The Negro in Ancient History

2020 Reprint of 1869 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition and not reproduced with Optical Recognition software. In 1869 Blyden published The Negro in Ancient History a short 25-page work with the goal that the eyes of the blacks may be opened to discern their true mission and destiny; that making their escape from the house of bondage they may betake themselves to their ancestral home and assist in constructing a Christian African empire. Blyden argues that as descendants of Ham had a share as the most prominent actors on the scene in the founding of cities and in the organization of government so members of the same family developed under different circumstances will have an important part in the closing of the great drama. Drawing the parallel between the slavery of the Israelites and African-Americans Blyden writes: When we notice the scornful indifference with which the Negro is spoken of by certain politicians in America we fancy that the attitude of Pharaoh and the aristocratic Egyptians must have been precisely similar toward the Jews. We fancy we see one of the magicians in council after the first visit of Moses demanding the release of the Israelites rising up with indignation and pouring out a torrent of scornful invective such as any rabid anti-Negro politician might now indulge in. Blyden believed that Zionism was a model for what he called Ethiopianism and that African Americans could return to Africa and redeem it. He believed political independence to be a prerequisite for economic independence and argued that Africans must counter the neo-colonial policies of former colonial powers.