An African civilization in the Americas
Olmec display up at LACMA
Black history does not start with slavery, but it begins with the conception of mankind and transcends all of the world’s history. Although popular teachings reject the great accomplishments of African and African American people, researchers and historians have confirmed Black people are the foundation of civilizations throughout the world, including the Americas.
The Olmecs, an ancient civilization, known for its colossal African featured, head monuments, established dwellings in Mesoamerica, specifically Mexico centuries before White settlers knew the world was round. Carbon dating places the African explorers in the area from around 1400 B.C. to 200 B.C.. The Olmecs are one of the first societies in the region and is claimed to have influenced the Aztecs and other American civilizations.
Their exact origins are unknown, but according to their artwork, they resembled people of African descent. Some theories say they came from Carthage off the coast of Africa.
Ivan Van Sertima, author of “They Came Before Columbus” writes that these gigantic monuments look like ancient African warriors. He also writes that without a doubt, these people were of African descent, but also possessed the characteristics of other populations.
“The Olmecs were a people of three faces, that is, a people formed from three main sources or influences. One of these faces was Mongoloid. Elements of this Mongoloid strain may have come into America from Asia even after the famous glacial migrations across the Bering Straits, but they would have blended indistinguishably with the Ice Age Americans. The second face or influence was Negroid. The third suggests a trace of Mediterranean Caucasoids - some with Semitic noses (probably Phoenician) - but this will be shown to be related historically to the second. These faces became one face, to which the broad name ‘Olmec’ was given.”
The Olmecs are known to have dwelled between the Gulf of Mexico (north) to the slopes of the mountains (south), the Papaloapan River (west) and the basin of the Blasillo-Tonalá (east).
According to Ignacio Bernal, author of “The Olmec World,” the Olmec zone covered about 7,000 square miles.
Matthew Stirling Ph.D., an archaeologist, led an expedition from the Smithsonian Institution and National Geographic Society 1939 in the jungles of Vera Curz to uncover the first Olmec head.
Originally encouraged to visit the site by reports of buried “helmeted domes,” Stirling raised money to dig up these mysterious objects. When he and his team uncovered the first Olmec head made of basalt, weighing over ten tons and standing about six feet high, they also discovered that it was propped up on slabs of stone. The digger described the discovery:
“Cleared of the surrounding earth, it presented an awe-inspiring spectacle. Despite its great size the workmanship is delicate and sure, and proportions perfect. Unique in character among aboriginal American sculptures, it is remarkable for its realistic treatment. The features are bold and amazingly Negroid in character.”
Further digging unveiled another slab of stone with dots and crosses, telling a specific date - Nov. 4 291 B.C.
Often called the mother of Mesoamerica, the Olmecs influenced the art, mathematics, domestication of plants and animals, and several other customs within the Central American societies. The civilization was a sophisticated establishment, and created a calendar and writing system. Their precise dates have aided archaeologists in their studies.
Despite the obvious African presence and importance revealed through Olmecian artwork, people continue to have a hard time accepting the African supremacy in the region.
Visiting the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where a magnificent spread of the Olmec art is currently being displayed, an array of people from all backgrounds are present. This past weekend men and women of European descent were observed commenting on the colossal monuments pointing out that the helmet like caps on the Olmec heads were protection because the individuals who were sculpted were ball players instead of rulers. One visitor observed that a sculpture appeared to be incomplete due to the lack of smoothed surfaces where the hair would be. She said the artist only finished the face. The hair on the small (in scale to the primary human depictions) head looked something like an Afro (Take a look at the photo). Around there seemed to be a general denial of African ingenuity and greatness; that it was just impossible for Black people to be that important.
Van Sertima confirms that it is difficult for Eurocentric people to accept the African influence in America.
“Some scholars, finding it embarrassing to their already settled notions of American history, chose to ignore its (African presence) existence. Some concentrated on the Caucasoid-type figure (nicknamed Uncle Same) rejoicing in the belief that they had at last found proof of ‘a white god of civilization,’ turning a blind eye to the massive Negroid figures standing beside him,” he writes.
“Some picked upon the one smiling Negroid face among the quaternity of heads, nicknaming it ‘Baby-Face’ so as to blur the obvious and inescapable distinction between the colossal, realistic representations of the aliens in stone and the smooth, dwarf-like Mongoloid figures in clay and jadeite littered beside them.”
Several White scholars have even suggested the Olmec heads were simply depictions of captured Blacks. Constance Irwin is infamously known for her conclusion that it was the Phoenicians (aka Europeans) who introduced Africans to the Gulf of Mexico as servants and slaves. Another scholar James Bailey suggested they were warriors fighting in a Phoenicians infantry.
Van Sertima debunks those “fantasies” by pointing out that at the time, Egyptians were protecting the Phoenicians from Assyria and that they possessed no capacity to help themselves.
Olmec heads were found most often at town centers and ceremonial plazas facing east toward the Atlantic Ocean (or Africa), not to mention the first pyramid in the Americas appeared in Olmec lands of La Venta.
The “National Geographic Almanac of World History, Vol. 10” says the heads represented rulers although the names are not known. Inscribed on the massive portraits are glyphs that may name the rulers, however the translation has not been made at this point.
The civilization’s demise is unknown, but it has been suggested the Olmec were defeated by nearby rivals.
Questions still remain unanswered about this mysterious “lost” civilization of Africans and Native Americans. While some speculate they may be the citizens of the mythical city of Atlantis, others are confident these are in fact the remaining pieces of evidence that we in fact were here before Columbus.
Through DNA testing, a Danish scientist has determined that at least two of Christopher Columbus’ shipmates were Africans. From these findings, he deduced that they were the first Africans to set foot in the New World.
The findings give us something to ponder on this Columbus Day, which is Monday.
There was a time when racism and segregation arguably brought out the best in Black people in America. From owning small businesses and farms to building hospitals and small towns, African Americans demonstrated a knack for survival and self-reliance despite the various obstacles they faced.
But some argue that was just the beginning of something that could have been greater. Others suggest there is still an opportunity to gain a strong Black economy, but only with the effort of a Pan African union.
Ralph Basui Watkins, Ph.D., associate professor and dean of African American Church Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, is a minister at the First A.M.E. Church in Los Angeles. An unconventional preacher, he has taken excursions to Africa to seek out the truth about the religion he has followed so closely all of his life. When he began to investigate African spirituality and the roots of biblical texts, his discovery changed his perspective.
As we celebrate this Black History Month, our Ultimate Transformation Moment takes a look at the concept of Black history.
First, I have to begin by saying that I cannot actually buy-in to the notion of a Black history.
History is history. Let us be clear, Africa is the cradle of civilization, and it is African people who were the originators of this civilization. Hence, all history originated from Africans, who were Black people. This being said, either all history is Black History, or simply, it’s all history.
Nearly 600 people filled the Bing Auditorium at the Los Angeles County Art Museum (LACMA) to hear the closing lecture for the exhibit “Olmec: Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico.”
The round table, held Sunday, was put together in a scant six-week period as the result of input from the community and the Board of Supervisors, according to Brooke Davis Anderson, new deputy director of curatorial planning at LACMA.
