Tag: Cheikh Anta Diop

So Long to a Baobab of African Classical Humanities and Mathematics: Nioussérê Kalala Omotunde

On By Dr. Y.In Great Civilizations, Great Literature, Great People2 Comments
Jean-Philippe Nioussere Kalala Omotunde

A great man has left us. Yesterday, the great teacher, researcher, Egyptologist, historian, and brother, Jean-Philippe Nioussérê Kalala Omotunde changed dimension. Kalala Omotunde was a bright light who worked tirelessly to teach us, Africans, about our true heritage. He was conscious that our souls and spirits had been so broken by colonization, slavery, wars, foreign invasions, and so many other ailments, that we had lost sight of who we truly were, descendants of the great pharaohs of Egypt, descendants of Mother Africa, the cradle of humanity and sciences.

Kalala was the founder of the Anyjart institute and satellite institutes in Canada, Guyana, Martinique, Haiti, and many more around the world. Via his institute, he worked tirelessly to empower Africans, and particularly the Black youth in the diaspora and beyond. His great work focused on the African classical humanities, and African mathematics and sciences. He was also Chargé de mission at UNESCO. He specialized in making the Black (wo) man whole again by teaching him about his history, his origin, his ancestors. You see… Africa has been under attack for centuries now, and along the way, her children have lost their conviction, the knowledge of their greatness, traditions, and have erred away from her by adopting other religions and even others’ distorted views of themselves.

Nioussere Kalala Omotunde

I have been a fan of his work for over a decade. I remember one time when we talked, I showed him the blog, and coincidentally the article of the day was, “How do We Continue the Fight when the Head has been Cut Off?” He made some comments and gave me pointers.  In that conversation I learned so much: for instance, the picture of Amilcar Cabral pointed left, and Kalala told me that this was looking to the past, and when we have lost a leader, we need to look forward, and build for future generations. He embodied the article itself, working tirelessly to teach the next generations how to continue the battle through education. He had a strong presence, was so confident, and so generous in sharing his time and knowledge. Such a baobab! Such a dedication to Mother Africa… He was so welcoming, so selfless, always ready to help, addressing many with endearing words such as “mon très cher”, or “ma très chère”. His institute focused on teaching ancient hieroglyphs, the knowledge of African history, African mathematics and sciences, teaching the link between ancient Egypt (and beyond) and Africa today, and above all restoring the dignity of Africa. He focused on scientifically proving historical findings about Africa… he will often have at least 5 documents to prove the veracity of a claim he made; he was methodical. He had so many great projects! The geothermic project in Guadeloupe which he wanted to see extend to Africa, the Wakanda project, and countless others aimed at empowering Africans to be self-sufficient energetically, financially, agriculturally, technologically, and much more. I console myself in knowing that he has written so many books, and that we can all benefit from his teachings, and rise up as he wished. 

Having been influenced by Cheikh Anta Diop, Nioussere Kalala Omotunde worked tirelessly to show the deep wealth of African cultures, and often shared the fact that the history of Black people in the Caribbeans did not start with slavery. So long brother… May your seeds bring lots of fruits. I will remember your contagious laughter, your big smile, your intelligence, and above all your teachings. I feel so privileged to have had a chance to know you, and receive some of your teachings. You always talked about African Renaissance. You showed us the way, now we have to carry on your light. May the Ancestors receive and cherish you.

Ancient Britons were Black, confirming Cheikh Anta Diop’s Work

On By Dr. Y.In Great Moments, Great People, Great Science4 Comments
Cheikh Anta Diop
Cheikh Anta Diop

A few weeks ago, we woke up to the face of Cheddar man, the ancestor of the modern-day Briton: he was a Black man with curly hair, and blue eyes! If this was a shock to many, to us who had long espoused the ideas of Cheikh Anta Diop with the African Origin of Civilization, this came as no surprise. Africa is the cradle of humanity, so it is only normal that the ancestors of anybody out there should be black, and that in reality, the idea of race as we know it today should be abolished, since in reality we are all brothers and sisters, with the same blood flowing through our veins, and now (officially) the same ancestors.

'The African Origin of Civilization' by Cheikh Anta Diop
‘The African Origin of Civilization’ by Cheikh Anta Diop

O Cheikh Anta Diop, you, so despised by Western researchers who hated your work, because you said that Africa was the cradle of humanity; that everything started in Africa, and that Egypt and modern day Africans descended from the same ancestors, in other words, were the same people, you have now been vindicated many many years after!

Cheikh Anta Diop and the African Origin of Civilization

On By Dr. Y.In Great Civilizations, Great Literature, Great Moments, Great People, Great Science17 Comments
Cheikh Anta Diop
Cheikh Anta Diop

Cheikh Anta Diop was a great Senegalese historian, anthropologist, philosopher, physicist and politician.  He should be considered as one of the greatest scientists after Darwin, as he demonstrated that Africa was the cradle of humanity; that everything started in Africa, and that Egypt and modern day Africans descended from the same ancestors, in other words, were the same people.  Before Cheikh Anta Diop, the world, and Africans in particular, had been taught that Africa was nothing, and that Egypt and Egyptians were not Africans… that the great Egyptian civilization which gave so much to the world, could not have come from the dark brown Africans.  Europeans refused to admit that although in Africa, Egyptians could be Africans i.e. Black, or rather believed that Blacks were so backwards that their ancestors could not have possibly made the great pyramids of Giza or the great sphinx.  Well Cheikh Anta Diop proved them all wrong!

Cheikh Anta Diop in the laboratory
Cheikh Anta Diop in the laboratory

As a physicist, I was amazed to learn that Cheikh Anta Diop was a PhD student of Frédéric Joliot-Curie, the 1935 physics nobel laureate, and Marie Curie‘s son-in-law (first woman to receive a Nobel in Physics, and first to have two nobel prizes). So Diop’s pedigree, in physics terms, was quite impressive!  Moreover, he had earned two PhDs: one in history and the other in nuclear physics.  He was also the only African student of his generation to have received a training in egyptology. He was well-versed in prehistoric archaeology, and linguistics.  It took him almost a decade to have his doctorate degree granted: he submitted a thesis in 1951 which was based on the premise that the Egypt of the great pharaohs and pyramids was an African civilization– it was rejected.  He then published it in 1955, as Nations Nègres et Culture, and received world-wide acclaim.  Two additional attempts at submitting it were rejected, until 1960 when he finally managed to convince a room full of physicists, sociologists, anthropologists, egyptologists, and historians.  Having gone through the hurdle of submitting and defending a doctoral dissertation, I truly raise my hat to someone like Diop who had so much stamina and endurance, and could endure a decade of rejection like that; he was truly destined for greatness!

'Nations Negres et Culture' de Cheikh Anta Diop
'Nations Negres et Culture' de Cheikh Anta Diop

In 1974, Diop managed to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Egyptians were Black people.  He obtained pigment from Egyptian mummies and tested for their melanin content.  He was able to determine their melanin content accurately, and later published his technique and methodology for the melanin dosage test in scholarly journals.  This technique is used today by Forensic investigators around the world, to determine the “racial identity” of badly burnt accident victims.

He was affectionately known as the Pharaoh of knowledge, and the Université Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) of Dakar was re-named after him.  Check out CheikhAntaDiop.net a website dedicated to this great man, Wikipedia, Cheikh Anta Diop: The Pharaoh of Knowledge, and Africawithin.com.  Don’t forget to read his books: Nations Nègres et Cultures: de l’Antiquité Nègre Egyptienne aux Problèmes Culturels de l’Afrique Noire d’Aujourd’hui, The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality, Precolonial Black Africa, Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic Anthropology [Civilisation ou Barbarie: Anthropology sans Complaisance], and many others.

'The African Origin of Civilization' by Cheikh Anta Diop
'The African Origin of Civilization' by Cheikh Anta Diop

Please watch one of the greatest African thinkers of the 20th century, and above all one of Africa’s greatest sons (… and renowned physicist). I salute this great soul who made us proud of being Africans, who re-define history or rather wrote History the way it should have been, with Africa in its right place, as the origin of civilization. If there was an African Pantheon for great minds, Cheikh Anta Diop’s remains should be in it!