Publisher's Synopsis
The history of racism from its very beginnings is thoroughly researched and presented in this fascinating and thought-provoking book. The book shows how racism began as a means to apply economic and cultural oppression through the use of religion and avarnaa or color-caste stratification in South Asia after one of the worldas great Black Indo-Negroid civilizations was infiltrated by nomadic barbarians from Eurasia. The book examines the history of ancient Egypt and how and why religion and religious dogma by Semitic people led to the establishment of another form of racism promoted by religious belief. The absence of racism against blacks during the Greek and Roman periods is discussed along with the irony that the Greeks and Romans thought highly of Africans and saw Northern Europeans as uncivilized barbarians. Racism in its worst form began during the early part of the Edwardian period in Britain and was fortified by plays like Othello. The book shows how the Christianity was distorted to support slavery.
The response to slavery/racism with revolutions like the Haitian Revolution and Nat Turneras Rebellion is very clear in this great work. The use of Christianity and African religions like Vadu and Orisha, as means of upliftment by slaves and former slaves is part of the legacy of faith, power and overcoming that this great book is about.
