Ivan Van Sertima

Now, what if history was taught about North America is incomplete? You know, you hear most history books tell us that Christopher, Christopher Columbus discovered America in fourteen ninety-two, although millions of indigenous people and advanced civilizations already existed here thousands of years.

There's a book by Ivan Van Sertima called Blacks in Science.

And it was a book that talked about, I think, believe five hundred years before Christopher Columbus.

So clearly there have been Black people that been here before Christopher Columbus.

What does that mean? Um, yeah.

"For more than a decade, we have allowed UNM students to view these magnificent works of art in person and visit with anthropologists in Mexico about their origins." And then this sentence, "We discuss the visceral and often hostile response to Jose Melgar's and later Ivan Van Sertima's suggestion that the Olmec reflect a pre-Colombian African presence.

We make sure that our students know that research offers no credible evidence that proves a pre-Colombian connection to Africa." This seems highly disingenuous to me.

Um, and it also did to Jason Colavito, 'cause he, he noted in his paper that there is, of course...

so so

We're joined today by Dr. Charles Finch as part of our special Africa Day Transitions on Traditions programming on the life and legacy of Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, who made his transition on May 25th of 2009.

Dr. Finch, formerly the Director of International Health at Morehouse School of Medicine, done a lot of work in Senegal, independent studies in African antiquities, comparative religion, He has written The African Background of Medical Science and Science and Symbol in Egyptian Medicine, The Star of Deep Beginnings.

He's a friend and associate of Dr. Ivan Van Sertima and contributed on numerous occasions to the Journal of African Studies.

I think he said he had eight essays published between 1982 and 1988 in the Journal of African Civilization.

Thank you for joining us, Dr. Finch.

Thank you.

We're joined today by Dr. Charles Finch as part of our special Africa Day Transitions on Traditions programming on the life and legacy of Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, who made his transition on May 25th of 2009.

Dr. Finch, formerly Director of International Health at Morehouse School of Medicine, done a lot of work in Senegal, independent studies in African antiquities, comparative religion.

He has written The African Background of Medical Science and Science and Symbol in Egyptian Medicine, The Star of Deep Beginnings.

He's a friend and associate of Dr. Ivan Van Sertima and contributed on numerous occasions to the Journal of African Studies.

I think he said he had eight essays published between 1982 and 1988 in the Journal of African Civilization.

Thank you for joining us, Dr. Finch.