Why do some people say the ancient egyptians were white? they might not be black but their def. not white.?

Question

wat is up with that??

and how come im learning so much in school about white people and chinese people and maybe even native people but you never hear anything about kingdoms in africa outside of egypt and kush? did black people not have kingdoms? it seems like evry other group or race has a kingdom or a legacy to live up to but i never hear nothing about black african kingdoms. i asked my teacher about it and he just said their was nothing in africa at the time. like it was just a bunch of people chasing eachother around with sticks and not contributing to history in any way. how come i gotta take a special class just to find out about what happened south of the sahara but any regular class will tell me all about ancient china and mid-evil times? i know slavery erased most of our history but can i at least have a clue??? some of us still care you know!!!

Answer 1

The argument about whether Egyptians were white or black  highlights the problems with dividing people into races. While you can say that person A from Tanzania looks completely different from person B from Sweden, there are no distinct borders between groups of people that you can say are racial borders. This is one of the many reasons why scientists have abandoned the concept of race as a biological distinction--it really doesn't explain anything, and fitting certain people into these ill-fitting categories is reminiscent of racist southerners and n***s who had special cards to compare skin color and hair texture to figure out if someone was black or white or a mix or what. The best we can say is that ancient Egyptians were... Egyptian, with all of the genetic diversity and diversity in appearance that that implies. They had many different colors, facial features, hair textures, and places of origin, as, being the greatest civilization in the area, many people wanted to be a part of it, and Egypt in turn wanted to control many regions. As Egypt is in Africa,  its inhabitants were certainly Africans. And what Egyptians looked like is just as African as what a Kenyan looks like.

You get into trickier ground when you talk about, say, Cleopatra. Many wish to claim her as black because she was the ruler of Egypt. But in fact, Egypt had been conquered by Alexander the Great, and Egypt's rulers, including Cleopatra, were Greek, and royal marriages did not occur between the Greek conquerers and the local Egyptians. Cleopatra's ancestry is known, and it is all Greek. But this should not be a subject for great contention. I think the only reason that it is is that it happens to be one of the most famous stories to come out of Egypt as seen by Europeans.  But that should not matter in terms of the glories of African kingdoms. You are right that there are many many great African kingdoms. Our data is not as detailed about some of them, because they did not have writing, but relied on oral history. But there's plenty of archaeological evidence, and artistic evidence.

Your teacher must have said there was nothing there because he didn't know anything about these great civilizations, and was embarrassed to say "I don't know". He should have admitted that and suggested you do a report or paper on it for class. It was a widespread European prejudice that Africans were just wild people with no history or culture. In fact, when some of the great art of African kingdoms was coming to Europe in the 19th century, many doubted its origins, because they didn't think Africans could make things so sophisticated. Obviously, this racist legacy has continued. The teaching of history in high school sucks, frankly. There's no getting around that. I recommend you read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-To...

It's called Lies My Teacher Told Me, and teaches you all the things about American history that are not taught in schools. I hope that your sense of inquiry and interest is increased and not turned off by these unfair biases. YOU can be the one to write about these things!!

Answer 2

This is ridicuolous...slavery did not erase any history...where would you come up with that line of logic?  The jews have been enslaved and almost wiped out many times in history but I know about my culture and my people as I have read...I urge you to read more about Africa and the answers will come...

Answer 3

The guys on EgyptSearch have the best answer for your question:

"Most Eurocentrists very well know that Egypt was an African Civilization but to prop up the myth of their racial superiority they will never agree to this fact, even if it means cooking up the most incredible theories. Eurocentrists fear that a black Egypt destroys all of their pretensions of a white civilizer and turns tables around to reveal the fact that Europeans received their civilization from Africa.

How could they admit the following.;

1) The Kemetian book of the dead reveals the oldest recorded philosophy and cosmology, which was later modified by the Greeks. Modern calendar derives directly from the 30 days a month, 365 days Kemetian calendar.

2) Writing no doubt started in Egypt 3500 years ago and today’s ‘western’ alphabet originates in Egypt.

3) Early Greek and European architecture are almost Egyptian copies . Look at the temple of Karnak built before even the Greeks existed and compare the columns with Greece temples.

4) Most Greece Gods derive from Egypt. Notice Isis and Osiris black gods universally adored in early Europe.

5) Almost all Greece ‘mathematicians’ derived their knowledge from Egypt and they explicitly stated so. Greece Mathematics is a poor copy of Egyptian counterpart. Only a few Egyptian fragmented mathematical texts have been discovered yet these reveal knowledge so profound! Imagine if we had access of all the texts!!

And many more facts…..

That is why admitting to these facts will imply the true fact that Africans did in fact Civilize Europe –A hard fact to swallow –so much so to Eurocentrists.

All African history should always start from Egypt, for this is our greatest and oldest Jewel in which Eurocentrists will do whatever they can to steal it."

If you want to learn more about African history and particularly Kemetian/Egyptian history then I urge you see Egypt Search.com.

Answer 4

Nothing in Africa at the time..???..uhh...correct me if I'm wrong.....but I think Egypt is in Africa.

I have always wondered why they call themselves Egyptians...and not Africans...is it because they do not wish to be recognized as 'Blacks'.

Answer 5

http://www.geocities.com/enbp/quotes.htm... - tells about the information that we get about ancient Egypt and their looks. I have a friend from Kenya and she says that the coastline of Africa has people of all different skin colors due to many centuries of trade. The previous answer that there was a lack of written language was referred to in another article I was reading.  Also, I don't jump to conclusion any longer because I asked a saleslady at Walmart where in Mexico she was from and she said she was from Ethiopia.

Answer 6

The Egyptians were most definitely a cosmopolitan and diverse people ethnically speaking.  Egypt is on the crossroads of Africa and southwest Asia.  One huge farse that said the Egyptians were white was the "Hamatic" theory.

This theory stated that a group of Caucasians, called "Hamites", lived in North Africa.  There was never any evidence to support this theory.

The ancient kingdom of Zimbabwe, the great cultures of the Hausa, Fulani, and Yoruba, the Muslim civilization centered in Timbuktu are all wonderful African civilizations in addition to Nubia, Egypt and Kush.  Also, Ethiopia boasts a very ancient and sophisticated history as well.

Your teacher is ill informed, and you should do some more research and learn about some of these excellent civilizations.

Just remember, some people use history, (his story), to support a certain point of view.  So history is not exactly the truth based on facts, it is a certain kind of 'truth' based on certain facts...

Answer 7

1.  I've never heard anyone who took their education seriously claim that the Ancient Egyptians were white.  Check your facts.  Upper Egypt was largely Middle Eastern and Lower Egypt was Nubian, with dark African skin.

2.  School curriculums never represent everything they should.  That's life.

3.  Your teacher's an idiot or at least ignorant.  Go to your library and check the art history section.  It's the best place to find comprehesive histories of the non-western world.  You can get more about individual cultures by checking in arceheology and anthropology after you get an overview.  Look in particular for Gardner's book Art Through the Ages: the Non-Western Perspective or any of the Art Through the Ages books that includes African art.  

4.  Don't get pissy here.  This isn't a place for you to rant and it just makes you look like a whiny kid.  You aren't the only one who has to take a special class to learn "their" history.  If you care, you'll do what you have to to learn just like the rest of us.  High school isn't going to change and won't ever make everyone happy.  You can stop blaming it on slavery too.  As I said, African history isn't all that's neglected.  Colonialism, maybe; written bias in history, certainly; the low value placed on social history, anthropology, and art history research, possibly; ethnocentrism and the Western Europe/USA bias; of course; current politics including money, opinions of the people in charge of the curriculum on what is vital knowledge and what is just good to know if there's time to cover it, etc; absolutely.

Answer 8

We live in a Euro-centric world, Jesus wasn't white either but he is always depicted that way, the Three Wise Men in the Bible are referred to as the Three Wise men of Orientar, to the east, most probably India.  People just want things that are good to be in their own image.  They also never tell you that Pocahantas was thirteen and the guy (John Smith's friend William, not john Smith) that she got with was like thirty-five and Mary Mother of God was 12 Joseph was not!

Answer 9

One can say Egyptians were both White & Black. The Nubians, from Sudan, ruled Egypt for one dynasty lasting more than 100 years & Alexander the Great installed Greeks as the rulers about 385 BC (Cleopatra was Greek).  However, most rulers were North African or Mid Eastern in appearance.

The One:

You need to review your data... or are you skewing this for a purpose?  Much of what you are attributing to Egypt actually came from the Summerians or from India... come on, enough is enough!

Answer 10

You need a new teacher.  "Nothing" indeed.  Egypt and Kush are only two of the cultures in Africa.  Look into Ethiopia, Punt, the Zulu and many other African cultures.  There are books and other sources of information that would inform you about Africa.  Go to a library and ask for help in searching for information about Africa.  And it is medieval, not mid-evil.  Back in the dark ages when I went to high school, the 90 percent of what we studied was about Caucasians.  At least now you get a hint that this planet has more than one race.

Answer 11

Those who consider the egyptians white were probably schooled to think so,I know I was.Remember the british have always overseen most of the finds coming from ancient egypt and wrote countless books about it,there was a great romanticism about it ,so obviously they wanted to find some connection with it.But in reality there are none,the people of the british isles are of celtic/iberian stock and do not have egyptian/roman or greek ancestry.The egyptians had no "caucasian" ancestry,at best they may have  had some semitic ancestry combined with african ancestry which would fit their appearence,their language itself is related to the semitic languages which includes the ethiopian languages,arabic etc.

Answer 12

yeah it's good to know people care about their own heritage. some people like things different from themselves. like moi... i like exotic....idk why..lol

Answer 13

You're in public school that's the problem.  Maybe you could read some books on your own about it in your spare time.  Google is great for finding information.  In college you can study African history.  Yes, there were many kingdoms in Africa, and they survive to this day.

Answer 14

Why do people define other humans using color adjectives?  Maybe your history teacher is just lazy?

Most of the historical and archaeological evidence available is  FROM or ABOUT Egypt or Kush / Nubia.

Doesn't your school world history  text book say anything at all about ancient subsaharan realms? Or is the teacher just ignoring those chapters in the book?

Here's some search terms you can use to find stuff on line or books in the library.

Kanem Bornu Chad Nok Mali Ghana Timbuktu Jenne Senegal+megaliths.

If your school and town library sucks in this area try inter library loans?

There are many online African history sites.

Research and Print out a list of sites and books and give it to your teacher!

Answer 15

you may see pictures depicting Egyptians with a light complexion. Egyptians, like all Africans, were many different shades, especially since their empire encompassed a very large region at its height. If you look to Egypt today you will observe the same thing.

Your concerns are legitimate, the American educational system is by no means the best, it is actually ranked among the lowest in the world, Americans are notoriously undereducated -of course you won't know this if you just ask Americans- in many other countries it is common knowledge. Failing schools and weak/flawed curricula are part of an ongoing problem which is being corrected in some cities, but it is a slow process. In Philadelphia recently African American history was added to the curriculum as a mandatory part of highschool students' History education.

Your teacher -I hope he wasn't a History teacher- is clearly a product of a public school education. Another problem with American schools, and it is the cause of periodic embarassment, is the low quality of teachers. This is consistently one of the largest problems that are cited when the American school system is criticized. For example, in Philadelphia teachers are often uncertified and sometimes don't even have a just an Associate's degree. So unfortunately, in most cases in this country if you want a complete education you will have to seek out 'special classes' and read other materials in addition to the curricula, fortunately these can usually be found at your local library or bookstore.  

Slavery didn't erase history, it separated African Americans from it. African History isn't taught in American schools but the reason is certainly not because it doesn't exist, There is just as much African History as there is of any other continent, unfortunately you will probably have to get to college before you can have access to classes teaching about it. It is an injustice, and perhaps one day if girls like you grow up to become Educational Policy or History Majors you can change things.

I am a History major, if you'd like more information feel free to contact me, goodluck.

Answer 16

The ancient Egyptians just as todays Egyptians are not technically white or black.  Some are considered Caucasian (of Aryan descent, some are black, some are middle eastern which is a blend, there are a lot of different ethnicity's there.  You can see from their paintings that men were represented as dark skinned and women as light.  It was just the formula for the drawings it doesn't mean that was the way it was.  Some are black, some are whiter.  Upper and Lower Egypt :  One was Nubian or black (mostly) one was white.  The both were joined as one kingdom.  Africa per se did have kingdoms, look at Zimbabwe their are ruins there of a great culture.  Look at the Coptic buildings as well in upper Africa.  

The reason culture did not progress there as fast in some places is because look at the danger they lived in from Nature and stuff.  At the Nile, a source of flooding made true agriculture possible.  A great book to read is Guns, Germs, and Steel.  I found it interesting.  Also, black looking people in New Guinea and negritos (pgymies) black in the Fillepenes and Indonesia, the Deccan plateau (Dravidian's) did have quite complex cultures, agriculture etc.....

Answer 17

you are so right . only Eastern European Caucasian people are "white" but many people WANT to be "white" like Jews and Italians Greeks and so on.