-FWD-----------------------------
From: Runoko Rashidi <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: HISTORY NOTES: DR. CHEIKH ANTA DIOP
THE GLOBAL AFRICAN COMMUNITY HISTORY NOTES
DR. CHEIKH ANTA DIOP: A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF AN AFRICAN CHAMPION
POSTED BY RUNOKO RASHIDI*
DEDICATED TO DR. LEONARD JEFFRIES, JR.
"In practice it is possible to determine directly the skin colour and
hence the ethnic affiliations of the ancient Egyptians by microscopic
analysis in the laboratory; I doubt if the sagacity of the researchers
who have studied the question has overlooked the possibility."
--Cheikh Anta Diop
Cheikh Anta Diop, a modern champion of African identity, was born in
Diourbel, Senegal on December 29, 1923. At the age of twenty-three, he
journeyed to Paris, France to continue advanced studies in physics.
Within a very short time, however, he was drawn deeper and deeper into
studies relating to the African origins of humanity and civilization.
Becoming more and more active in the African student movements then
demanding the independence of French colonial possessions, he became
convinced that only by reexamining and restoring Africa's distorted,
maligned and obscured place in world history could the physical and
psychological shackles of colonialism be lifted from our Motherland and
from African people dispersed globally. His initial doctoral
dissertation submitted at the University of Paris, Sorbonne in 1951,
based on the premise that Egypt of the pharaohs was an African
civilization--was rejected. Regardless, this dissertation was published
by Presence Africaine under the title Nations Negres et Culture in 1955
and won him international acclaim. Two additional attempts to have his
doctorate granted were turned back until 1960 when he entered his
defense session with an array of sociologists, anthropologists and
historians and successfully carried his argument. After nearly a decade
of titanic and herculean effort, Diop had finally won his Docteur es
Lettres! In that same year, 1960, were published two of his other
works--the Cultural Unity of Black Africa and and Precolonial Black
Africa.
During his student days, Cheikh Anta Diop was an avid political
activist. From 1950 to 1953 he was the Secretary-General of the
Rassemblement Democratique Africain (RDA) and helped establish the first
Pan-African Student Congress in Paris in 1951. He also participated in
the First World Congress of Black Writers and Artists held in Paris in
1956 and the second such Congress held in Rome in 1959. Upon returning
to Senegal in 1960, Dr. Diop continued his research and established a
radiocarbon laboratory in Dakar. In 1966, the First World Black
Festival of Arts and Culture held in Dakar, Senegal honored Dr. Diop and
Dr. W.E.B. DuBois as the scholars who exerted the greatest influence on
African thought in twentieth century. In 1974, a milestone occurred in
the English-speaking world when the African Origin of Civilization: Myth
or Reality was finally published. It was also in 1974 that Diop and
Theophile Obenga collectively and soundly reaffirmed the African origin
of pharaonic Egyptian civilization at a UNESCO sponsored symposium in
Cairo, Egypt. In 1981, Diop's last major work, Civilization or
Barbarism: An Authentic Anthropology was published.
Dr. Diop was the Director of Radiocarbon Laboratory at the Fundamental
Institute of Black Africa (IFAN) at the University of Dakar. He sat on
numerous international scientific committees and achieved recognition as
one of the leading historians, Egyptologists, linguists and
anthropologists in the world. He traveled widely, lectured incessantly
and was cited and quoted voluminously. He was regarded by many as the
modern `pharaoh' of African studies. Cheikh Anta Diop died quietly in
sleep in Dakar, Senegal on February 7, 1986.
*Runoko Rashidi is a public lecturer, research specialist and historian
thoroughly in love with African people. He is very active online and is
the editor of Ambedkar: An Online Journal of Dalit Issues. As a
lecturer he spoken on every continent save Antarctica. He is the author
of African Classical Civilizations and the editor, with Ivan Van
Sertima, of the African Presence in Early Asia. He is currently
coordinating an educational tour of Aboriginal Australia scheduled for
July 2000. For information on the Australia tour, to schedule lectures
and order audio and video tapes contact Rashidi at [log in to unmask]
or call (210) 648-5178. Please visit Rashidi's Global African Presence
web site at http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/runoko.html
_________________________________
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