When you take the time to explore Africa as the cradle of civilization you realize that there are a lot of blank and unexplained gaps in the teaching of the history of Black Africa. For example metallurgy, the Alphabet, mathematics, and methods of construction we still use today came from the African continent. All of the above should be at the forefront of any history book including the ones found here in the United States. In the history books that were available to me African, and American-born Africans made no significant contributions to history until during, and just after slavery. I have since learned that what I was taught was not true, and that!
Some of the first great civilizations, that predate even the Roman Empire, existed in Africa. African civilizations like the Kingdom of Kush, the Nubians, and the black rulers of ancient Egypt were something I wish I had learned a lot earlier. I came to realize that many of the great Greek Philosophers first studied in Africa before taking those teachings back to Greece and claiming what they learned in Africa as their own. If you go by the version of Africa I grew up with as a child none of the African heroes shown on the television or motion picture screen were "African."
In the biblical offerings from Hollywood, like the Ten Commandments, there were of course African slaves but no true Africans in any of the lead roles. Over the years attempts have been made to bring to light the African American ancestor's struggle, but the film or video production is almost always centered around slavery. Don't get me wrong, slavery is a very big, and important part of the American African experience, and American History, but in my opinion, so are all of the black histories about Africa where it relates to the black African Queens and Kings.
It is unfortunate that at a time when this kind of historic information could mean so much to a younger generation of American schoolchildren some schools are cracking down on what history should be learned in schools. I do understand that there is only so much history you can pack into children's history books and still keep them actively engaged in learning. But, I can't help but feel that if any of the things mentioned above had been part of my grade school and high-school education my early impressions of the motherland, Africa, would not have been so negative.
Over the years a clearer picture of Africa and African History as it relates to my African ancestors has helped me unbury from the sands of time some African history I wish I had been able to learn those things when I was in school. Inspiration at an early age whether from a book, a movie, or the television screen can work wonders when it comes to the building of self-confidence, and the desire to succeed. I have become a student of ongoing African History some of which, if you've read some of my other posts, I enjoy sharing
