“…A lot of us, because we do not have a ground upon which to base our self-image, believe that; because of our disadvantages that we are inevitably mediocre,”-Dr. Ivan Van Sertima
May 25th is the day we celebrate our beloved ancestor, a scholar championed as a giant in our community; Dr. Ivan Van Sertima.
Imagining him gazing about the malleable Atlantic waters calmly anticipating the novelty of the Americas, is like how once again, people of African descent, find ourselves gazing over western societies’ ever-changing horizon.
The current administration congress are willing to find common ground on providing relief across the Atlantic to Europe, while at “home” black citizens are pushed marginally out of view with multiculturalism and stirred from a groggy airheaded stupor by the alarming manifestos of a white supremacist. No folks no time travel to the 1940s is necessary this is the reality of 2022.
Over the past few years, the United States agenda has been see the world through a standard view to group the cultures of the world together and acknowledge various diverse groups in the United States that are overshadowed by a normalized prejudice.
Policies, laws, and tons of programs approved, ratified and funded supporting various refugees and people with alternative lifestyles. Anti-hate, relief programs you name it; much of the relief and assistance the Black community has been quite vocal about in the past.
Through unfolding events & lumped in the sum of the melting pot known as “multiculturalism” Our people still find ourselves scrapping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to seeing the benefits of the label.
Imagine Ivan Van Sertima In 2022
Are Africans just another ingredient in the multiculturalism stew?…let us stir and inspire rumination today on what the Guyanese doctor Ivan Van Sertima, would think. Dr. Van Sertima who would broadcast to Africa and the Caribbean weekly, had developed a passion for getting the truth out to his community early on as a journalist.
Ivan Van Sertima was born on January 26, 1935, in Kitty Village Guyana, South America when it was still a British colony. In 1964, Van Sertima married Maria Nagy and they adopted two boys. He graduated with honors & got his Bachelor of Arts degree in African languages and literature in 1969 from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London.
It’s almost certain given his body of work and having worked for Guyana Information Services as a Press and Broadcasting Officer he would draw attention to and magnify the absurdity of allowing ourselves to become marginalized in the status quo when we are now learning acknowledge the role we’ve played in building these cultures.
Vocal as one could imagine he was when as he presented his most famous work, They Came Before Columbus, in 1976. After finding his way to Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Though he was already a published author in the late 60’s with a dictionary of Swahili legal terms before reaching the United States.
Van Sertima’s They Came Before Columbus brought the argument that Africans came to Central and South America way before Christopher Columbus knew what an “Indian” was. The insight and refreshing point of that Dr. Van Sertima enlightened us with in the book is enough to reshape ones outlook on the world if they are willing to consider the mountain of evidence pointing to the fact, African history has a whole new perspective.
Live The Afrocentric Point Of View!
As a journalist, scholar and author; during all the stages of his career, Ivan Van Sertima worked tirelessly to correct the way people viewed and taught African history. Founding the Journal of African Civilizations and dedicating it to the same purpose in 1979, editing and publishing the journal for decades.
The Journal of African Civilizations help transform how African history was viewed and taught. Its articles described early African advances in agriculture, mathematics, arts, engineering, architecture, writing, medicine, astronomy, and navigation.
“The lineaments of a lost science are now emerging and we can glimpse some of the once buried reefs of this remarkable civilization. A lot more remains to be revealed. But enough has been found in the past few years to make it quite clear that the finest heart of the African world receded into the shadow while its broken bones were put on spectacular display. The image of the African, therefore, has been built up so far upon his lowest common denominator. In the new vision of the ancestor, we need to turn our eyes away from the periphery of the primitive to the more dynamic source of genius in the heartland of the African world.” — Ivan Van Sertima
Blacks in science Undoubtably a figure to familiarize your entire household with, Dr. Ivan Van Sertima is giant amongst our community and we must elevate him consciously into these ranks.
We have a rich culture and history, which though prevailing influences would have you think otherwise, it is an expansive one that reaches every corner on the globe. As rich as we are in heritage is comparable to the extensive research Dr. Van Sertima went to document and validate the information that would undoubtedly turn academia on its head.
He researched also the early African civilizations which had disappeared from history. In 1999, Van Sertima republished, earlier essays in the African Renaissance, expounding on the scientific contributions of Africans. He also published critical essays questioning the work of previous historians and authors about the African continent.
While claims and research had been conducted to shine light on the existence of a Global African civilization, from scholars such as Runoko Rashidi, Cheikh Anta Diop and John Henrik Clarke to name a few.
Dr. Van Sertima stated that “We are the invisible chapter of history,” and illuminated that very dark corner of the history of the African showing again and again, that history began long before the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.
“Many people feel a certain kind of happiness when they read my book. A certain kind of shadow lifts. The psyche of blacks is raised. No man who believes his history began with slavery can be a healthy man. If you lift that shadow, you help repair that damage.”
In 1974 Van Sertima was asked to join UNESCO’s International Commission for Rewriting the Scientific and Cultural History of Mankind. Furthermore, from 1976 to 1980 he was asked by the Nobel Committee of the Swedish Academy to nominate candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Why Are You Feeling Average?
Have you looked in the mirror? Aint nothing average about that melanin…
Van Sertima of course was more scientific in his discourse about our excellence and he went into great lengths detailing these topics in his list of published books including Blacks in Science: Ancient and Modern (1983), Black Women in Antiquity (1984), The African Presence in Early Asia (1985), Great Black Leaders, Ancient and Modern (1988), and Egypt: The Child of Africa (1994).
Yet and still there will always be opposition to your greatness in spite of all the evidence to it. For instances academia has attempted to criticize the doctor’s work.
People will go to great lengths to make a name by doing their best to ruin yours and your reputation. This was the case with a New York Times review of They Came Before Columbus
British scholar Glyn Daniel claimed Dr. Van Sertima’s work was “ignorant rubbish.” Van Sertima, according to Caribbean Writers, rejoined that Daniel was “a man impervious to original thought.” Learn to view and handle situations like Dr. Van Sertima did colloquially as “small things to a giant”
