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Rating: 
Summary: The best
Review: I discovered J.A. Rogers books on race about eight years ago and from time to time I still refer back to them. J.A. Rogers is considered by many to be a Psudo-historian and anytime one references his name, they are regarded as afrocentric and hence not taken seriously by the mainstream white intellectual community. Sex and Race volume I came out originally in the 1950s. A period of time when many of the so-called white intellectuals were convinced of the inferiority of blacks. Indeed, many intellectuals today are convinced of the inferiority blacks in america. Otherwise people would not constantly quote negative statistics about blacks and exaggerate. In this book, Rogers not only talks of black achievement in the old world but also shows that there is no scientific basis for race because a large percentage of the world's population is "mixed" with black or people who are apparently of african ancestry. One of the interesting techniques used by Rogers in these sex and race books is showing photographs of people who have ascertainable "black blood" (no matter how slight) and leaving it up to the reader to judge. Indeed, to show how mixed we are, all one has to do is watch things like the Olympics, read National Geographic magazine and the news. J.A Rogers points out that when people (particularly non-blacks) are confronted with the possibility of being of black african ancestry, they become irritated. Indeed, in some circumstances claiming that someone is of black african ancestry can get you into a lot of trouble. On the other hand, people are proud of being "part German", "part Dutch", "part Italian", etc. Read this book to discover that Germans, Dutch, Italians and other Europeans have been mixing with blacks well before they set foot in america. Some may ask, what difference does it make who has black blood and why does it matter? On the other hand, boasting of being Italian, German, English, etc. holds no shock value. In order to move beyond racism and bigotry, we need to ask ourselves why does it matter if we are part German or other European and why doesn't this carry any kind of stigma like being part black? The problem of race prejudice in the world may never go away, but de-emphsizing the significance of being of European ancestry is a start. The next time you accuse someone of being afrocentric or boasting of the achievements of blacks, ask yourself why aren't you bothered by people constantly boasting of their European ancestry and achievements?
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely Fascinating
Review: I discovered this book one morning when I had a few hours to spare and suddenly a few hours were not enough! I must have read half of it and then, when time was running short, skipped ahead to certain chapters in less than 3 hours. It was that riveting. I am 26 and I was born and raised for all my 26 years in Trinidad in the West Indies. What really got my attention was how much I finally understood the generations before me and why they were the way they were. There are many habits and behavious patterns that exist in Trinidad and much of the Caribbean today that this books sheds great sociological and psychological light upon. For instance, my great grandmother (the darkest skinned of 7 children born to the son of a freed slave and a Venezuelan woman of Spanish descent) did not inherit the straight or curly hair of her mother. Maybe it was for this reason that we, the grandchildren and great grandchildren, were subtly instructed to marry a man with 'good' hair (meaning not kinky) and of lighter skin. After reading this book, I understand now that to have more obviously mixed children, to be of the 'mulatto' grouping was to elevate your family and give them the chance to have a better life experience in those days. After years of this training, this kind of living, now I can understand more fully why my great granny said and did the things she did. It doesn't make it right, but that is how she was raised and she was just doing the best she knew how. It may take centuries upon centuries before that colonial social stratification fades from the minds of Trinidadians, but this book certainly helps to explain why. I believe that change has already occurred to a significant extent and will continue to occur as time passes. Eventually people in the Caribbean will list their ethnic heritage and state African first instead of last. There are those who state it now, but for most, it almost seems a swing of the pendulum where the 'racism' - for want of a better word - is reversed and they seem to shove Africanism down their own throats (and the throats of others) as if trying to acquire a taste for the heritage. Time heals all wounds, and though we must never forget, we must release so that change can occur. I must say in closing, that Trinidad is certainly growing, because I was raised to think of myself as a Trinidadian first. I am not and AfroTrinidadian, nor an AngloTrinidadian, nor and IndoTrinidadian. These might be elements of my heritage but I am not characterised by a race, only this nationality where no one can truly claim to be any pure race since we have all mixed and mingled and in the words of J.A. Rogers, engaged in a whole lot of miscegenation.
Rating:
Summary: An Important Book
Review: I first experienced J.A. Rogers books at a Bob Marley festival. A woman introduced me to the Sex and Race books but at the time I did not pay them much attention. I again saw Rogers books at an Afrocentric bookstore, and I picked the Sex and Race Vol. I book up and did not stop reading it. Sex and Race is an eye opener for me. Rogers presents many pictures, and sources to prove his theories on the evolution of Race with a heavy influence upon African ancestry. As an African American I am proud to be able to read about the roots of orgin of African people and its influences upon the world.
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