Book Review: Did the Blacks Have History Before Slavery?
In 2018, I asked myself, “who were we before our enslavement.” Well into my adulthood by that time, I remembered every social studies class beginning with African Americans’ bondage in the United States (we rarely if ever reviewed Latin America or the Caribbeans, where many stolen Africans found themselves) and ending with our fight against Jim Crow. This tale made it seem like if it were not for the Europeans and Americans forcing my people into subjugation, then we would have been a backwards people contributing nothing worthwhile to humanity. On the other hand, it was out of my curiosity that I discovered filmmaker Amadeus Christ’s documentary “Out of Darkness,” the YouTube channel “HomeTeam History,” the historian Chancellor Williams’s The Destruction of Black Civilization, and author Robin Walker’s When We Ruled. I was mesmerized by how much my ancestors were the first to map the stars in the night sky for navigating the seas and oceans. My confidence grew as I learned how we built economies of kingdoms and empires enlisting their communities’ great minds of artisans, engineers, architects, and lawmakers. All of these things and more were achieved without the interaction or intervention of Europeans or “white people.” Released in August 2024, Maisha Oso speaks to these wonders of fact in her children’s book Before the Ships: The Birth of Black Excellence. It is a story I would have enjoyed reading when I was growing up.
Illustrated by the self-taught artist Candice Bradley, Before the Ships explores African royalty like Kandake (queen-mother) Amanirenas of Kush. Through her visual craft, Candice (which her name, ironically, is the ancient Roman or Latin version of the Kushite or Meroitic term kandake) even hints at black peoples’ involvement in ancient Egypt. (According to historians like Anthony Browder and linguist and university professor Christopher Ehret, not only did ancient Egypt depend on the neighboring kingdom of Kush for some of their resources, but both civilizations shared blood and customs of the original dark-hue Africans who settled around the Nile River). A world traveler, Maisha mentions the churches of Lalibela, Ethiopia sculpted from the living rock down in the earth, which the children’s book artist beautifully recreates in her simplistic and powerful imagery. The reader is invited into the songs of griots, oral storytellers and keepers of history, as the people dance to the rhythms of strings and drums conjuring the memories of their ancestors. The author and illustrator do a magnificent job of gliding us through the many achievements of Africans and their ascendants who are our present day young aspiring mathematicians and scientists. Maisha likens our social justice leaders unto brave and noble African warriors of the past. And Candice illustrates one of my favorite images showing all the different shades of Africans. This one image speaks volumes against “colorism”, a fault within our own community. Meanwhile, the art piece represents the African and the diaspora throughout all of history, regardless of age, sex, or any other man-made categories used to separate and control people.
Before the Ships is a treat for both parents and children. I really admire that Maisha decided to share her experience in Africa in the form of a children’s book. Additionally, I love how Candice pays attention to the details. Her skills broaden and lift the narrative to higher heights. It’s magical and right on time.
Beautiful
Thank you for responding to my journal, Rashad. I appreciate it.