What do you think?
Rate this book
African Glory: The Story of Vanished Negro Civilizations
First published in 1954, a time when few books on African history were written from an African perspective. An intimate history of Africa and its ancient civilizations, the book opposed the stereotyped and often racist histories of Africa. Today, a half century after its initial publication, African Glory still provides a vivid and dynamic connection to the African past.
211 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1954
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 15, 2023
“…the Negro is often regarded as a person who has no history worth recording.” In “African Glory: The Story of Vanished Negro Civilizations,” Ghanaian historian and economist John Coleman de Graft-Johnson provides an early (mid-20th Century) refutation of this racist narrative, focusing extensively on a handful of civilizations in African history. The book—originally written in 1954—of course suffers from outdated information—but it does a great job detailing the rise and fall of specific civilizations in North, West, and Central Africa. It also discusses the rise and consequences of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade.
“African Glory” focuses a ton on North African history, beginning with ancient Egypt. Unfortunately, probably due to a lack of emphasis or access to information at the time, the various ancient Nubian societies that paralleled Egypt did not get their just due in this analysis. Further, the amount of time the book spent on the foreign rulers of North Africa.
The middle part of the book excels the most, as it details the rise and fall of the great empires of the Western Sudan (Ghana, Mali, and Songhay). There are many great nuggets of information here, including the overall consequence of the fall of the Sudanic empires, resulting in West African civilizational decay and disunity, the acceleration of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, and the ultimate paving of the way for colonialism.
In conclusion, this is a nice book to add to your collection on African history, but it is certainly not a general history of the continent.
“African Glory” focuses a ton on North African history, beginning with ancient Egypt. Unfortunately, probably due to a lack of emphasis or access to information at the time, the various ancient Nubian societies that paralleled Egypt did not get their just due in this analysis. Further, the amount of time the book spent on the foreign rulers of North Africa.
The middle part of the book excels the most, as it details the rise and fall of the great empires of the Western Sudan (Ghana, Mali, and Songhay). There are many great nuggets of information here, including the overall consequence of the fall of the Sudanic empires, resulting in West African civilizational decay and disunity, the acceleration of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, and the ultimate paving of the way for colonialism.
In conclusion, this is a nice book to add to your collection on African history, but it is certainly not a general history of the continent.
June 15, 2024
A TRUE “CLASSIC” OF 20TH CENTURY AFRICAN HISTORIOGRAPHY
Author J.C. deGraft-Johnson wrote in the Preface to this 1954 book, “The present study is an attempt to present certain aspects of Negro history; and as Africa today is generally regarded as the home of the Negro, the present study has taken on, in some respects at least, the character of African history. To attempt a presentation of Negro history, or indeed of African history, in so small a volume is to undertake an impossible task, yet it is a task that must be attempted… I do not pretend to be one of those African scholars who will one day make the real history of Africa available for the whole world to read. My only desire is to fire the imagination of African scholars and historians, who alone can do full justice to the history of the continent of Africa.”
He notes, “The population of Roman Africa was divided into two unequal parts: those who benefited by the Roman government and those who did not. The majority of the people, needless to say, belonged to the second group. At the top of the social scale were the great landlords, whose estates were managed for them by overseers; then came the magistrates, the soldiers, the merchants, and the town and city dwellers who had become Roman citizens.” (Pg. 30)
He observes, “the sixty-one years which marked the period in which the Prophet Mohammed lived, is of supreme importance to the history of Africa, and indeed to the whole world. The history of Africa after Mohammed was entirely unlike anything that had gone before. North African history changed completely during the middle of the seventh century A.D.” (Pg. 62)
He points out, “It was through Africa that the new knowledge of China, India, and Arabia reached Europe, and it was Africa which supplied the men who protected Moslem Europe or Spain from attack, and thus made it possible for the new learning to take root and develop.” (Pg. 76)
He laments that in the 1600s, “There was chaos where once there had been order. States broke up. There were intrigues everywhere; treachery and corruption became the order of the day. Ordered society gradually crumpled. Famine often took a heavy toll on man and animals… The invaders and their descendants were absorbed into the huge mass of the Negro population. The conquest had spent itself. It had destroyed but never created, and in place of the old West African Empires there was found an atomized group of peoples ready to jump at each other’s throats and to sell each other in the slave markets.” (Pg. 118-119)
He acknowledges, “It was clear that Europe was out to gain control of North Africa either by the sword… or by means of the Bible, as with St. Francis and other evangelists… We do not know whether the intense missionary zeal of Europeans during this period was due to a desire to penetrate further south and to link up with a mythical Christian king named Prester or Presbyter John who was supposed to rule a kingdom to the south of the Sahara. But it was believed that this Prester John was none other than the Apostle John. The idea was fantastic, yet the desire to locate Prester John was to persist for centuries.” (Pg. 125)
He states, “The Portuguese found a new name for the indigenous African religion---they called it ‘fetish.’ It was not until nearly 500 years later that Professor Frobenius was to explode this slander about indigenous African religion, and to point out that throughout his extensive travels in Africa he could find no religion which could be described as ‘fetish.’ But the name still sticks.” (Pg. 127-128)
Of the Portuguese in the Congo in the 1600s, he comments, “Executions, treachery, robbery, and violence became the order of the day, with the Christian priests assisting in the violence by having their rival indigenous African priests and doctors executed. In due course the world actions of the Christian clergy were to lead to the disappearance of the eleven churches of San Salvador, including the cathedral. The Dutch were to render the final stages of destruction even more absolute by systematically removing all traces of Portuguese influence in the Congo. Even marble slabs were cracked in two in order to make the obliteration of Portuguese influence absolute.” (Pg. 143)
He concludes, “In what is nothing more than ‘Glimpses of Negro Past,’ we have attempted to bring to light the vanished civilizations of the African continent. We have also attempted a picture of the slave trade and its aftermath, with particular reference to the Gold Coast (now renamed Ghana). We purposely devoted much space to political developments in the Gold Coast, for that country was the first African colonial territory south of the Sahara to attain self-government. All over the African continent there have been major changes in the course of the last two decades. When the European Powers met at the Berlin Conference (1884-5) to regularize the scramble for African territories, little did they think that within the space of eighty years peoples whom they described as living in a barbaric or semi-barbaric state would in a lifetime have made so much progress as to stand on their own feet amongst the nations of the world and constitute a third of the membership of the United Nations.” (Pg. 189)
This book will be of great interest to anyone seriously studying African history.
Author J.C. deGraft-Johnson wrote in the Preface to this 1954 book, “The present study is an attempt to present certain aspects of Negro history; and as Africa today is generally regarded as the home of the Negro, the present study has taken on, in some respects at least, the character of African history. To attempt a presentation of Negro history, or indeed of African history, in so small a volume is to undertake an impossible task, yet it is a task that must be attempted… I do not pretend to be one of those African scholars who will one day make the real history of Africa available for the whole world to read. My only desire is to fire the imagination of African scholars and historians, who alone can do full justice to the history of the continent of Africa.”
He notes, “The population of Roman Africa was divided into two unequal parts: those who benefited by the Roman government and those who did not. The majority of the people, needless to say, belonged to the second group. At the top of the social scale were the great landlords, whose estates were managed for them by overseers; then came the magistrates, the soldiers, the merchants, and the town and city dwellers who had become Roman citizens.” (Pg. 30)
He observes, “the sixty-one years which marked the period in which the Prophet Mohammed lived, is of supreme importance to the history of Africa, and indeed to the whole world. The history of Africa after Mohammed was entirely unlike anything that had gone before. North African history changed completely during the middle of the seventh century A.D.” (Pg. 62)
He points out, “It was through Africa that the new knowledge of China, India, and Arabia reached Europe, and it was Africa which supplied the men who protected Moslem Europe or Spain from attack, and thus made it possible for the new learning to take root and develop.” (Pg. 76)
He laments that in the 1600s, “There was chaos where once there had been order. States broke up. There were intrigues everywhere; treachery and corruption became the order of the day. Ordered society gradually crumpled. Famine often took a heavy toll on man and animals… The invaders and their descendants were absorbed into the huge mass of the Negro population. The conquest had spent itself. It had destroyed but never created, and in place of the old West African Empires there was found an atomized group of peoples ready to jump at each other’s throats and to sell each other in the slave markets.” (Pg. 118-119)
He acknowledges, “It was clear that Europe was out to gain control of North Africa either by the sword… or by means of the Bible, as with St. Francis and other evangelists… We do not know whether the intense missionary zeal of Europeans during this period was due to a desire to penetrate further south and to link up with a mythical Christian king named Prester or Presbyter John who was supposed to rule a kingdom to the south of the Sahara. But it was believed that this Prester John was none other than the Apostle John. The idea was fantastic, yet the desire to locate Prester John was to persist for centuries.” (Pg. 125)
He states, “The Portuguese found a new name for the indigenous African religion---they called it ‘fetish.’ It was not until nearly 500 years later that Professor Frobenius was to explode this slander about indigenous African religion, and to point out that throughout his extensive travels in Africa he could find no religion which could be described as ‘fetish.’ But the name still sticks.” (Pg. 127-128)
Of the Portuguese in the Congo in the 1600s, he comments, “Executions, treachery, robbery, and violence became the order of the day, with the Christian priests assisting in the violence by having their rival indigenous African priests and doctors executed. In due course the world actions of the Christian clergy were to lead to the disappearance of the eleven churches of San Salvador, including the cathedral. The Dutch were to render the final stages of destruction even more absolute by systematically removing all traces of Portuguese influence in the Congo. Even marble slabs were cracked in two in order to make the obliteration of Portuguese influence absolute.” (Pg. 143)
He concludes, “In what is nothing more than ‘Glimpses of Negro Past,’ we have attempted to bring to light the vanished civilizations of the African continent. We have also attempted a picture of the slave trade and its aftermath, with particular reference to the Gold Coast (now renamed Ghana). We purposely devoted much space to political developments in the Gold Coast, for that country was the first African colonial territory south of the Sahara to attain self-government. All over the African continent there have been major changes in the course of the last two decades. When the European Powers met at the Berlin Conference (1884-5) to regularize the scramble for African territories, little did they think that within the space of eighty years peoples whom they described as living in a barbaric or semi-barbaric state would in a lifetime have made so much progress as to stand on their own feet amongst the nations of the world and constitute a third of the membership of the United Nations.” (Pg. 189)
This book will be of great interest to anyone seriously studying African history.
July 3, 2012
Loved this! Re-read this throughout the years many times.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews