Contrary to popular belief, the late but legendary slain
Civil Rights Movement activist and leader the
Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., followed in
the giant footsteps of a countless number of
his African (Black) ancestors. Too many to
include in this commentary, only a small
number of them will be highlighted to
emphasize the point.
Known globally as a man of peace, Dr. King, as well as his
hero Gandhi (famous East Indian, who
reportedly did little, if anything, to improve
the brutally-dismal plight of millions of
African-descended Black East Indians known
even today as “the Black Untouchables” or the
“Dalits”), was preceded by several thousand
years by another African (Black) person whose
last name was not king but whose title truly
was — namely that of “pharaoh”.
Officially named Amenophis IV, this
royal head of the ancient African Black empire
of Egypt, ruled not with an iron fist but with
a gentle hand. Historically known as
Akhenaton but also called “the heretic king”,
this royal head of state and ruler of one of
the largest, if not the largest, empire of the
ancient world was so hell-bent on promoting
and preserving peace that he allowed many
countries that owed Egypt riches in tribute to
stop paying and even break away from the
empire. He attempted to avoid war at all cost,
and even hated the very thought of it. He has
been described as a man who would not even
harm a flower. Preaching thirteen hundred
years before Christ, what the highly-noted and
prolific Black historian J. A. Rogers called
“the gospel of perfect love, brotherhood, and
truth” (the famed, classic movie The Egyptian
is based on his life), he spent much of his
time with his family and writing poetry, some
of which is said to have inspired some of the
psalms of David of the Old Testament.
The late, but legendary psychologist and amateur
Egyptologist Sigmund Freud, even wrote a book
concerning Akhenaton. Entitled Moses and
Monotheism, the book strongly suggests that
Moses was a follower of Akhenaton and may have
gotten the ancient African idea of monotheism
(the belief in one god) from him. Honest
students of history must decide that.
Yet, as the great African, Black,
scholar-activist, historian, and Ethiopian Jew
Dr. Josef ben-Jochanan, among others, has
documented, Moses himself was born, raised,
and educated in Africa and among African
people (Note: the ancient Egyptians were
African, meaning Black, people; for Egypt
always has been and still is in Africa, and
therefore, is an African [Black] nation).
That, makes him African (Black).
According to the King James Version of
the Holy Bible, Acts 7:22, “And Moses was
learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians,
and was mighty in words and in deeds.”
Needless to say, Moses, as a strong man
of God and freedom fighter, influential
philosopher and historic heroic figure in the
minds of the millions of enslaved and
formerly-enslaved Africans (Blacks) and their
descendants in America, was one of Dr. King’s
ancestors and heroes.
So was St. Augustine, another African. Often called
a “Latin Church Father”, because Latin was the
official language of the then-Roman-dominated
world and Christian (eventually Catholic)
Church, Augustine was born and educated in
Africa. In fact, many theologians rank
him in importance second only to Paul, as
having established the most important and
basic principles of the Christian church.
A very prolific writer, St. Augustine is
primarily known for two main books.
Still studied today in literature,
philosophy, and religion classes (much as Dr.
King’s 1963 “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”
is) all over the world, they are The
Confessions and The City of God. The
first book is often called the world’s first
spiritual autobiography and has greatly
influenced Western and world literature ever
since. The second book, huge in size and
great in influence, strongly suggests the
separation of church and state.
Dr. King quoted St. Augustine in both his writings and
speeches. Arguably, his most famous
quote is found in his “Letter from a
Birmingham Jail”. He quotes St.
Augustine as saying, “An unjust law is not law
at all”, to justify his historic 1963
Birmingham, Alabama campaign against
deeply-embedded and physically,
psychologically, and economically brutal
segregation and racism (white supremacy)
there. Reportedly, King had called
Birmingham (also known as “Bombingham” due to
the large number of unsolved, anti-black, ku
klux klan-orchestrated bombings there) “the
most segregated city in America”.
While other examples of Dr. King’s freedom-fighting and
philosophical African Ancestors abound, only a
few more will be mentioned in short-order
here. Without a doubt, they include the brave
and bold, but battle-scarred, defiant and
victorious Afro-Haitians Boukman, Toussaint L’
Ouverture, Jean Jacque Dessalaines, and Henry
Christophe. They include the
freedom-loving, anti-slavery warriors like the
African-born Afro-Mexican Yanga and the
Afro-Brazilian Zumbi and other Afro-Latinos,
past and present, who have fought against
racial and economic injustice. They
include lion-hearted but betrayed souls of
Denmark Vessey and Gabrial Prosser. They
include the Bible-toting and sword-swinging
Nat Turner and the “pistol-packing mama”
Harriet Tubman and the unbending woman of wise
words, Sojourner Truth, and all those who lead
the over 250 recorded slave revolts that
occurred in the United States before Dr.
King’s birth. How many went unrecorded?
They include the noted runaway slave,
abolitionist and orator, Frederick Douglass,
who said, “If there is no struggle, there is
no progress”, and great leaders and educators
like Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. DuBois.
Dr. King’s freedom-fighting and philosophical African
Ancestors include educator Mary McCloud
Bethune and pan-Africanist Amy Jacque Garvey.
They include the Honorable Marcus Garvey,
leader of the largest black mass movement in
the world, and the multi-lingual,
multi-genius, scholar-activist Paul Robeson,
“the real superman”. They include the “Black
Socrates” Henry Hubert Harrison and A. Phillip
Randolph. They include African American
ministers like the 19th century’s Henry
Highland Garnett, who, an ex-slave, told a
packed house in 1843, regarding racial
injustice in America, “Let your motto be:
Resistance, Resistance, Resistance”;
Bishop Henry McNeil Turner, Garnett’s
contemporary and a white-looking black Georgia
state legislator, who strived to improve
conditions for formerly enslaved Africans both
in America and in Africa, and who said that
God was “a Negro” (Black), and, of course, the
late but legendary Black Baptist minister and
congressman Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., who,
even before Dr. King was born, was using his
Black church in Harlem, New York as a wrecking
ball against the seemingly immovable wall of
racial injustice in the school house, in the
job market, and by the police department in
the form of unbridled and unjustifiable police
brutality. Even the founders of the modern-day
“mega church” idea, Daddy Grace and Father
Divine, could be included. And, although
they were Dr. King’s contemporaries, both the
Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X must
be included among his “African Ancestors”.
Remember both were older than he was.
Tthis is truly a short list of African (Black) people from
various places and times that directly and
indirectly influenced the life and times of
the late but legendary Rev. Dr. Martin Luther
King, Jr. It would not hurt if these and
other African people were kept in mind and
celebrated whenever Dr. King’s life and legacy
are celebrated. It would not hurt either for
those persons’ words, actions, and overall
lives to be studied with the same, if not
greater, enthusiasm that Dr. King’s is.
Doing so would not be a disservice to
him but a greater service to him and to us.
For truly, Dr. King’s, as well as our
African Ancestors, were the best. And
because he learned from them, he was the best.
And by learning from both him and them
we all can be our best and do our best to make
our hateful, war-torn, poverty-stricken world
better for one and all, the least of these our
brothers and sisters.
