February 3rd, 2005 The ancient Egyptians, an African people who were black by their own admission, were among the first (if not the first) to read and write, study the stars, use geometry and practice surgery. But did you know that in the 19th century, European scholars literally turned the ancient Egyptians white presumably because the Egyptians contradicted the European claim that Africans were not capable of civilizations (though one did not need to look at Egypt to seen an example of a great African civilization, as we will see in the coming days)? This nonsense continues today as ancient Egyptians are frequently depicted as white people. Modern scholarship is however beginning to reject the image of the non-African Egyptian. Someone just needs to tell Hollywood now. Start with the works of Cheikh Anta Diop for more info Use the arrows at the bottom of the page to see the facts from each day as they are posted. A new fact will be posted each day in February. BCE© Copyright 2004, All Rights Reserved