"The natural flow of population from the African heartland outward brought groups to settle in the Nile Valley . Would they have been black? Necessarily so, according to [Cheikh Anta, 'Civilization or Barbarism' p. 16] Diop: Melanin, greater or lesser quantities of which determine dark and light skin colors, protects the human body against high levels of ultraviolet radiation prevalent in equatorial regions. Black skin here like white skin in Europe are matters of adaptation....
"Egyptian wealth and culture attracted successive invasions of Asians and Europeans from Iran, Macedonia , Greece, Italy, Arabia, Turkey, France, and England, who mixed with the original population. It is a matter of some irritation to scholars who favor the European view that such Ancient Greek authorities as Herodotus and Aristotle confirm the blackness of the original ancient Egyptians . Herodotus, in a passage on the Colchians, says
"'...the Colchians were clearly Egyptians....My own guess was based on the fact that they are dark-skinned and woolly haired....But the following is more important: that alone of mankind the Colchians, the Egyptians , and the Ethiopians have circumcised from the first. The Phoenicians and the Palestinian Syrians themselves agree that they learned this from the Egyptians. (Herodotus, 'The History,' tr. David Greene, Chicago, 1987, 173 2.104)'
"There is no point in lingering over European assumptions of the impossibility of connections between ancient Egypt and Africa. It is a racist view. Time spent confronting European believers with evidence that invalidates their racist vision is wasted time."
P. 228-9, "Themes of Identity," THE ELOQUENCE OF THE SCRIBES by Ayi Kwei Armah (2006)
