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I am a World History Teacher and I wish to teach about African History including Egypt. I know that all evidence points to a Black Civilization, but does anyone know how I can simplify the issue and at the same time introduce the fact that the Egyptians were Black with out making the issue a big fuss. I also would not to even have to mention that they are black, so are there resources that actually show the Egyptians as Black. And please excuse me if I sound culturally insensitive in some way, I just want my kids to realize everyone had a role in civilization and it wasnt a european phenomenom
Posts: 163 | From: United States | Registered: Aug 2009
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I don't know any other way of getting around it but the so-called 'race' of the ancient Egyptians is a very touchy and controversial subject. Even though all the evidence does point to Egyptians being black Africans, it still stirs up alot of the social and political 'muck' if you will that has obscured such evidence. As far as how you want to go about teaching the issue to your class may or may not depend on the 'demographics' of your kids if you know what I mean. I mean African American kids are probably more accepting to the fact of a black Egypt than say white kids. This is not to say that white kids may be closed-minded or biggoted, but that such a notion may be new to them. Your ethnic identity might come into play as well, since if you are African American you might be labeled as 'Afrocentric'. Again, all of this baggage comes with the territory of breaking "traditional" teachings of Egypt.
Perhaps the best way of teaching Egypt's African identity and 'breaking the news' so to speak, would be doing so in a more covert manner that many mainstream academians are doing. For example, recent academic works from Oxford, Cambridge, and Paris in Europe to Yale, Berkely, etc. in the U.S. have begun to emphasize that Egyptian civilization was a product of indigenous Northeast Africans who settled the Nile Valley and NOT by people from Southwest Asia. The settlement and cultivation of the Nile Valley was spurred on by the dessication of North Africa and the formation of the Sahara which did not exist prior to that, so therefore the separation of of African peoples into 'Sub-Sahara' and North Africa did not exist. You can cite archaeological cites like the megalithic circle of Nabta Playa in Egypt's southwest desert, Neolithic sites along the Nile like Naqada in Southern Egypt and Merimda Beni-Salama in Northern Egypt. Or that the earliest traces of pharanic culture lay to the south in northern Nubia as seen with proto-hieroglyphs in Sayalah and Qustul that predate Sumerian cunieform. It's always important to emphasize culture and cultural origins first. Then maybe you can throw in some visualizations on what the peoples looked like with some sculptures but especially paintings. There are so many painted portraits and works by the Egyptians showing that they were indeed what we call 'black' today. This gives your students the opportunity to think for themselves and for them to decide who the Egyptians were.
By the way, this forum has a LOT of info both historical and anthropological when it comes to ancient Egypt-- I mean TONS. So feel free to ask me or any others here questions or you can peruse through the archives.
Posts: 26295 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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Check out these threads of which also provides you with links for said books, rather informative indeed when it comes to a basic understanding of African history...hope this helps.
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I doubt many teachers would have a problem in calling ancient Greeks "white" in a classroom. Just an observation.
Posts: 7516 | From: Somewhere on Earth | Registered: Jan 2008
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quote:Originally posted by StTigray: I am a World History Teacher and I wish to teach about African History including Egypt. I know that all evidence points to a Black Civilization, but does anyone know how I can simplify the issue and at the same time introduce the fact that the Egyptians were Black with out making the issue a big fuss. I also would not to even have to mention that they are black, so are there resources that actually show the Egyptians as Black. And please excuse me if I sound culturally insensitive in some way, I just want my kids to realize everyone had a role in civilization and it wasnt a european phenomenom
The key is to let the scholarship speak for itself. If you present it clearly the idea will come across. Check out the link below for quick reference, then roll back to ES for in-depth analysis.
You can use use the dictionary definition for "Black" as shown below, but another accurate definition seen often on ES is that the Egyptians were primarily and fundamentally indigenous tropically-adapted Africans. Keep in mind also that Africa is the most diverse continent in the world and that tropically adapted Africans have a wide range of features. Don't fall into the stereotypical trap of what 'black' is "supposed" to look like. Emphasize the diversity of Africa, built-in to Africans. You can do all this by letting the data speak for itself- such as limb proportion studies, or the many cultural and biological links. Ancient Egyptian religion for example is much more related to that of NE Africa than of the Middle East. The data will speak for itself. Also be sure to give a clear idea of the African elements in AE civ and changes over time. The development of AE civ consolidated from the south, not the north for example. Anyway ES is the place for all your needs. Keep in mind that ES rests on mainstream scholarship as you will see in the wealth of resources here. The veterans of ES have been around a long time and the database of scholarship, research and science is solid.
Review concepts introduced during previous lessons by inviting students to briefly share and discuss completed homework assignments associated with ancient Egypt.
Overview
This unit tells how civilization began in Central Africa and the Sahara, and developed into ancient Egypt, the longest lasting civilization in the world.
Essential Learning Objectives
Students will learn to:
understand the role of Africans in the raise and development of ancient Egypt.
discuss the major achievements of Egyptian civilization for each period.
identify the role of religion in Egypt.
examine the influence of Egypt on the raise of world civilization.
Posts: 13012 | From: Chicago | Registered: Jan 2006
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You have no idea how awesome this is, I cannot believe it. So much really good information. Why is it so hard to find Info on Egypt. It is usually so shallow in its presentation. Please dont stop submitting information, this is really great. Thank you
Posts: 163 | From: United States | Registered: Aug 2009
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quote:Originally posted by The Explorer: I doubt many teachers would have a problem in calling ancient Greeks "white" in a classroom. Just an observation.
I know, and it's a damn shame! Of course the reason is obvious-- that the ancient Greeks have been taken for granted to be 'white' as the alleged 'Classical' forebearers of European civilization. Yet here you have Egypt which is in Africa yet is not even recognized as African but rather 'Near Eastern' or 'Middle Eastern' and that is just their culture alone!
Again, as pathetic as it is, the only reason why one might try avoid straight out calling the Egyptians black is so not to be accused of having an 'agenda'. And unfortunately, that is especially the case if the teacher is black. He/she could then be accused of being 'Afrocentric'. Heck, there are already white scholars that are called Afrocentric which is probably the reason why other academians have taken the more covert route.
But as Zarahan says, the best thing anyone can do is present the FACTS plain and simply. Show people that Egypt is African not only in geographic location but that culturally that is where it originated. And then show them how the Egyptians looked like -- that they are not the sun-tanned whites or 'Arab' looking people many think they are.
Posts: 26295 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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^^ Indeed. The best approach is to use good graphics and the many research study quotes here on ES. Mainstream quotes like:
"There is now a sufficient body of evidence from modern studies of skeletal remains to indicate that the ancient Egyptians, especially southern Egyptians, exhibited physical characteristics that are within the range of variation for ancient and modern indigenous peoples of the Sahara and tropical Africa.. In general, the inhabitants of Upper Egypt and Nubia had the greatest biological affinity to people of the Sahara and more southerly areas."
or
In such contexts, the physical anthropological evidence indicates that early Nile Valley populations can be identified as part of an African lineage, but exhibiting local variation. This variation represents the short and long term effects of evolutionary forces, such as gene flow, genetic drift, and natural selection, influenced by culture and geography." ("Nancy C. Lovell, " Egyptians, physical anthropology of," in Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt, ed. Kathryn A. Bard and Steven Blake Shubert, ( London and New York: Routledge, 1999). pp 328-332)[2]
or
"The raw values in Table 6 suggest that Egyptians had the “super-Negroid” body plan described by Robins (1983)... This pattern is supported by Figure 7 (a plot of population mean femoral and tibial lengths; data from Ruff, 1994), which indicates that the Egyptians generally have tropical body plans. (Zakrzewski, S.R. (2003). "Variation in ancient Egyptian stature and body proportions". American Journal of Physical Anthropology 121 (3): 219-229.)[35]
or
"Our results confirm that, although ancient Egyptians are closer in body proportion to modern American Blacks than they are to American Whites, proportions in Blacks and Egyptians are not identical.. Intralimb indices are not significantly different between Egyptians and American Blacks... brachial indices are definitely more ‘African’... (Michelle Raxter, Christopher Ruff. et. al. "Stature estimation in ancient Egyptians", Am J Phys Anthropology, 2008, Jun;136(2):147-55)[35A]
All Tigray has to do is let the quotes speak for themselves. He doesn't have to talk about or even mention Afrocentrism. Its not about any particular 'ism' but about science. A lot of people will have to remain silent when mainstream research is brought to bear.
-------------------- Note: I am not an "Egyptologist" as claimed by some still bitter, defeated, trolls creating fake profiles and posts elsewhere. Hapless losers, you still fail. My output of hard data debunking racist nonsense has actually INCREASED since you began.. Posts: 5905 | From: The Hammer | Registered: Aug 2008
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^ True, but even then there is the chance of still being labeled 'Afrocentric' which is unfortunately probably the only reason why such studies above are kept in academic circles only and not made known to the general public.
Posts: 26295 | From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA | Registered: Feb 2005
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I want to thank everyone for the input. The lesson went splendidly, and I could not have done it without this forum. Thank you
Posts: 163 | From: United States | Registered: Aug 2009
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