IVAN VAN SERTIMA

Professor Van Sertima dedicated his professional life to telling “the true story of the African, to recover the essence of his early civilizations so that the tragedy of slavery, colonization, of myths about his fundamental inferiority may be destroyed forever.”

1. They Came Before Columbus : The African Presence in Ancient America

They Came Before Columbus : The African Presence in Ancient America
They Came Before Columbus : The African Presence in Ancient America

They Came Before Columbus reveals a compelling, dramatic, and superbly detailed documentation of the presence and legacy of Africans in ancient America. Examining navigation and shipbuilding; cultural analogies between Native Americans and Africans; the transportation of plants, animals, and textiles between the continents; and the diaries, journals, and oral accounts of the explorers themselves, Ivan Van Sertima builds a pyramid of evidence to support his claim of an African presence in the New World centuries before Columbus.