For the past 20 years I have been a student of Black Studies, especially in the area of history and religion. I have read over two hundred or so books on the subject and have heard countless lectures. But none can ever really take the place of that first book. The first book that shined light into the darkness of my ignorance. For me, that book was The Stolen Legacy by Dr. George GM James.
A friend of mine allowed me to borrow and read the book back in the early 90’s during the time of a rebirth in Black Consciousness. Public Enemy, the teachings of the Nation of Islam, leather medallions with the symbol of Africa on them and being seen with a Black history book was the trend in the African American community. Not wanting to be left out, I asked for one of the many he had on his shelf. He suggested I start with the Stolen Legacy. I asked him why THAT book and he said that, “When you don’t know anything, any place is a good place to start.” So I started…and I became hooked on the books implication that all that I had THOUGHT to have been created by Europeans in the way of mathematics, the arts and sciences, civics, theology and more were actually created by Black Africans!
What? Black people had created that which is the foundation of modern society? This was NOT the ravings of just and angry Black man trying to claim some type of glory from another just to boost his ego..Dr. George GM James had earned a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Theology and Master of Arts degrees from Durham University in England. He conducted research at London University and did postgraduate work at Columbia University where he read for his Ph.D. Dr. James earned a teaching certificate in the State of New York to teach mathematics, Latin and Greek. Dr. James later served as Professor of Logic and Greek at Livingston College in Salisbury, North Carolina for two years, and eventually taught at the University of Arkansas, Pine Bluff.
I would go on to absorb this book and materials which related to it, including a book titled “Not Out of Africa” which was written 40 years after his book attempting to discredit the work in The Stolen Legacy. Though it received a great deal of praise in the White community, the only thing it succeeded in doing was proving Dr. James may have made some historical errors but it did little to devalue the point that all the fame and Glory given to the Greek philosophers, Socrates, Plato, Pythagoras Aristotle and more was misplaced, considering that what they taught had already existed for thousands of years in Africa. That each of these so-called Philosophers had studied in Africa early on, then returned home to begin teaching that which their people saw as foreign, so foreign that each major philosopher including Aristotle had to flee from their own lands for what they taught.
Also that the many conquerors that had taken over Egypt in particular for centuries to follow, would consistently loot the temples & royal libraries and even kidnap the priests and scholars to extract their knowledge for their countries own growth. But I digress. I wouldn’t want to spoil it for you.
I have converted this timeless classic into an audio format for your convenience but also for the fact that Black people in America NEED to know what our ancestors have done. We must come to understand the depths of our heritage so that can remove the dross of inferiority cultivated in us by a society which has usurped our rightful position. We must reclaim our Stolen Legacy.
Anthony Stewart
Narrator
The Stolen Legacy Audiobook
http://thestolenlegacy.com
Posted By: Anthony Stewart
Saturday, May 7th 2011 at 10:48PM
You can also
click
here to view all posts by this author...
