One of the frequent visitors to our guestbook, Curtis (McWildy 3@hotmail.com), recently posted a reference to an article regarding the discovery, in Brazil, of an ancient woman's skull with African features. Although unearthed in 1975 from a 43 foot deep cavern in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, it had been packed away in the vast archives of the National Museum of Rio DeJanerio for over twenty years.1 Just over a year ago, scientists named the skull, which they believed to be the earliest known American, "Luiza," after the famed Lucy, one of the most ancient human ancestors discovered in Ethiopia. Luiza is believed to be 11,500 years old, while Lucy is 3.2 million years old.

What is startling about this discovery is not so much the fact that an African skull has been unearthed in prehistoric America, but that the normally negrophobic scientific community acknowledges this. Archaeologists Walter Neves, "one of the few specialists in human paleontology in Brazil," concluded that Luiza's eyes, nose and chin structures are similar to those of Australian aborigines and native Africans.

From the late 1800's through the middle of the 20th century, Latin American scholars routinely made reference to the presence of Black people in prehistoric and ancient Mexico, Central and South America. However, by the middle of the twentieth century White scholars and scientists began to rewrite and monopolize historical works and, in so doing, completely dismissed the idea that Africans or other Black people had reached the Americas before Columbus. In light of the recent discovery of Luiza, we shall soon republish an early article that we authored which provides theories for the possible origin of Luiza as well as her near and distant relatives. In the meantime, the following are a few quotations taken from books written by Latin American scholars prior to the censoring of these opinions by the White academic thought police:

Jose M. Melgar, the first writer to embark on an in-depth study of Black people in early America, began his work while visiting San Andres Tuxtla in the State of Veracruz, Mexico in 1862. Upon learning of the existence of a huge Olmec stone head in this region, Melgar insisted on visiting the hacienda at which the stone carving was located: "We went, and I was struck with surprise; as a work of art it is without exaggeration a magnificent sculpture…, but what astounded me was the Ethiopic type which it represents. I reflected that there had undoubtedly been Blacks in this country and this had been in the first epoch of the world; that head was not only important for Mexican archaeology but also would be for the world in general…….."2 So impressed was Melgar with this Olmec sculptured head that he wrote two articles concerning the early "Ethiopian" migrants whom he insists the sculpture represents.

Another Mexican scholar, Nicholas Leon, was of similar opinion: "The oldest inhabitants of Mexico, according to some were Negroes, and according to others, the Otomies. The existence of Negroes and giants is commonly believed by nearly all the races of our soil and in their various languages they had words to designate them. Several archaeological objects found in various localities demonstrate their existence, the most notable of which is the colossal granite head of Hueyapan, Vera Cruz, and an axe of the same located near the city. In Teotihuscan abound little heads of the Ethiopian type and paintings of Negroes. In Michoacan and Oaxaca the same have also been found….. Memories of then in the most ancient traditions convince us to believe that the Negroes were the first inhabitants of Mexico."3

Historian Riva Palacio has provided more detail regarding the ancient presence of Black people in the New World: "But who is that aboriginal man, inhabitant of the Valley of Mexico since the most ancient epoch? No doubt in answering, it was the Otomi people.

"Nevertheless, the existence of the Black man in our territory gives us material to hesitate. Did he precede the Otomi people or was he the first invader? On the continent that was united to our eastside the man was Black and after the separation of the continents this Black man also existed in Asia: in India, invaded by other peoples, the remainder of the Black race sought refuge in the mountains in the central region called Vindhya. Even today these Black men exist: the Glondos, the Kolas, the Bhillas, the Meras of Aravali mountain, the Chitasy, the Minas and the Pahorias whose conquest has given rise to the name Pariahs.

"With regard to our continent, scarcely traces of the Black man remain. Proof of his existence was in a very distant epoch. Was he the first in the world and was this the race that spread everywhere by virtue of the union of the continents, or when he arrived in our region, were the Otomies already present? His disappearance suggests to us it being the exiled race therefore the former; but there are indications opposing the indigenous character of the Otomi race and traditional fact that in our view is very important: until recent times the priests painted themselves Black as if it was a remembrance of the introducers of the first cult.

"But the peremptory test of the ancient existence of the Black race on our continent are the still-encountered remains of him, and the other primitive story-tellers that speak of him. They are: the Caracoles of Haiti, the Califurnams of the Caribe Islands, the Arquahos of Cutara, the Aroras or Yaruras of Orinoco, the Chaymans of Guyana, the Maujipas, Porcigas and Matayas of Brazil, the Nigritas, Chuanas or Gaunas of the Isthmus of Darien, the Manabis of Popayan, the Guavas and Jaras or Zambos of Honduras, the Esteros of New California, the Black Indians encountered by the Spainards of Louisiana and the Ojos de Luna and albinos, some of which were discovered in Panama and others destroyed by the Iroquois.

"All of this demonstrates that in a very ancient epoch or before the existence of the Otomies or better yet invading them, the Black race occupied our territory when the continents were joined. This race brought its religious ideas and its own cult. Later they were dislodged and forced to the coasts by the Otomies or perhaps they were obliged to look for warm places to which they were more appropriately accustomed by their nature, and fled the freezing temperatures and other cataclysms that occurred after this continent was separated."4

J.A. Villacorta, another authority on Mexican history, was so convinced that earliest Mexico was influenced by Africoids that he concluded: "De todos modes la civilization mexicana tuvo su origen in Africa". ["Any way you view it, Mexican civilization had its origins in Africa".]5

Carlos C. Marquez also spoke of the widespread presence of Black people in prehistoric and ancient America: ….."The Negroes figure frequently in the most remote tradition of some American people. Certain tribes of Darien say that when their ancestors arrived for the first time in that region it was inhabited by small black men who soon afterwards retired to the forests while the Payas and Tapalisas of the Cuna-Cunas origin goes back to a man and two women, one Indian and the other Negro, who lived on the banks of the Tatarcuna. "The ancient skeletons which are very different from the Red American races, and have been found in various places from Bolivia to Mexico, doubtlessly belong to this race. "It is likely, then, we repeat, that long ago the youthful America was also a Negro continent……"9

A number of other scholars have commented on the obvious African presence in America before Columbus. Their focus has largely been on the giant stoneheads of the Ancient Olmecs, founders of America’s first civilization:

Historian Jonathan Leonard states: "Reports had come from this coastal region [the Mexican Gulf Coast] of gigantic heads with Negroid features."7

John G. Jackson, one of the great Africentric scholars of the twentieth century wrote:

Another historian, Andre’ Emmerich adds:

Charles Wicke, an art historian, has written:

Selden Rodman, who has engaged in considerable study regarding Latin American history and culture, has provided this description:

Walter Hanf, a European journalist who has lived in Mexico for several years and studied Olmec sculptures, confirms the "Negroid" features of the colossal heads:

The Olmecs worked in jade, basalt, rock crystal, and quartz. From these materials they carved colossal heads with Negroid features, deformed and close-shaven skulls, blunt noses and protruding lips.12

Sharon McKern, a free lance writer and anthropologist, sheds further light on the race depicted by the colossal heads:

Historian Nicholas Cheetham appears to believe that the colossal heads represent a foreign element in ancient America:

The principal sites in the Olmec homeland are called La Venta, Tres Zapotes and

Robert Quirk of Indiana University is of similar opinion:

The origin and even the identity of the Olmecs are unknown today…They possessed artistic skills so advanced and sophisticated as to indicate a long period of development in Mexico or elsewhere. (There are intriguing hints of extra-American influence, however, in their portrayal of what appear to be Negroid or Caucasoid faces.) 15

Finally Historian Floyd Hayes has provided a thought-provoking assessment of the racial significance of these immense sculptures:

Footnotes