LUTON SANKOFA UK
We are a non-profit, African-Caribbean group in Luton, formed in 2016 to organise the annual commemoration of those who endured the Transatlantic African Enslavement which coincides with the United Nations (UN) date of 25th March, to 'Remember Slavery' and 'Honour our Ancestors'.
Africa has been dubbed the cradle of civilisation and yet the myth is still perpetrated that the people taken from Africa were uncivilised savages. Advances in science literature and philosophy are normally associated with the Greeks and the Romans. When we talk about early civilisation we think of the Chinese dynasties. There is a general amnesia about the contributions made by the African peoples. We are told of the civilising influence of slavery on the Africans, of how we were taught to read and write and dress and how we were given religion.
In order for us to rise up and truly honour our ancestors we have to expose the truth of their great achievements prior to the wars that resulted in the capture and enslavement of our people.
More than 6000 years ago in the land of Mesopotamia there developed the most remarkable black civilisation known to mankind. The people who lived in this area were Ethiopians, black in colour; descendants of Kush. [1]They developed writing, pens, pictures and Epic stories. Much of modern religious and philosophical thinking is from that period. The wheel, the plough and sewers came from [2]Mesopotamia. The Mesopotamians studied maths, science, geometry, medicine and natural studies, architecture and buildings, music and sculpture.
The Sumerians, (4000BC), Babylonians (3400BC) and Ethiopians were black people who contributed much to the advancement of civilisation. They studied astrology astronomy and without the use of powerful telescopes were aware of the makeup of the solar system. They divided the year into months, weeks, hours minutes and seconds. They developed the decimal system. They codified a system of law and established the seven day week.
The black Egyptians (3000BC) established powerful governments and built empires that extended in all directions. They excelled in maths, medicine, engineering and agriculture. Pythagoras the Greek mathematician learned mathematics from the black Egyptian. Greek knowledge came from their travels to Africa. Even the Greek Gods were renamed Egyptian Gods. The Greek mythologies mirror stories that originated in Africa.
The Canaanites (2750BC), a black people who inhabited Palestine [3]Tyre and Sidon and were also called Phoenicians, were proficient in geometry arithmetic and navigation. They had good harbours and navigated to distant lands including Cyprus, Crete, Rhodes, Spain, Sicily, Canary Isle, and North Africa. They were skilled in metalwork and needlework. They sold purple dye extracted from shellfish and made glass from sand. They established the Carhaginian civilisation in 814 BC.
The black Hebrews (1500BC) gave us monotheism and the Hebrew Scriptures from which all three world religions are based: Christianity, Islam and Judaism. They gave us our legal system and moral codes.
[4]While Europe was experiencing its Dark Ages, a period of intellectual, cultural and economic regression from the sixth to the 13th centuries, Africans were experiencing an almost continent-wide renaissance after the decline of the Nile Valley civilizations of Egypt and Nubia. The leading civilizations of this African rebirth were the Axum Empire, the Kingdom of Ghana, the Mali Empire, the Songhai Empire, the Ethiopian Empire, the Mossi Kingdoms and the Benin Empire.
The black Moors famous for schools libraries and universities lived in Marble palaces at a time when the Kings of Europe were dwelling in unfinished stone barns. In 711AD the Moors and Arabs [5]conquered Spain and Portugal and taught them Latin and instituted a system of public education and street lighting. They ruled for 800 years and built public baths and paved streets and brought an end to the dark ages in Europe.
While Europe was in the Middle Ages, Southern Africa was dominated by one of the greatest African Kingdoms known as Great Zimbabwe (11th - 15th Century). The Shona peoples built great castles and fortresses. The magnificent remains testify to the amazing skill and precision of these builders.
African and Caribbean history encompasses far more than slavery. Thousands of our inventors have contributed extensively to world civilisation in spite of the trauma of the Transatlantic African Enslavement, and we continue to do so.
- Jacqui Burnett (Cllr)
Chair, Luton Sankofa Committee
