I am student of history and am always interested in learning about ancient civilizations. Why is it that with all this black history month stuff that I am be bombarded with across MSM and social media, I don't see anything about ancient sub Saharan African civilizations? It seems that black history only started in the last 500 years and all I hear about are activists from the last 100 years. The Egyptians, Hittites, Minoans, Mesopotamians all had empires dating back to 3300 BC. We can see their archaeological remains with buildings, tools, pottery, tablets, skeletons, references to each other within ancient texts. Why don't the black history month people showcase the achievements of ancient Sub Saharan African civilizations?
EDIT For some reason about 20% of you seem to think that I am saying that the Egyptians, Hittites, and Minoans were sub Saharan African civilizations. That would be a complete misread of my post. I am using them as an example of the fact that there are a lot of archaeological remains of other civilizations from 3300 years ago that can be studied. So if that is the case, then there should be some level of material that can be studied for ancient Sub Saharan African civilizations.
In the greater interest of truly understanding Black History it would only make sense to get the full timeline of the African Diaspora and see their plight in full historical context.
Fellow historian here. What you’re referring to are all North Africans/Mediterranean/Middle Eastern empires; the most relatable to Africans as we think of would be Egypt, with their Nubian subjects, who were damn good fighters (and to repay them for their loyalty, the current Egyptians flooded them out with a dam, but the ancient Egyptians and current Arabic Egyptians aren’t quite the same).
Further down in west Africa, the actual beginning of Sub-Saharan Africa, you had the Songhai, Mali, and Ghana Empires, the most famous ruler of these was Mansa Musa of Mali, to this day considered the richest person in all of human history. A king so rich from the gold/salt trade that, on the Hajj to Mecca (he was Muslim), he caused near hyper-inflation from the money he threw to passersby. Imagine that for a second: his pocket change could cause hyperinflation, not to mention the mosques he built along the way. Further down the Horn of Africa (in the east) you have my favorite of the sub-Saharan African civilizations: Ethiopia. A land filled with mystery and so ancient that their monarchs claimed descent from King Solomon himself and the Queen of Sheba (the last being Haile Selassie, who was fantastic and was murdered by the Derg Communists who ruined the country and made it the way it is today). They also claim to have the Ark of the Covenant; protected in St. Mary of Zion Church. the priests there are the keepers, and are said to go blind from staring at the Ark. Now my knowledge of middle-lower Africa is limited (I specialize in European history), but who could forget the Zulus and Shaka Zulu, a tribal people who were possibly the only “primitives” that could make the British shiver? (And if you haven’t seen it, watch “Zulu- excellent movie) There is SO much African history, true African history, that BLM and the like cover up when, in reality, it should be a focus- look at all those cool stories! But rather than be proud of their heritage from all parts, they focus on being victims. And, for the record, West African leaders sold their people into slavery in return for guns and other goods; the descendants of those leaders still exist today. It pisses me off.