Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of a Race from 4500 B.C. to 2000 A.D. 3rd Revised ed. Edition
Destruction of Black Civilization took Chancellor Williams sixteen
years of research and field study to compile. The book, which was to
serve as a reinterpretation of the history of the African race, was
intended to be ""a general rebellion against the subtle message from
even the most 'liberal' white authors (and their Negro disciples): 'You
belong to a race of nobodies. You have no worthwhile history to point to
with pride.'"" The book was written at a time when many black students,
educators, and scholars were starting to piece together the connection
between the way their history was taught and the way they were perceived
by others and by themselves. They began to question assumptions made
about their history and took it upon themselves to create a new body of
historical research. The book is premised on the question: ""If the
Blacks were among the very first builders of civilization and their land
the birthplace of civilization, what has happened to them that has left
them since then, at the bottom of world society, precisely what
happened? The Caucasian answer is simple and well-known: The Blacks have
always been at the bottom."" Williams instead contends that many
elements—nature, imperialism, and stolen legacies— have aided in the
destruction of the black civilization.
The Destruction of Black Civilization is
revelatory and revolutionary because it offers a new approach to the
research, teaching, and study of African history by shifting the main
focus from the history of Arabs and Europeans in Africa to the Africans
themselves, offering instead ""a history of blacks that is a history of
blacks. Because only from history can we learn what our strengths were
and, especially, in what particular aspect we are weak and vulnerable.
Our history can then become at once the foundation and guiding light for
united efforts in serious[ly] planning what we should be about now.""
It was part of the evolution of the black revolution that took place in
the 1970s, as the focus shifted from politics to matters of the mind.
Who is Chancellor Williams
Chancellor Williams was an African-American sociologist, historian
and writer. He is noted for his work on African civilizations prior to
encounters with Europeans; his major work is The Destruction of Black Civilization. Williams remains a key figure in the Afrocentrist
discourse
What are other people are saying about Destruction of Black Civilization ?
Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2018Verified Purchase
I will not say I'm a great reviewer of books, but what I learned from
this book is priceless. When you try to cross-check things on the
internet there is very little if anything that supports the facts in
this great book, but that to me has been the intent from the very
beginning. I highly recommend reading this book. People need to see
the facts and know how great people of color were and how the
destruction began and continues to this day.
Reviewed in the United States on August 30, 2018Verified Purchase
I recommend this book. As a man who has traveled extensively from
country to country many of the claims that the writer make, in my
opinion are valid. I find this book very enlightening and eye opening
to the realism of the world. Why is it so that after years of promises,
rallies, demonstrations, committees at the government and local levels
nothing truly has changed...the picture just shifted to give the
appearance of change. Why is it so that there is little to no history
of the black people or the kingdoms built by us?
Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2017Verified Purchase
Empowering book. I have a Masters in African Studies from UCLA and
with the exception of Mali, Songhay and Ghana empires, nothing in this
book was taught to us. I was self-confident and comfortable in my dark
skin before reading this book but after reading this book, I feel so
proud of my history...a history I never knew existed.
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