Comedian Kevin Hart Says Blacks Were Kings in Egypt, Controversy?
Originally Published Feb. 23, 2023 by Atlanta Black Star
By: Tierra Shehzel, APDTA
Some Egyptians on Twitter are accusing comedian Kevin Hart of “Blackwashing” Egyptian history after he stated that ancient Egyptians were Black. Many in Egypt are calling for Hart’s upcoming show in Cairo to be canceled. Some social media users have claimed that Coptic Christians, who make up a significant portion of Egypt’s population, are the direct descendants of ancient Egyptians. The controversy surrounding Hart’s comments has ignited a debate about the racial identity of ancient Egyptians.
Cheikh Anta Diop, a renowned scholar, historian, physicist, philosopher, and Egyptologist, has previously emphasized the African origin of civilization in his book “The African Origin of Civilization: Myth or Reality.” In his work, Diop pays tribute to the Greek historian Herodotus, highlighting the ongoing discourse and research on ancient Egypt’s racial makeup.
Herodotus, often referred to as the “father of history,” has been recognized as a primary source of historical knowledge about Western Asia and ancient Egypt. In chapter one of his book, Diop explains that Herodotus repeatedly emphasizes the African heritage of the Egyptians and even utilizes this as evidence indirectly. According to Herodotus, “The Egyptians claimed that the Colchians, who were black-skinned, were descendants of Sesostris’ army. I reached this conclusion based on the fact that they possess dark skin and kinky hair,” as stated by Diop.
Diop also adds that Diodorus of Sicily asserts that Egyptian civilization originated from Nubia, with Meroe serving as its central hub. In fact, utilizing the information provided by both Diodorus and Herodotus, Cailliaud (circa 1820) discovered the remains of Meroe in present-day Sudan: 80 pyramids and numerous temples dedicated to Amon, Ra, and other deities. Furthermore, Herodotus quotes Egyptian priests, stating that out of the 300 Egyptian Pharaohs spanning from Menes to the Seventeenth Dynasty, 18 were of Sudanese descent, contradicting the notion of only three corresponding to the Ethiopian “dynasty.”
The author has witnessed in Sudan, where they once lived, what Diop writes about as the “pyramids similar to those in Egypt” and ancient ruins displayed in Sudan’s National Museum. These ruins are described in Diop’s book as having “Meroitic writing… closely related to Egyptian writing.”
In his 1939 book, “Black Folks Then And Now,” renowned scholar, historian, and social scientist W.E.B. Du Bois argues that if the Sphinx, with its African features, was placed looking out over the empty plain where the great city of Memphis once stood, then it is clear that the king it represents belonged to a peculiar type of race. Du Bois even addresses those who deny the presence of Negro blood in Egypt, stating that during the time of Egyptology’s development, scientists were hesitant to associate the Negro race with humanity or civilization due to the African slave trade and the prevalence of the Sugar Empire and Cotton Kingdom.
Du Bois’s book of essays, “The World And Africa,” provides further insight into the migration of “other people” into Egypt. He notes that as the years passed, a fixed type of Egyptian began to develop, with other people, such as Mongoloids, filtering in from Asia. He also mentions in “Black Folks Then And Now” that the Black race gradually became a mixed race through the infiltration of Mediterranean and Semitic elements, resulting in a light mulatto stock of octoroons or quadroons, as described in America.
Hart’s critics are mainly upset about an interview where he stated the importance of teaching children about the true history of Black Africans as kings in Egypt, rather than solely focusing on the era of slavery. He asked if people remember when they were kings. Currently, the comedian is on his “Reality Check” comedy tour. On December 9th, he announced that he would be bringing his tour to Cairo, Egypt. The Atlantic Star has reported that neither Hart nor his team have publicly addressed this issue as of the time of their report.