"Glowing accounts of the deeds of black men with which every one of African descent should be familiar and justly proud."
"In this early African centered work, Edward and Josephine Carlisle explore the ancient worlds of Cush, Ethiopia, Nubia." -ALA, Black Caucus, 2003
In their 1920 inspirational book, "Historical Sketches of the Ancient Negro," husband and wife African-American authors Edward and Josephing Carlisle seek to "familiarize the youth as well as the adult of the Negro race with the events in which many of their ancestors centered that it may be an incentive to higher aims and nobler aspirations."
The authors' chief aim in compiling this work was "to interpret the Negro's status in the ancient world unbiased and impartial—to emphasize his identity in the midst of the Caucasian chaos in which most historians have placed him—only as a hewer of stone and drawer of water is he in bold relief. Our own interpretation has preserved to us, however, many glowing accounts of the deeds of black men with which every one of African descent should be familiar and justly proud."
Edward E. Carlisle (Born 1862) and Josephine E. Carlisle (Born 1871) explore the ancient history of Cush, Ethiopia, Nubia, and other African kingdoms. The authors rely on Biblical text as well as other primary sources to retell the story of black Africans from an Afro-centric point of view, offering an important early contribution to Ancient African history.
Describing Ethiopians, the authors note that "they still continue the object of curiosity and admiration, and the pen of cautious clear sighted historians often places them in the highest rank of knowledge and civilization."
"In Scripture they occupy a prominent place. Zipporah, the wife of Moses, the illustrious lawgiver, was an Ethiopian and prior to his flight into Midian Moses married Tharbis, an Ethiopian princess. Queen Candace, whose eunuch Phillip baptized, was an Ethiopian and not the only Ethiopian queen by that name, the title being used in the same way as Pharaoh for the ruler of Egypt and Caesar for Rome. Ebed-Melech, who rescued the prophet Jeremiah from the pit prison was an Ethiopian enunch. The Ethiopian Zerah who went out to meet Asa with a host of a thousand thousand men and three hundred chariots was so formidable a general that special divine favor alone saved Asa from inglorious defeat. Solomon's renowned visitor, Makeda, queen of Sheba, was an Ethiopian sovereign."
"Historical Sketches of the Ancient Negro" is a fascinating book for those looking an introduction to the little-covered topic of Ancient African contributions to the rise of civilization.
