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Topics: What we can learn from ancient sources about ways that Greeks and Romans approached African kingdoms and cultures, such as  ancient descriptions of Punt, Aksum, Kush- Nubia, Nobatia, Wagadu-Ghana, Serapion, etc.

2 NEW Webpages! 

Memnon Webinar Resources with numerous links for related readings, activities, and artworks.

Memnon in Art; A Gallery Walk of Selected Artworks, including museum commentary, slides, videos, suitable for classroom use.

NEW!  Memnon the Ethiopian King of the the Trojan saga and beyond; A New Play Revitalizes Ancient Story! Learn more from a NCLG and ACL-sponsored webinar about this mythic figure and his place in history and legend. Memnon, a new play written by Will Power and performed by the Classical Theater of Harlem under the direction of Carl Cofield premiered in September 2024 at the J. Paul Getty Villa Museum's Outdoor Greek Theater. In this webinar, we interview Will Power and Carl Cofield about their vision and also hear about some classroom applications. The webpage has a growing number of links to varied resources about the play and the hero in literature and art and teacher-created materials to help you make this story come alive for your students, or to inspire you to incorporate Memnon into other myth units and projects you might teach. New NCLG webpage under African Origins is HERE, where you can find the  WEBINAR RECORDING  and many other teaching resources for teaching about Memnon, including some handouts with Greek and Latin texts. There are also classroom ready slides and handouts. CR-M Grades6-13

Ancient Kemet in African American Literature and Criticism, 1853 to the Present, Christel Temple, Africana Studies, University of Pittsburgh, Journal of Pan African Studies, Vol 5 No. 4 June 2012. Temple explains her premise and the contents of her article:

 “The Kemetic (Ancient African) heritage penetrates the literature, the orature, the pottery, the burial rituals, the procreative myths, and the modes of thought of Africa. It is the classical African civilizations themselves that have given us so much organic contact with the history of ideas.…….As a matter of methodology in Africana literary criticism, anteriority—an awareness of the continuum from ancient to modern origins and historical developments—informs the practices, procedures, guidelines, and techniques for the development of the literary tradition. It is to anteriority that African American thinkers turned to for guidance, inspiration, and models, whether concise or romanticized, as they consciously instigated Africana creative production since the nineteenth century.” (fr. Abstract, Introduction)  This article is a scholarly approach that would be appropriate for university level research or upper level classroom use. 

Roman sub-Saharan expeditions are described in Pliny's Historia Naturalis: Pliny describes Sala Colonia-Mauritania dye trade and the Juba II expedition to the Canary Islands.  Aethiopia occurs in classical documents in reference to the upper Nile region of Sudan, areas south of the Sahara, and certain areas in Asia. Its earliest mention is in the works of Homer: twice in the Iliad, and three times in the Odyssey.  See  Homer, Iliad I.423; XXIII.206;  Homer Odyssey I.22-23; IV.84; V.282-7; The Greek historian Herodotus uses the appellation to refer to such parts of sub-Saharan Africa as were then part of the known world. For all references to Ethiopia highlighted in Herodotus, see: this list at the Perseus Project.

"For verily Epaphus was the child of the almighty Son of Cronos, and from him sprang the dark Libyans, and high-souled Aethiopians..... All these are the offspring of the lord, the Loud-thunderer" (Herodotus. The Histories Book II Chapters 99-182. penelope.uchicago.edu. A highlighted list of all mentions of Aethiopia in the text of Herodotus, Histories Book VII:70, penelope.uchicago.edu, where he describes the differing straight and wooly hair of east and western Aethiopians.

Histories of Herodotus, Book 3, describes Persian and Egyptian conflicts. Text in translation here. Herodotus includes some descriptions of people of Egypt, Ethiopia, which were frequently quoted.  C-RM

Nubia: Learn more about this ancient country, its international relations and powerful merchant economy during the Greco-Roman period and beyond.

NEW! Kandake Amanirenas and her resistance to Roman invasions offers students a new perspective on both women rulers and North African civilizations.

This site summarizes the long term existence of female Kandake rulers and describes sources for the story of Kandake Amanirenas. Greek and Latin authors offer some relevant texts to read in class. Worth sharing with students are contemporaries Pliny the Elder (Natural History, Book 6), Strabo (Geography, Book XVII Chapter 1. 25‑54), Res Gestae Divi Augusti (26-27), and later mentions in Cassius Dio (Roman History 54.5) and in Eusebius (2.1.13) and Book of Acts 8:27 et al. Document by NCLG  with some source texts and translations is provided here. C-RM  Grades13-16

     Introductory classroom lesson material offered by Emma Vanderpool, author of Latin novella Kandake Amanirenas Regina Nubiae. (See related unit designed by Kate Seat in next entry.) Start exploring this folder. Be sure to start by opening the 0 - Amanirenas document, which links to all the other documents and several good external sources. C-RM  Grades9-12

A Latin Classroom Unit on Nubia during the Augustan Expansion Campaigns: Here are lesson materials shared by Kate Seat of The Collegiate School of Memphis, TN, for a Latin class unit focusing on the Nubian Queen Kandake Amanirenas and her actions against Augustan imperial expansion (25-21BCE). This unit is based on Emma Vanderpool’s Latin novella Kandake Amanirenas Regina Nubiae. A presentation video, Teaching with Kandake Amanirenas Regina Nubiae, outlines successful approaches to this important story of a bold and intelligent African queen and how a teacher can use this story to broaden students’ perspectives about ancient Africa, Nubia, and women in leadership. A large folder of Kandake Amanirenas Shareables is also available. C-RM  Grades9-12

Related is the video of Mary Beard Lecture discussing  The Meroe Head of Augustus in the British Museum. Meroe was an important Nubian city. C-RVP  Grades9-16

NEW! Far-reaching influence of the Candaces: Afro-Hispanic Latinist living in the 1500s.  Juan de Sesa, who called himself Juan Latino, rose from slavery in Cordoba and Granada, Spain, to become a Latin teacher at the Cathedral School and a famous Latin poet. He worked into his poetry, which included three epic poems about prominent Spanish leaders, references to himself and his Black heritage, which he traced all the way back to Ethiopian Candace's kingdom which embraced Christianity, described in Acts in the Bible. He also comments on the need to end all African slavery. His family may have come from Guinea, but it is disputed whether he was born there or born into slavery in Spain. A Spanish writer Enciso wrote a play about him, the earliest known European work about a Black slave heritage. See an NCLG summary from two sources HERE. C-RM Grades9-16

 Return me to Intersections Table of Contents

Topics: The role of current Mediterranean Studies scholarship focused on ancient African civilizations; acknowledging of value of and role of African cultural origins and interactions with Mediterranean; and raising discussions of why North African empires and cultures have often been systematically excluded from Mediterranean Studies or the study of Greek and Roman Antiquity, up to and including present work and debate.

Frank M. Snowden, Jr., Blacks in Antiquity, Ch. 1, p1-14.   Snowden, Frank M. “Blacks in Antiquity; Ethiopians in the Greco-Roman Experience.” ACLS Humanities E-Book., Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1970. Investigates the participation of black Africans, usually referred to as "Ethiopians," by the Greek and Romans, in classical civilization, concluding that they were accepted by pagans and Christians without prejudice. The physical characteristics of Ethiopians-the textual evidence -- The physical characteristics of Ethiopians-the archaeological evidence -- Greco-Roman acquaintance with African Ethiopians -- Greek encounters with Ethiopian warriors -- Roman encounters with Ethiopian warriors -- Ethiopians in classical mythology -- Ethiopians in the theater and amphitheater -- Greco-Roman attitude toward Ethiopians-creed and conversion -- Blacks in a white society-a summation.

Before Color Prejudice; The Ancient View of Blacks, Frank M. Snowden, Jr., Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1983.  In this richly illustrated account of Black–White contacts from the Pharaohs to the Caesars, Frank Snowden demonstrates that the ancients did not discriminate against Blacks because of their color. For three thousand years Mediterranean Whites intermittently came in contact with African Blacks in commerce and war, and left a record of these encounters in art and in written documents. The Blacks—most commonly known as Kushites, Ethiopians, or Nubians—were redoubtable warriors and commanded the respect of their White adversaries. The overall view of Blacks was highly favorable. In science, philosophy, and religion color was not the basis of theories concerning inferior peoples. And early Christianity saw in the Black man a dramatic symbol of its catholic mission. This book sheds light on the reasons for the absence in antiquity of virulent color prejudice and for the difference in attitudes of whites toward Blacks in ancient and modern societies. Use this link https://archive.org/details/beforecolorpreju00snow_0/page/40/mode/2up and access up to 14 days from Internet Archive (digitized in 2017).

“Be Not Afraid of the Dark: Critical Race Theory and Classical Studies,” Haley, Shelley, 2009.  In Prejudice and Christian Beginnings: Investigating Race, Gender, and Ethnicity in Early Christian Studies, edited by Laura Nasrallah and Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, p.27–49. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. Our views even of analyzing ancient attitudes about Blackness is often skewed by acquired biases of simply living in our modern American culture in general, but specifically by the influence of CRT debates.  Romans were keenly aware of difference, but what differences they held in prejudice differed with respect to various aspects of ethnic and social entities. Semantic Scholar offers this from Haley’s opening paragraphs: ….. “In light of literary evidence from the first centuries B.C.E. and C.E., it is plausible that the Romans were aware of skin-color difference and that it played a role, among other factors, in the social construction of difference. Given the simultaneity of other factors as well, it is important to examine the Roman construction of difference with particular attention to color, gender, class, and culture using a symmetrical mode of analysis. The Romans in Augustus’s day were more keenly aware of different cultural practices— especially those of African societies—than we have given them credit for up to now, as Vergil’s Aeneid and the Psuedo-Vergilian Moretum illustrate. PDF available here from Fortress Press, or at MRECC.

Snowden Speaks of Africa, Dr. Anika T. Prather, The Russell Kirk Center, online article, April 25, 2021. Prather weaves poetry of Langston Hughes and the life ambition of Frank M. Snowden, Jr. to uncover the evidence of important African civilizations and cultures that existed before, during, and after the empires of Greece and Rome. C-RVP  Grades9-16

The Negro, W.E.B. Du Bois, H. Holt, 1915. Digital access, Project Gutenberg, 2011.  This is an overview of African-American history, tracing it as far back as the sub-Saharan cultures, including Great Zimbabwe, Ghana and Songhai, as well as covering the history of the slave trade and the history of Africans in the United States and the Caribbean. “The time has not yet come for a complete history of the [African] peoples. Archæological research in Africa has just begun, and many sources of information in Arabian, Portuguese, and other tongues are [still being discovered]...” -author (254 pages) For more access information, you may consult our NCLG resource page.

The World and Africa; An Inquiry Into the Part which Africa Has Played in World History, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois , International Publishers, 1965. “Against a background of the vast contributions of ancient and modern Africa to world culture, peace and industry, Dr. Du Bois documents the historic injustices of the rape of Africa from the slave trade to its partition by the colonial powers. The articles and essays on the emerging new nations and personalities of Africa, written by Dr. Du Bois from 1955-1961, have been added to the original manuscript.” - publisher (352 pages) For more access information on many of Du Bois works, you may consult our NCLG resource page.

“Black Feminist Thought and Classics: Re-membering, Re-claiming, Re-empowering.” Shelley P. Haley, 1993, in N. Sorkin Rabinowitz and A. Richlin (eds.) Feminist Theory and the Classics. New York: 23–43. Haley discusses from her personal life and professional experiences the negative and limiting effects of attitudes and prejudices over centuries require Black feminists and all scholars to re-examine all historical and literary accounts with different perspectives. In her summary words, she states "Black feminist thought provides a standpoint from which to  re-member, to reclaim, to re-empower the ancient African woman. Through Black feminist thought, classics can be radically transformed from a discipline into a multiracial, multicultural, multivalent field which better reflects the ancient world it studies. Black feminists, in turn, should view classics , not as the “enemy, ” but as a source of symbolic value for so many of our foremothers as they struggled against racism and sexism."

Bernal, M. 1987. Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization. Vol. 1–4. London. Prof. Bernal blames 19th-century scholars for constructing a racist "cult of Greece" based upon a purely Aryan origin for Western culture. The Cornell Chronicle writes "Bernal argued that Egypt, not Greece, was the root of ancient culture in his three-volume work “Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization.” Considered controversial by many, Bernal’s first volume, “The Fabrication of Ancient Greece 1785-1985" (1987) was followed by further research in “Black Athena 2: The Archaeological and Documentary Evidence” (1991) and “Black Athena 3: The Linguistic Evidence” (2006), plus a volume in response to his critics, “Black Athena Writes Back” (2001)." 

Other 'Black Athena' related resources include:

Berlinerblau, Jaques. 1999. Heresy in the University: The Black Athena Controversy and the Responsibilities of American Intellectuals. New Brunswick (196 pages). Berlinerblau analyzes Martin Bernal's controversial Black Athena trilogy. The trilogy argues that ancient Greek civilization and language are of Eastern and Egyptian origin. Berlinerblau's book aims to make Bernal's explanations more comprehensible to a wider audience by clarifying and restating Bernal's arguments, identifying flaws in his reasoning, and addressing critics' objections.

McCoskey, D.E. 2018. “Black Athena, White Power; Are We Paying the Price for Classics’ Response to Bernal?” Eidolon [Nov. 15, 2018] Also linked HERE. NCLG created a simple article summary in outline form designed for classroom use and suitable for leading discussions or for eliciting student's personal reflections. The article touches on agendas of white supremacy and afrocentrism. C-RM Grades9-16

Hairston, E.A. 2013. The Ebony Column: Classics, Civilization, and the African American Reclamation of the West. Knoxville. See Introduction especially, p.18, 20, 23f, and 46 for Hairston's comments that touch on the Black Athena controversy.

Dr. Anika T. Prather in her presentation Reclaiming the Canon and the Black Classical Tradition, part of an NCLG panel Re-envisioning our Place in the University in 2022 (please fast forward the recording to the beginning of her talk at minute 18:00), shares her views on Blacks claiming the classical tradition as an important part of their own history over two millennia, and especially in the American education of African Americans. For example, she says “There is a foundational necessity to acknowledge ethnic and cultural diversity of Greek and Roman writers, for example, Terence was a predecessor, an enslaved African brought to Rome, but (his) race is rarely ever discussed in Terence scholarship.” C-RVP  Grades9-16

Margaret Malamud, African Americans And The Classics: Antiquity, Abolition And Activism. London: I. B. Tauris, 2016. Malamud presents a good summary of time periods, movements, strategies, and major figures useful to start one’s research in this area. For this topic, we suggest Chapter 4 Constructing History (and see links below), covering Mother Egypt, Black Athena, Egypt as Pharaoh, African Queens and Sibyls, These Caucasian Heads, and Changing the Frame. It touches on the travels of Herodotus, Volney, Gregoire, Brown, plus work of Hosea Easton, Du Bois, and African church fathers. The book is well-designed for classroom use and NCLG offers Quotes and Reflections: Study Guides 1-5 with reflection questions for students to answer on each quoted selection. Direct links to all 5 discussion guides are listed at the top of each NCLG Study Guide: Introduction   Fighting for Classics   Refiguring Classical Resistance   Ancient and Modern Slavery  Constructing History / Afterword    (Studyguides) C-RM   Grades9-16

Keita, Maghan, “Deconstructing the Classical Age: Africa and the Unity of the Mediterranean World."  Journal of [African American] History 79 (2), 1994. Barnard College Classics and Ancient Studies states on their resources site 'Race and Ethnicity in the Ancient Mediterranean World' an editor remarks "In a rebuttal to arguments that Africa was peripheral to a fundamentally European Classical culture, Maghan Keita highlights the importance of Aethiopians for Homer, North Africans for Herodotus, and Carthage for Romans. Foundational to her argument that Africa played a vital role in the self-conception of ancient Greeks and Romans are mythological lineages. The Greek hero Perseus, for example, was a descendant of Danaus, the ancient king of Libya, whose brother Aigyptos ruled Egypt. Further, a crucial element in Perseus’s heroic narrative was his rescue of the beautiful maiden Andromeda, the daughter of the king and queen of Aethiopia. According to Herodotus, the Greek strongman Hercules had been born from Egyptian parents and performed many of his feats in northern Africa....Both within historical and mythological milieus, Keita provides plentiful evidence that "the African, far from being separated from Classical civilization, was, in fact, an intrinsic and integral part of it."  - (TK, 2023)  Borrow from a library, University of Chicago or Journal via JSTOR.

Return me to Intersections Table of Contents

Topics: Concept and role of race and ethnicity in ancient Mediterranean; Enslavement and social discrimination in the ancient Mediterranean; Comparisons of ancient and American concepts.

Derbew, S. (2022). Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Treatment of black skin color in the Greek literature and visual culture of ...the Hellenic world of black Egyptians, Aithiopians, Indians, and Greeks; disentangles the complex and varied ways in which blackness has been co-produced by ancient authors and artists; their readers, audiences, and viewers; and contemporary scholars.

Here is an additional and interesting interview, discussing a number of topics. This might be an good introduction for students and generate discussion: SCS Blog: An interview with Sarah Derbew by Lylaah Bhalerao  C-RVP   Grades9-16

Here is a very thorough review by Dr. Hannah Culik-Baird of Untangling Blackness in Greek Antiquity, with detailed comments on content. It is located in Bryn Mawr Classical Review at this link: https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2023/2023.09.14/     

Race and Ethnicity in the Classical World: An Anthology of Primary Sources, trans. and ed. by R.F. Kennedy, C.S. Roy, and M.L. Goldman (Hackett, 2013). Publishers say “By offering fluent, accurate translations of extracts and fragments from a wide assortment of ancient texts, this volume allows a comprehensive overview of ancient Greek and Roman concepts of "otherness," as well as Greek and Roman views of non-Greeks and non-Romans. A general introduction, thorough annotation, maps, a select bibliography, and an index are also included.”  C-RM  Grades13-16

Teaching about Race and Ethnicity in the Ancient World, in Eidolon 9/11/2017 by  Dr. Rebecca Futo Kennedy can be found here:https://eidolon.pub/why-i-teach-about-race-and-ethnicity-in-the-classical-world-ade379722170    C-RM  Grades13-16

Rebecca Futo Kennedy, Anti-racist Resources for Students and Teachers in Grades 7-12  Grades7-12

Race, Ethnicity and Identity in the Greco-Roman World, a course syllabus for university students by Dr. Hannah Culik-Baird, 2023. Though complemented with many other ancillary readings, this syllabus is based on two major texts, listed below in this resource: Race, Antiquity and Its Legacy by Denise McCoskey and Race and Ethnicity in the Classical World: An Anthology of Primary Sources, by Rebecca F. Kennedy, C. Sydnor Roy, Max L. Goldman.   C-RM   Grades13-16

“Be Not Afraid of the Dark: Critical Race Theory and Classical Studies,” Haley, Shelley, 2009;  in Prejudice and Christian Beginnings: Investigating Race, Gender, and Ethnicity in Early Christian Studies, edited by Laura Nasrallah and Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza, p.27–49. Minneapolis: Fortress Press. Publisher remarks: “Our views even of analyzing ancient attitudes about Blackness is often skewed by acquired biases of simply living in our modern American culture in general, but specifically by the influence of CRT debates. Romans were keenly aware of difference, but what differences they held in prejudice differed with respect to various aspects of ethnic and social entities.” Haley’s opening paragraphs include: “In light of literary evidence from the first centuries B.C.E. and C.E., it is plausible that the Romans were aware of skin-color difference and that it played a role, among other factors, in the social construction of difference. Given the simultaneity of other factors as well, it is important to examine the Roman construction of difference with particular attention to color, gender, class, and culture using a symmetrical mode of analysis. The Romans in Augustus’s day were more keenly aware of different cultural practices - especially those of African societies - than we have given them credit for up to now, as Vergil’s Aeneid and the Psuedo-Vergilian Moretum illustrate”…. Chapter text in PDF is available here from site of MRECC, Multiculturalism, Race & Ethnicity in Classics Consortium’s Suggested Resources, which are “an ongoing bibliography on antiracism and teaching that is collectively curated by MRECC throughout the year.” Dr. Shelley Haley is a founding member of MRECC.  Grades13-16

Here is a Latin for All podcast suitable for all ages: Diversity and Accessibility of the Classics. Transcript provided. It is an interview by Danny Kobrick with Professor Nandini Pandey and Latin teacher Michele McPherson Miller. The podcast conversation explains differing concepts of race, slavery, and diversity in ancient Greece and Rome in general and the evolution of the concept of racial prejudice as experienced in America. They discuss the importance of teaching and welcoming people of color to the study of Latin and Greek and how teaching about race and diversity in the ancient Mediterranean as well as using more accessible teaching methods can be effective ways to open doors to a more inclusive community and help correct centuries of misappropriation. (50 minutes) C-RVP  Grades7-16

“The Roman Roots of Racial Capitalism: What an Ancient Empire Can Teach Us about Diversity,” Dr. Nandini Pandey; The Berlin Journal, Vol. 34, 2020-21: p. 16-20. Romans embraced pluralism while simultaneously exploiting difference. She sees lessons to be learned from Ancient Rome. Link to content summary for the piece and upcoming book.  Grades9-16

Podcast with Professors Nandini Pandey and Sarah Derbew:

GETTING CURIOUS | How Diverse Was The Ancient Mediterranean? with Professors Sarah Derbew and Nandini Pandey This excellent podcast by Jonathan Van Ness discusses important concepts for all ages. “If we work with an expansive definition of race — as power shaping and controlling populations through categories that are often imaginary or based on changeable factors, sometimes skin colors, sometimes gender, sometimes other things — then we have this really big lens through which we can examine the way societies put themselves together. And my students always learn a lot by traveling back to antiquity because … it helps us right some of our own very modern reflexive assumptions about race and color and ethnicity that unfortunately are baked into our country, specifically here in the US, as part of a legacy of the transatlantic slave trade.” - Pandey (1hr 13 minutes)  C-RVP  Grades9-16

Kathryn Wilson, Washington University Classics and Lecturer for the Center for the Humanities (St. Louis) offers a short blog, What was ‘race‘ in ancient Rome? (2021) The difficulty of analyzing attitudes from artistic depictions without knowing how ancients actually understood that art. Wilson, who is the faculty curator of the Teaching Gallery exhibition “Colonizing the Past: Constructing Race in Ancient Greece and Rome” at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, describes the "development of a modern selective, racialized interpretation of antiquity, one in which the ancient Greeks and Romans were White and all other peoples of the ancient Mediterranean were not." To her, this is anachronistic and problematic, yet there were very strong factors in antiquity that led to types of othering in a way very similar in manner and intensity to modern racism.  C-RM Grades13-16

The Invention of Racism in Classical Antiquity, by Benjamin Isaac, Princeton University Press (2006). Based on different criteria, all the aspects of modern ‘racism’ were active in attitudes of Greece and Rome and the Mediterranean empires. On Barnard College Classics and Ancient Studies  resource site page an editor contributed this within her review (AR, 2021): "... his primary interest is in the development of antisemitism as a product of antiquity rather than anti-Blackness – but .... [he] makes not just a claim of race, but of racism, which is explored through the lens of white supremacist values. In many ways, Isaac is the antithesis to Snowden in Before Color Prejudice, as he finds there to be a direct line of development between Greco-Roman supremacy and European white supremacy, which he substantiates in the reading of imperial texts. Isaac is one of the few scholars of Classics who suggests that racism is itself ancient....

Samuels, Tristan. "Herodotus and the Black Body: A Critical Race Theory Analysis," Journal of Black Studies 46, no 7, p.723–741, 2015.  On Barnard College Classics and Ancient Studies  resource site page  an editor contributed this within her review (HH, 2021): ...Tristan Samuels [says that i]n examining the writings of Herodotus, Western scholars of the late 20th century actively engaged in the “denial of ancient Egypt’s Blackness”... This erasure is the product of a white supremacist lens in Greco-Roman studies that “equates [Blackness] with inferiority and ugliness” but according to Samuels, this lens started before 20th century academia and even before the transatlantic slave-trade. Drawing on Herodotus 3.101, he argues that the Greek historian ‘othered’ the Black body, promoting ideas of the hypersexuality, savagery, and cowardice. Here, Samuels illustrates both the prevalence of Blackness in the Classical sphere and argues for the “antiquity of anti-Black racial prejudice” in Western thought.

Race, Antiquity and Its Legacy, by Denise McCoskey, thoroughly explores ideas about the complex matrices of race, nation and "other" in antiquity and the varied forms of discrimination which were present at various times and areas. These attitudes were different from our concepts of race prejudice (and privilege) in certain aspects, but were equally intense and destructive. She shows how these ancient attitudes and practices were just as closely bound to political and historical contexts as those that developed later during European exploration and colonization, prejudices which we still face today. ACL used this book for a Book Club group study for their leadership, providing interesting discussions and important information. Grades11-16

(Apr 29, 2021) This video on  'Race: Antiquity and Its Legacy', held on 23rd April 2021, is on YouTube; a great discussion on an important subject! With Zena Kamash, Denise McCoskey, Dan-el Padilla Peralta (chair: Phiroze Vasunia). @Hellenic_Soc @TheRomanSoc https://youtu.be/25cwV52br4g  C-RVP  Grades13-16

Allen-Hornblower, Emily. “Emotion and Ethnicity in Herodotus’ Histories,” in T. Figueira and C. Soares (eds.), Ethnicity and Identity in Herodotus, Routledge Press, p.84–105, 2020. Allen-Hornblower explores how expressions of emotion that Herodotus uses in his Histories can be a good indication of his Greek attitudes about those peoples being described, tools of othering, and also how they show feelings of pity or sympathy. Societal value systems clearly come into play. This is a good complement to discussions of Denise McCoskey in her book, Race: Antiquity and Its Legacy (see note above)

Frank M. Snowden, Jr., contributed significant thought on defining aspects of racism in the ancient Mediterranean, comparing the treatment and categorization of enslavement and discrimination of peoples and groups in early empires (establishing it was not related to race/skin color) to that of the African American experience of racial slavery and its enduring aftermath. Some aspects of his conclusions have been debated but are still very significant.  Blacks in Antiquity and  Before Color Prejudice(Internet Archive 1 hour digital borrowing with sign-in) (see Google preview) explain his views. Snowden was born on July 17, 1911 in VA and died in Washington, D.C. on February 18, 2007. He graduated from Boston Latin School and completed his BA and Ph.D. at Harvard University. He later revitalized the Classics Department at Howard University where he served the university as Chair and College Dean for several decades. Copious details at Data Base of Classical Scholars and BlackPast. His Wiki article has links and details.

Margaret Malamud, African Americans And The Classics: Antiquity, Abolition And Activism. London: I. B. Tauris, 2016. Malamud presents a good summary of time periods, movements, strategies, and major figures useful to start one’s research in this area. 

The book is well-designed for classroom use. For this topic, we suggest Chapter 3 Ancient and Modern Slavery (see link below), including topics: Slavery Degrades Slaves and Masters, Slavery, Liberty and Civilization, and Victrix causa diis placuit, sed victa Catoni. Touches on Alexis de Toqueville, David Walker, Lydia Maria Child, Aristotle, Cato, and Caesar. We offer Quotes and Reflections: Study Guides 1-5 with reflection questions for students to answer on each quoted selection. Direct links to all 5 discussion guides are listed at the top of each NCLG Study Guide: Introduction   Fighting for Classics   Refiguring Classical Resistance   Ancient and Modern Slavery  Constructing History / Afterword    NCLG study guides: C-RM  Grades13-16