From Nubia to Egypt - and beyond: of the contribution of Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop

African history has been neglected. The goal of the European colonial administrations was not only to exploit African resources (both natural and human) but also to erase the cultural and historical contributions of Africa to Western Civilisation. Dr. Cheikh Anta Diop, a Doctoral student at the Sorbonne, was the first writer to thoroughly investigate into this topic. The Sorbonne jury refused to award him the title of doctor in Philosophy. Their reasoning was that "…this thesis will destroy the foundations of our colonial institutions and end the colonial enterprise. It shows that we (the Europeans) come from Africa; that they are just as human as we are…" Cheikh Anta Diop was forced to re-apply for a second doctorate (in literature) with a different topic. Once he acquired his doctorate, he returned to his first PhD topic and published it as a book, The African Origins of Western Civilization. His task was not only to convince the Europeans but also the Egyptians. Ramses II was a Black man. Dr. Diop saw Ramses mummy in Egypt before it was taken to France, where he found that French and Egyptian 'scientists' have bleached Ramses II mummy into a White man. Dr. Diop continues to remind us that Black Civilisation was the foundation of Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Western Civilisations.