man”(Van Sertima, 1989, 181). Over time, black people retained equal rights and only the truth remained: humans came out of Africa. Through the evidence presented in the course readings, I have concluded that the birth of mankind originated from Africa due to the evolution of skin pigmentation in African people, Egypt being the first civilization and the cradle of humanity, and that Egypt influenced culture and technology.
The black people who were the first humans in Africa migrated north and over time, their skin pigmentation lightened in order to adapt to the cold climate. Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop developed a chemical process that worked with the chemical melanin, which determines skin pigmentation, “in order to establish [mankind’s] Black African ancestry.” (Van Sertima, 1986, 9) This process was tested on a mummy excavated from Egypt. Dr. Diop confirmed that the mummy was of Negro ancestry due to the fact that the mummy’s epidermis did not secrete enzymes, whereas a person of white skin color does secrete enzymes so that the skin can absorb the melanin. (Diop, 1974, 237) Therefore, the mummy and furthermore, the oldest known humans, was of Black heritage. Diop drew the conclusion that nomads from Africa migrated north to Europe and developed a lighter skin hue over time as the people adapted. This was how the white race was formed. Diop also rationalized that the Asian race came from the mix of black and white races, as well as Darwinian evolution(Van Sertima, 1986, pg. 66). Although society rejected Diop’s theory due to their ignorant views of white people being the dominant and first race, he rationalized that the darker skin pigmentation in the first human beings was in order to protect from the burn of the sweltering sun. With that evidence, a white man couldn’t have been the first fossil in Africa, because in order to survive there, human skin pigmentation had to have been dark to protect against the burning sun. These original humans from Ethiopia were of black ancestry according to Dr. Diop’s melanin tests, confirming the “Out of Africa theory.”
It was in 1986 that the oldest remains of the first mature human being, the Homo sapien sapien, were discovered in Ethiopia South Africa, and Kenya (Van Sertima, 1986, 14). These fossils were known to have certain facial features that are found in the Black people today: a wider nasal cavity and a larger lip area. Since these remains were discovered in Omo and Kanjera then it can be argued that the evolution of modern man started in Africa was black and that they procreated and populated their region (Van Sertima, 1986, 189). The anthropologic community had been arguing for years that the oldest known Homo sapien sapien had been discovered in Europe such as the Swanscombe and Fontechevade fossils. However, it was determined by scholar Bernard Vandersmeersch that these fossils were not the most recent Homo sapien sapien fossils known to man, and that there were in face two different species of man living in Europe at the time of the Mindel-Riss interglacial stage, both of whom disappeared (Van Sertima, 1986, 183.). Vandersmeersch then took up the idea that the “transformation of Neanderthal Man into modern man, if it did not happen in Europe, had to have [happened] elsewhere” (Van Sertima, 1986, 185). Here Vandersmeersch hypothesized that it was not chronologically possible for the Swanscombe and Fontechevade fossils to be the ancestors of Homo Sapiens. Historically, the fossils found in Oma and in South Africa appeared at least 150,000 years ago and are thus the ancestors of humans today.
Egypt, which is in the Nile Region of Africa, has been proven to be the first civilization not only historically, but scientifically as well. The Black population of Egypt called the region Kemit, and their first large city was in the Middle Kingdom, and it was named Wasset. This is where the culture stemmed from in the Nile Valley and thus the culture of the whole world began here. The first human beings were found in Africa, and then created a civilization known as Egypt, and that civilization “spread across the continent of Africa” to influence Europe and their new civilizations. (Van Sertima, 1986, 234)The Middle Kingdom, Old Kingdom, and New Kingdom were known as the Golden Ages, where the Egyptians invented many of the primitive tools needed to progress their budding civilization such as paper, the calendar system, the decimal clock, and mathematics. (Van Sertima, 1989, 43) The carbon dating of the ancient artifacts and monuments such as the Pyramids is older than any other great European civilization. Diop also showed through chemical analysis that many modern techniques and tools were first used by the Egyptians, such as iron smelting. There were times however, where the problem of keeping their history in a chronological order was a challenge. The calendar that the Egyptians invented proved faulty, and set back the civilization on progressing in technology during the periods between the Golden Ages. These times were called the “dark eras” and during them the Egyptians didn’t have anything to show for their existence. (Egypt Revisited, 119). Fortunately, the Egyptians rose out of the ashes to create a dynasty that would create historical monuments to show that the black region of Kemit was the first great civilization such as the Pyramids of Giza. (Egypt Revisited, 44)
(Body, Pyramids of Giza) Inside these pyramids were millions of hieroglyphics, pertaining to how Egypt was formed and by whom. These Egyptians refer to themselves as black in these drawings. The black Kemitic civilization connects to the great construction of the Pyramids of Giza, and thus the establishment of man’s first civilization.
The reason why people were skeptical about the idea of Egypt being the first civilization created isn’t solely based on prejudice. It also has to do with the lost history of the civilization. With the enslavement of the African people beginning in the sixteenth century, the rich culture and history of Africa and Egypt “remain suspended in the air” due to the assimilation of blacks into a white, Christian society. (Van Sertima, 1986, 238) It is safe to say however, that Dr. Diop is starting to raise awareness of the origins of mankind in Africa due to his research on skin pigmentation and melanin tests, paleontology in the runes of Ethiopia, Kenya, and South Africa, and emergence of a black civilization that influenced all culture and technology as we know it today. This research shows that mankind is originally a black people, and stem out of Africa. I encourage you to enlighten the population about the basis of our civilization, Africa, because the truth of the matter is that a very little percentage of the population knows where they came from, where mankind was birthed. If society is educated on the origins of mankind, then we can all unite as one indivisible people.
References
Diop, Cheikh Anta (1974). The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality. Laurence Hill & Co.
Gould, Stephen Jay (1996). The Mismeasure of Man. W.W. Norton & Company.
Piddington, Andrew (Director) (2002). The Real Eve [Documentary]. Granada Media.
Van Sertima, Ivan (1986). Great African Thinkers. Transaction Publishers.
Van Sertima, Ivan (1989). Egypt Revisited. Transaction Publishers.
