Rating: 
Summary: THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE!
Review: It is not surprising that the evidence pointing toward an African influence in North America was for so long irretrievable by those who would aspire to know more of the truth. It is,however, quite distubing to see how intimidated many Americans are by the simple introduction of a subsequent unmasking of African intervention and competency. If Mr. Van Sertima's evidence is not satisfactory than neither is the blatantly false and often pressumptuous jargon written in American textbooks a satisfactory account of anything; though it is standard curriculum for those who would be trained in it's schools. These attract patriotic spirits that care little or nothing about knowing about anyone but themselves. Most Americans do not have a world view outside of their own back yard. Why then is it compulsory for people to attack efforts to search out what consensus historians choose to ignore? Because many are satisfied to believe that all major contributions to the human evolution come from themselves. I do not blame you, but are you being honest with yourself? Yes, there are those who have the power to create evidence, yes they can manipulate data and elliminate suspiscion, pursuade minds and talk of the glories of Europe without having mentioned the world's dependance on Africa all toward the affect of making some feel good and some feel bad. But what does it accomplish for you really if you happen to be the one made to feel good about yourself if your confidence is got through corruption and lies? All it will give you is a false sense of pride, an artificial reality constructed by those who would have you content to be a slave to your own insecurities. The truth! Well that is another story. The truth remains in all things and often remains to be seen. The truth is that the world is Africa. The worlds infrastructure, resources, science,religion and sanity is all got from that selfsame place that rapists have regarded as the "Dark Continet". you can run from it you can laugh at it but everyday know that you live, eat and drink from it. You are housed in it. Your crops are drenched with the blood of its people. One day you will beg its forgiveness because it never asked to be you or take what you have. It only wanted to be what it has always been. This is not about race. This is about the tendencies of human beings to promote themselves and their self-intrests over others. Those who would deny that Africans were here before Columbus after reading every bit of the standard requirements for evidence and more substantiating facts perhaps than one would find in our holy bible are truly in denial and slave to their own vice to say the least. The truth, the truth, my friends shall set you free!
Rating:
Summary: THIS BOOK MAY SEEM STUPID, BUT IT'S NOT
Review: This is an interesting book. This book may seem hard to believe or may seem even stupid. To the average person the idea of Black Africans sailing to America before Colombus is laughable and fantasy(read the two reviews that hated the book). But a lot of WHITE scientists, including Graham Hancock admit that the Olmec stone heads are the faces of Africoid people. The reason why this book is hard to believe is that it contradicts the mainstream(Colombus didn't discover America. Give the credit to those brave Native Americans who walked the land bridge that connected Russia and Alaska 10,000 years ago). Another reason why this book is hard to believe is that we perceive Black Africans as savages and tribal people(as if we were always "VOODOO" people) who never developed science, culture, or civilization and were not capable of sea voyages. In Africa there were many ancient empires(Mali, Songhay, Ghana, Cush) who developed universities, advanced trade, and well organized governments(Ex: the leadership of African king Mansa Musa of West Africa during the 14th century who traded gold with the Arabs and Chief Changa of Monomotopa(Central Africa) who organized the Bantu tribes during the 15th century. Steel was invented in Africa in ancient times. The Dogon Tribe of West Africa were masters of astronomy). This book is not suggesting that Blacks developed Native American civilization nor is it attacking Native Americans. I don't even consider this book as a "BLACK" book, but a history book for all people. This book should unite Blacks and Native Americans and wake us up to the fact that people of color contributed much to the ancient world. MUCH LOVE!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Sometimes The Truth Is Hard To Swallow
Review: The only thing that I find funny is the "review" given by the silly small-minded idiot that submitted a foolish statement on March 10,1999. Maybe that person should consider that their conclusions could not be proven and did not present an objective or logical line of reasoning. I am part african-american and native-american, and did not find the book offensive at all. The one thing I am certain of is that European imperalism ruined the world!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Tell Lies Long Enough
Review: In The Red and Black, eminent historian Eugene Genovese (also the author of Roll, Jordon, Roll) noted that it was never in the interests of that which is correct to condone lies and absurdities because they seem to promote a preferred political goal. His suggestion is that anyone who does so is not to be trusted, for truth has no meaning to such. Afrocentrists have learned that the more their lies are screamed, with the racist charge leveled at those who refute them, the more they bully people into silence. As a teacher, I am offended at mythologies promoting race supremacy accepted as legitimate; I am terrified that they are taught in colleges and public schools. As a Native American, I recognize racist attempts to steal my heritage. If white people were to claim that Europeans came to this hemisphere as early as 2000 BCE and built all the many great civilizations that we know developed in the Americas before Columbus we would rightly laugh away those racist, fairytale notions. The only group claiming to be scholarly that is equally as absurd as especially this branch of Afrocentrism is the Holocaust denial gang.
Rating:
Summary: Laughable
Review: An appalling mish-mash of half-baked "theories" and guesses, this is the ultimate in pseudo-scholarship and propaganda. Designed to "prove" that Africans were in America before Columbus, Van Sertima cobbles together bits and pieces to prove a thesis: exactly the same type of "scholarship" could be used to "prove" Atlantis existed, the Martian origins of mankind, the Easter Bunny exists, that ancient Egypt was Black and all other sorts of nonsense. There is *no* evidence that Africans crossed the Atlantic until they were dragged over in chains as slaves. In fact, there is massive evidence that Africans were either uninterested in or incapable of sea-faring at all. One need only *look at the facts* to realise this. For example, take a map of Africa and look at the south-east coast (thats the bottom right corner for Afrocentrics). There is a very large island called Madagascar. See it? See how close it is to Africa? Virtually a quick swim! But wait, archaeological and cultural history show that Africans never even knew it existed until Malay-Polynesian people from S.E. Asia colonised it. Go to the island (as I have done) and see for yourself - the people look Indonesian, not African! What about the other islands around Africa? Mmm, Mauritius - uninhabited until Europeans turned up. St. Helena - same; Seychelles - same; Sao Tome and Principe - same; Comoros - same. So, we are supposed to believe that even though Africans never colonised islands a few miles off the coast of the continent, they miraculously sailed all across the Atlantic and set up civilizations. And this amazing process left virtually no remains - until Van Sertima "discovers" them! It is such an incredible (as in, not credible) account and so beyond logic, archaeological, historical and cultural evidence that one must conclude that this book is a dummy. But hey, the joke's on those who actually believe such junk - and then pay to read it! I won't even go into how this book is an insulting racist attack against native Americans.....
Rating:
Summary: This book presents a theory that deserves open-minded study
Review: I read Mr. Von Sertima's book shortly after its original publication. At that time, the earliest Olmec presence in the Americas was thought to be later than 1200 BCE. Subsequent excavations have called that timeline into question, and may have extended it substantially backward. This, of course, does nothing to alter the basic premise: that black Africans were in the Americas long before the Columbian Europeans. The stone heads provide striking, and, in my view, incontrovertible evidence of that presence, the absurdist Europhile description of them as "baby face" notwithstanding. It may ultimately prove to be the case that Mr. Von Sertima has been too conservative in his dating scheme, and that older, and more powerful, African dynasts are involved. Whatever the case, this book, and its argument, merit our attention.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent tell all that dispells the myth of Columbus.
Review: This book should be text book material for young readers as well as accomplished historians. I didn't get to read it until I was in graduate school and it made me excited and eager to learn more about the untold truth of my African Ancestors. When I find a copy of this book it will be required reading for my children.
Rating:
Summary: National Geographic Only Does Facts
Review: If you don't wanna accept your African ancestory, your loss. National Geographic has the proof that you are looking for. Face it, the first Jews were Ethiopian and Jesus was black. Moses was a Pharoah of Egypt and he is the father of civilization. Remember in the Bible when Moses reached into his boosum and it turn white as snow, he did it once again and it returned to it's original color. Anyone opposed to the notion, the fact, the documents that point to African roots is in total denial, and you will find out, on that fateful day of judgement when you ask a black man for entrance into heaven.
Rating: 
Summary: Olmecs Were Probably Just Indians.
Review: Most people would probably agree that at first glance the Olmec heads do resemble the faces of some Black Africans. Yes they do, but when compared to the faces of Mexican area Indians,there's also a similarity between them and the Olmecs stone heads. Van Sertima in another book on the same subject,uses the seven braids on the back of one of the Olmec heads as proof of their Africanism,but you will have a hard time finding an ancient Egyptian or Nubian match for this. Most paintings and sculptures of ancient Egyptians and Nubians with braids,usually show them with full headed braid styles,and not with just seven braids. So far no Olmec heads have been found with a full headed braid style like the Egyptians and Nubians. Also,multiple braids weren't uncommon with some ancient Indians. They have been found on the Andes mummies. People shouldn't be so quick to rule out the obvious posibility that the Olmecs stone heads do depict Indians.
Rating: 
Summary: Regarding the claim that Africans civilized the Americas
Review: The fellow Chicano a few reviews ago mentioned the utter hypocrisy of this entire debate: Militant Afrocentrists will accuse white archaeologists and historians of being Eurocentric racists for disputing Van Sertima's claims, yet they are blind to their own racist Afrocentric thinking in stealing the cultural legacies of indigenous Americans...all to promote a radical Afrocentric agenda.
I quite frankly am sick and tired of hearing militant, cheuvenistic, Afrocentric African-Americans trying to 1) Steal indigenous achievements for their own political purposes 2) Claim that one is either a white supremacist or a victim of white supremacist brainwashing if you don't buy Van Sertima's claims 3) Criticize Latinos who identify as LATINO, as Chicano, as Boricua, Cuban, Dominican, etc instead of as black...Stop meddling in our affairs and trying to dictate how we idenitify ourselves. Latinos are an ethnic group, not a race.
What's the next claim? Spanish is really an African/Nubian/Egyptian language? Tacos and tamales are African foods? Please - don't accuse people who disagree with these ridiculous Van Sertima arguments as "racist Chicano L.A. gangbangers" - when the people who promote these claims are the true exploiters, corrupting history and using the deeds of the ancient Mexicans to serve as ammo in their war against white America.
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