| Cheik Anta Diop and Theophile Obenga in Cairo Symposium, held from January 28 – February 3, 1974. The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) convened 20 of the world’s top Egyptologists to debate the race of the founders of ancient Egyptian civilization. ntil this symposium, it was assumed by the vast majority of European Egyptologists that the ancient Egyptians were either Caucasians or western Asiatics. Outside of Black scholars, few writers in the world agreed that the people of pharaonic Egypt were black Africans. At the Cairo Symposium only two African scholars, Cheikh Anta Diop and Theophilé Obenga, held that the Egyptians were black Africans, while the other participants took opposing positions against the Diop-Obenga thesis. Their scholarly opponents offered virtually no evidence to substantiate the two long-held popular theories of the western Asiatic or Caucasoid origin of the ancient Egyptians. These popular theories certainly needed to be proven, because they are contradicted by all of the objective evidence, such as the temple and tomb reliefs, paintings, sculpture, written records of other nations, linguistic terms, mummy remains, Egyptian customs, and royal and spiritual symbols.
Armed with a formidable body of evidence from numerous academic disciplines, Diop presented specific information to prove the black origins of Kemet (ancient Egypt). It is obvious from the conference report that Diop dominated the proceedings, and confronted with his solid arguments, most of the participants changed their positions during the conference.
Prof. Torgny Save-Soderbergh (Sweden) and other participants argued that the concept of race was now outmoded and not appropriate for characterizing the ancient Egyptians. Prof. Abdelgadir Abdalla (Sudan) stated that it was more important to focus on the ancient Egyptian achievements rather than their race. Prof. G. Ghallab (Egypt) stated that the Egyptians were “Caucasoids.” However, the theory of an ancient population which was “white” with dark or black pigmentation was abandoned during the conference, as there was no evidence given to prove this assertion.
Professors El Nadury (Egypt) and Grottanelli (Italy) argued that the Egyptian population was not a pure race and could only be regarded as “mixed.” Prof. Jean Vercoutter (France) remarked that “Egypt was African in its way of writing, in its culture, and in its way of thinking.” He stated, however, that “the inhabitants of the Nile Valley had always been mixed.”
Prof. Jean Leclant (France) added that there was an “African character in the Egyptian temperament and way of thinking” but that the “unity of the Egyptian people was not racial but cultural.” He stated the civilization was “neither white nor Negro.” Prof. Peter Shinnie (Canada), Vercoutter and others argued that terms such as “black” was too subjective and not well defined.
Dr. Diop protested that these were not positive arguments presenting any evidence, but simply negative statements against his black African origins position. In fact Maurice Glélé, the neutral UNESCO representative, interjected on at least two occasions to state that if classifying people in terms of white, black, or yellow are so debatable and subjective then a revision should be made of the entire terminology of world history to avoid misconceptions. It is clear that the participants abandoned the old Caucasoid and western Asiatic theories and instead retreated to a new “mixed race” position, without presenting any meaningful evidence to support this new theory.
Nevertheless, the conclusion of the official UNESCO report indicates the triumph of Diop and his colleague Obenga. It stated, “Although the preparatory working paper sent out by UNESCO gave particulars of what was desired, not all participants had prepared communications comparable with the painstakingly researched contributions of Professors Cheikh Anta Diop and Obenga. There was consequently a real lack of balance in the discussions.”In laymen terms, Cheikh Anta Diop and Theophilé Obenga gave out an important academic spanking on a world stage. Western Egyptologists now unsuccessfully try and downplay the significance of Diop’s triumph over their colleagues.
In conclusion Diop developed the "melanin dosage test" which allowed him to prove, once and for all, the racial identity of the Ancient Egyptians. This relatively simple test (later adopted by the U.S. forensic department to determine the racial identity of badly burnt accident victims) provided the means by which one could determine the phenotype of the royal mummies by examining the melanin content present within their skin. Although Dr. Diop had proven the viability of the Melanin Dosage Test, the Egyptian government and/or antiquities in Cairo has yet to authorize its use even under the Arab hypocrite Dr.Zahi Hawass who refuses to have any tests done.
1.Evidence from Physical Anthropology
The skeletons and skulls of the Ancient Egyptians clearly reflect they were Negroid people with features very similar to those of modern Black Nubians and other people of the Upper Nile and of East Africa.
2. Melanin Dosage Test
Egyptologist Cheikh Anta Diop invented a method for determining the level of melanin in the skin of human beings. When conducted on Egyptian mummies in the Museum of Man in Paris, this test indicated these remains were of Black people.
3. Osteological Evidence
"Lepsius canon," which distinguishes the bodily proportions of various racial groups categories the "ideal Egyptian" as "short-armed and of Negroid or Negrito physical type."
4. Evidence From Blood Types
Diop notes that even after hundreds of years of inter-mixture with foreign invaders, the blood type of modern Egyptians is the "same group B as the populations of western Africa on the Atlantic seaboard and not the A2 Group characteristic of the white race prior to any crossbreeding."
5. The Egyptians as They Saw Themselves
"The Egyptians had only one term to designate themselves =kmt= the Negroes (literally). This is the strongest term existing in the Pharaonic tongue to indicate blackness; it is accordingly written with a hieroglyph representing a length of wood charred at the end and not crocodile scales," singular. ‘Kmt’ from the adjective =kmt= black; it therefore means strictly Negroes or at the very least black men. The term is a collective noun which thus described the whole people of Pharaonic Egypt as a black people."
6. Divine Epithets
Diop demonstrates that "black or Negro" is the divine epithet invariably used for the chief beneficent Gods of Egypt, while the evil spirits were depicted as red.
7.Evidence From the Bible
The Bible states" |
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