Cheikh Anta Diop (1923-1986)

“Until now——No one has ever almost tried to find the key to unlock the door to the intelligence of African society.” Excerpt from the preface of: Precolonial Black Africa-Cheikh Anta Diop 1960

Birth

This is the most apt introduction to Cheikh Anta Diop; Anthropologist, Egyptologist, Historian, Physicist, Politician, Writer.
Born into a prestigious French Senegalese Muslim family on December 2, 1923, Diop was one of the few privileged Black African who had the option of pursuing whatever occupation he chose. Cheikh Anta Diop could have chosen to live in luxury, ignoring the disparity in living standards, also the stratification of the people but he chose to get involved.

Education

Initially, Cheikh Anta Diop began his education at a traditional Islamic institution in his home territory; Senegal. Not disputing his religious indoctrination, Diop states that his family was not part of any of the well-known Islamic sects, but was instead from an exclusive “brotherhood” known as the Mouride; the only independent Muslim Fraternity in all of Africa!
Diop was originally enrolled to study Advanced Mathematics in Paris, 1946, a subject for which he had an aptitude. However, at age 23 years he was matured enough to make his own choices although it appeared as if he may not have had enough maturity to settle on a definite career path at this juncture. Instead, he enrolled in the Faculty of the Arts in Sorbonne; considered to be the first university in the world, where he switched his focus to the study of Physics. By 1948 he had earned his undergraduate degree in philosophy and once again switched to another faculty; this time the Faculty of Sciences where in two years he gained two diplomas in chemistry.
In 1957 Diop changed his specialty/major to nuclear physics at the Laboratory of Nuclear Chemistry, College de France and at the Institut Pierre et Marie Curie also in Paris. Eventually, he was able to translate parts of Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity into his ethnic language. It is safe to state that most of Diop’s formal education was received in Paris, France. Although he was born in Senegal, his native language was french, therefore he had no difficulty understanding his lecturers as Senegalese was a dialectic form of french.

Under the tutelage of Professor Gaston Bachelard, Diop had gone ahead and registered two theses: “The Cultural Future of African Thought” which he intended to use for a “Doctor of Letters” thesis in 1949 and the second thesis title: “Who were the pre-dynastic Egyptians”; under the guidance of Professor Marcel Griaule in 1951. Although he completed the thesis for his second title based on Ancient History and Egyptology in 1954, Diop had a problem finding a body of examiners to pass his work. He re-registered two new theses titles: The Areas of Matriarchy and Patriarchy in Ancient Times. in 1956, and “ Comparative Study of Political and Social Systems of Europe and Africa, from Antiquity to the Formation of Modern States in 1957. The last two titles he submitted had nothing to do with Egyptology, instead, they were concerned with types of organizations of African and European Societies and how they evolved. This seems to have done the trick as he eventually obtained his Doctor of Letters degree in History in 1960; a degree which is equivalent to a doctorate (PhD) in Europe.

Cheikh Anta Diop was not a bashful individual and although the documents to substantiate his claims may not be available, he claimed to have studied a wide range of subjects in Paris. Anthropology, Economics, Egyptology, History, Linguistics and Sociology are all genres or disciplines which he claims to have studied. Diop also laid claims to be proficient in the areas of rationalism, dialectics, archaeology and modern scientific techniques. He also boasted of being; “the only Black African of his generation to have received training in Egyptology.” Based on his latter publications, very few individuals questioned the veracity of his claims. He had two of the most highly respected scientists as his mentors one of which was Frederic Joliot-Curie, the 1935 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics. In fact, Cheikh Anta Diop is hailed as a genius; having earned two doctorates, one of which was in the most challenging field of Nuclear Physics. While some may dispute his claims regarding the other “minor” achievements to which he laid claims purporting that there is not enough recorded proof of all his qualifications, there is also no records to prove otherwise. As a black African in Colonial Africa, the powers that be at that time may have “forgotten” to credit him with some of his achievements, making it necessary for him to do so himself. Accordingly, he may not have been the first scholar of African descent to have explored ancient civilization and Egyptology, however, the fact remains unchallenged that he was the first African born to do so.
After gaining his PhD in 1960, Diop went back to prove his original theory (based on his earlier theses which had been denied) that Africa was the cradle of civilization and that early Egyptians were Black Africans or vice versa. This theory was later dubbed the Diopan Theory.

Career/ Achievements

In 1956, Diop did a short stint as a teacher of physics and chemistry at two Paris public schools/colleges (schools funded by the government in which students are prepared for entrance into universities) as a master in both fields, before moving on to continue his studies at the College de France. During his study of nuclear physics, Diop was able to translate parts of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity into Wolof, his native Senegalese language. Diop assisted Professor Madeleine Rousseau to edit a special edition of the magazine: Musee Vivant; a political french Journal which was established by the left-wing to provide cultural information to the masses. The focal point of this particular edition was the centenary celebration of the abolition of Slavery in the French Colonies, also, highlighting the issues in the contemporary African society.

The Two Cradle Theory of Civilization

What is The Two Cradle Theory?
“Anthropologists have invented the ingenious, convenient, fictional notion of the “true Negro,” which allows them to consider, if need be, all the real Negroes on earth as fake Negroes, more or less approaching a kind of Platonic archetype, without ever attaining it. Thus, African history is full of “Negroids,” Hamites, semi-Hamites, Nilo-Hamitics, Ethiopoids, Sabaeans, even Caucasoids! Yet, if one stuck strictly to scientific data and archeological facts, the prototype of the White race would be sought in vain throughout the earliest years of present-day humanity.”
― Cheikh Anta Diop, The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality

Known as the Diopan Theory, this theory promotes the concept that severe climatic and environmental differences impact biological and cultural changes in early human beings, thereby resulting in the loss of pigmentation. This not only altered the biological pigmentation of the skin but also impacted and caused the development of a new culture wherein the “white” skin type which were the isolated minority, became nomadic, aggressive and praedial. This “new” culture was in sharp contrast to the original sedentary, peaceful, cooperative behavioral habit of the darker skinned people who resided in the temperate zones. Naturally, those living in the cooler, frigid regions would lose more of the melanin from their skins, thereby developing a whiter skin tone. The contrast between the pigmentation was so strong that they eventually drifted apart and, while the ones who remained maintained their original culture and identity, the nomads developed new cultures, subcultures, habits, and ethics influenced by the places they inhabited. These cultures existed separately for eons, but on one earth they were destined to meet again. This to the detriment of the more peaceful people – black Africans, and the advancement of the more aggressive – the white Africans.

Egyptian architects were considered to be the most advanced artistic culture in earlier civilization. The construction of the Ancient Pyramids and artesian wells provide irrevocable proof that they were masters of construction. In 1974, 14 years after receiving his doctorate as a historian, Diop was able to prove that Egyptians were black people. He had managed to access pigment from Egyptian mummies which he tested for their melanin content. He developed a method of testing which was able to accurately determine the melanin content in human pigmentation and proved his original theses beyond a doubt that ancient Egyptians were indeed Black or Africans. Diop later shared the technique he used and the methodology for the melanin dosage in educational journals. This technique is still being used by forensic scientists to determine the ethnicity of charred, unrecognizable burnt victims around the globe.

The new Egyptological ideology , born at the opportune moment, reinforced the theoretical bases of imperialist ideology. That is why it easily drowned out the voice of science, by throwing the veil of falsification over historical truth. This ideology was spread with the help of considerable publicity and taught the world over, because it alone had the material and financial means for its own propagation.
Thus imperialism, like the prehistoric hunter, first killed the being spiritually and culturally, before trying to eliminate it physically. The negation of the history and intellectual accomplishments of Black Africans was cultural, mental murder,which preceded and paved the way for their genocide here and there in the world.”
― Cheikh Anta Diop, Civilization or Barbarism: An Authentic Anthropology
The focal point of the Two Cradle Theory is that racism and the gradual eradication of the African culture brought on by climatic, environmental and cultural changes have severely impacted the current circumstances of the African people in a negative manner. Was the European invasion and subsequent occupation of the most lucrative African regions an advent of civilization or barbarism? Who were the more aggressive people?

Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop – The Man

African, bold, culturally conscious, dedicated, exemplary, fastidious: if one cared to go through the letters of the english language from A to Z, one would be able to find an adjective or adjectival clause to positively describe Dr Cheikh Anta Diop. To use an old hackneyed term, Dr Cheikh Anta Diop was a “man on a mission.” His mission was not to only establish the fact that Africans were the most intelligent people on earth, but also to try and find a principle that would be accepted by, and utilized in the unification of Africans across the diaspora.
Affectionately called the “Pharaoh of Knowledge”, the university in Dakar, ( UCAD) was renamed Universite Cheikh Anta Diop in his honor. Although he died at an early age, Diop had achieved and passed on more than what some would describe as his “fair share” of knowledge in his papers and books that he left behind. Influenced by his research, Diop returned to Senegal in 1960 with the concept of using politics as a means of liberating and unifying his people. As a believer in Pan Africanism, Diop had been following the doctrines of an African nationalist political organization, the Rassemblement Democratique Africain (RDA) in Paris for years. He believed that the roles of the Africans and their contributions to civilization dating back to ancient Egypt needed to be acknowledged not only by Europeans but by the Africans themselves, before they can succeed in their political liberation as stated in this excerpt:
“the political struggle for African independence would not succeed without acknowledging the civilizing role of the African, dating from ancient Egypt”. African Origin: Cheikh Anta Diop, 1974 Diop worked hard to promote this concept in his fight to revive the pride and uplift the economic and social standards of the African Nation. Cheikh Anta Diop was imprisoned at least twice in his homeland as his political views were considered too radical. The authorities were in fear that he would disrupt the government and force a constitutional change which was not acceptable to the ruling regime at that time.

Books

Diop shared his knowledge and his theories in several books that he wrote in French which were later translated to English. Although some of his concepts or ideologies may have been marginalized or diminished during the translation process, their potency have remained intact.
His book; Civilization or Barbarism, 1981 explains the essence of Black Egypt and to expose the falsification of Black history as perpetrated by european Egyptologists.
IN 1974 Diop published two books; Black Africa: The Economic and Cultural Basis for a Federated State and The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality of which the latter of the two is the more highly rated. The profundity of Diop’s Two Cradle Theory of Civilization or the Diopan Theory as it is referred to among scholars, has had a great impact on historians world-wide. In this book he challenged the authenticity of the European version of Ancient History. Diop provided scientific proof that the African was the most advanced civilization in science and technology as depicted by historical remnants as the Great Pyramids, crypts and tombs which have fascinated archaeologists for centuries. He developed a technique where he was able to determine the ethnicity of an unidentified corpse by the melanin in its skin.
In Precolonial Black Africa he compares the political, cultural and social organizations of Europe and black Africa from beginning of history to the evolution of Western Civilization.
There are other books written by Cheikh Anta Diop that contain a trove of information on the achievements,of the Black African Nations. They are all either concentrated on the pre-european invasion/occupation of the African people or pregnant with concepts on how Africans can regain its independence and be once again recognized as the greatest civilization in history.

Cheikh Anta Diop Quotes

“No race is superior to another, they all originate from Africa and have the same intellectual abilities.” Cheikh Anta Diop could be considered the “Black Atticus Finch” in his defense of a black man in 1935. To kill a mockingbird: Harper Lee,1960.

“….the line of ill-intentional Egyptologist, equipped with a ferocious erudition , have commited their well known crime against science, by becoming guilty of a deliberate falsification of the history of humanity.
Supported by the governing powers of all the Western countries , this ideology, based on a moral and intellectual swindle, easily won out over the true scientific current developed by a parallel group of Egyptologist of good will, whose intellectual uprightness and even courage cannot be stressed strongly enough.”
This quote from Cheikh Anta Diop summarizes what he believed some Egyptologists have done; distorted the facts of history so that the Black African is not credited with his early scientific and technological achievements. They have given the Egyptians a new ethnicity and separate them from the Black African race. In this regard, Blacks are not recognized as the forefathers of modern civilization and the pioneers of Science, the Egyptians are and in the Europeans’ concepts, they are not classified as Black Africans.

“It can be said that, until the fifteenth century, Black Africa never lost its civilisation” In other words, not until the arrival of the white europeans.

Summary

in order to disguise their flaws; the susceptibility of their skin to become bruised and discolored, statuesque form of the African male, the raw sexuality, attractiveness and childbearing ability of the nubian queen, white folks had to belittle black folks to appear superior. They had to build themselves up and break down the Africans. In their bid to take over their identity, white people have pillaged, raided, raped scalped the Africans of everything they had barring the one thing they wanted most and could not have: Their dark, beautiful, rich in melanin skin and superior strength.
It was Diop’s mission to return Africa to its former glorious state, a power to be reckoned with in world economy, to revive the African Culture so that the people would walk with heads held high as the proud unapologetic Black Race they once were. Cheikh Anta Diop was not able to achieve all he set out to do but through his books Africans now have a higher level of and Pride in their Black Consciousness.

Born into a prestigious French Senegalese Muslim family on December 2, 1923, Diop was one of the few privileged Black African who had the option of pursuing whatever occupation he chose. Cheikh Anta Diop could have chosen to live in luxury, ignoring the disparity in living standards, also the stratification of the people but he chose to get involved.

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Abibifahodie,

The AWS Team

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