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Black People Invented Everything: The Deep History of Indigenous Creativity
Who invented the traffic light? What about transportation itself? Farming? Art? Modern chemistry? Who made…cats? What if I told you there was ONE answer to all of these questions? That one answer? BLACK PEOPLE!
Seriously. And this book is like a mini-encyclopedia, full of more evidence than WikiLeaks and just as eye-opening!
Do you know just how much Black inventors and creators have given to modern society? Within the past 200 years, Black Americans have drawn on a timeless well of inner genius to innovate and engineer the design of the world we live in today. But what of all the Black history before then?
Before white people invented the Patent Office, Black folks were the original creators and builders, developing ingenious ways to manage the world’s changes over millions of years, everywhere you can imagine, from Azerbaijan to Zagazig!
With wit and wisdom (and tons of pictures!) this book digs deeper than the whitewashed history we learn in school books and explores how our African ancestors established the foundation of modern society! Have you inherited this genius? What can you do with it? Inspired by solutions from the past, we can develop strategies for a successful future!
Seriously. And this book is like a mini-encyclopedia, full of more evidence than WikiLeaks and just as eye-opening!
Do you know just how much Black inventors and creators have given to modern society? Within the past 200 years, Black Americans have drawn on a timeless well of inner genius to innovate and engineer the design of the world we live in today. But what of all the Black history before then?
Before white people invented the Patent Office, Black folks were the original creators and builders, developing ingenious ways to manage the world’s changes over millions of years, everywhere you can imagine, from Azerbaijan to Zagazig!
With wit and wisdom (and tons of pictures!) this book digs deeper than the whitewashed history we learn in school books and explores how our African ancestors established the foundation of modern society! Have you inherited this genius? What can you do with it? Inspired by solutions from the past, we can develop strategies for a successful future!
- GenresHistoryAfricaNonfiction
256 pages, Paperback
Published January 30, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
April 4, 2021
I couldn't finish this one. Read it as part of a book club (mostly female African-American members), and no one enjoyed it. Reads like it should be an encyclopedia, but the author gave no citations for the claims made, no expansion or history on claims. The few times there was history or information added to make things interesting, it felt like he made it up himself. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. someone mentioned it may be good for kids to get them interested in doing further research on the topics, but it definitely is NOT a stand alone book, and I wouldn't trust most of the things mentioned.
June 17, 2024
A FASCINATING TEXT WITH A PROVOCATIVE THEME
Sujan Kumar Dass (aka ‘Supreme Understanding’) was born in Jersey City, New Jersey to Bangladeshi parents. He is a member of the Nation of Gods and Earths (aka ‘The Five-Percent Nation’). He says of himself, “I became a street youth, and wouldn’t have made it far, had the teachings of the Five Percent not saved my life… I graduated with honors (from Morehouse) in 2001… I went on to teach in the Atlanta public schools … for 15 years.”
He wrote in the Introduction to this 2020 book, “Who invented the traffic light? What about the modern computer? Farming? Art? Nuclear Chemistry? Would you believe me if I told you there was one answer… Black people. That’s a difficult idea to stomach for many of us… I’m no racist… I’m a historian and a social scientist. And I love turning old notions over on their heads, showing people how to combat outdated ways of thinking… This is a reference book full of information you can use… It begins with the historical facts, starting in America… We examine exactly why Black America is so ingenious. Then we go deeper into the Black past, exploring the original history of these ideas and inventions, and just how advanced the technology of our ancestors was.” (Pg. 9-10)
Later, he adds, “In this book, we’ll explore how every form of science, culture, and technology---even some of today’s most advanced ideas---were originally developed by Black people. These ideas were revived by Black American inventors in recent times because they carried the genetic inheritance of thousands of creators, pioneers, and scientists before them! Thus, the history of Black people inventing anything must go back before America, before Western civilization itself, and to the earliest times.” (Pg. 32)
He explains, “Black people are the originators of just about everything because they are the what? The Original People! Because dark-skinned, or melanated, people have been on this planet, and all over it, for millions of years, there’s almost nothing practical that wasn’t invented by Black people at some point… In this book, we’ll also expand on the meaning of ‘black’ as a global and cultural identity. As you know, most Native Americans have some African ancestry. And most black people in America have some Native blood. Yet most Black people still ‘look Black’ while so many of today’s Indians look almost white. Why?... First, the designation ‘Black’ is not a local or geographic title, but a designation of ancestry, marked by the clear visual presence of melanin rich skin. It points to a common unity among people who all descend from an ancestral Black source community formed ages ago, before the world was settled by humans…
“So yes, the ancestors of Native Americans were Black. Many today, including many Mexicans are still dark-skinned and coarse-haired. People from Alaska to the Caribbean should know that the Indians there [were] not pale-skinned until the conquerors came… In the U.S., Indian children … were encouraged to marry white or lighter-skinned people so their children would be more ‘socially acceptable.’ And this happened everywhere in the world where white colonialism went! Thus, while many of the world’s people… are Black, they may not want that title!... yet Black is a global identity because it refers to the Original people---who were, and are, Black.” (Pg. 34-36)
He suggests, “Myths and written histories across the world have mentioned flying vehicles for thousands of years. Many ancient murals and wall reliefs show what looks like modern technology, including airplanes and rockets… What happened to the legendary technology described in to many ancient myths? Everywhere in the ancient world, our oldest tombs and temple vaults were looted for nearly everything they contained… items flooded the smugglers’ market after 1914, but few reports mention the countless metal objects … that were taken and have never been seen again!... What kind of secrets do these artifacts hold? Today, many such items are held in private collections… Others are hidden in plain sight, like the museum exhibit of Wakandan technology in the film ‘Black Panther.’ The truth is stranger than fiction!” (Pg. 45-46)
He points out, “Around 800 BC, Greek poet Homer remarked in the Odyssey, ‘In Egypt, the men are more skilled in medicine than any of human kind’ and the Egyptians were ‘skilled in medicine more than any other art.’ Of course, Homer wasn’t familiar with many other Black civilizations… [But] he WAS well acquainted with ancient Greece and its European neighbors… he could look at all kinds of white folks everywhere and still say those Black folks on the Nile were best… Following the reports of Homer, Herodotus, and Pliny the Elder (among others), the Greeks who would later be credited with the foundations of the medical industry began visiting Egypt to study at the temple of Amenhotep and other institutions. These included Hippocrates… and Galen, all of whom acknowledged the contribution of ancient Egyptian medicine to Greek medicine. Later European writers, however… managed to credit the ancient Greek students while forgetting about the Black folks who had taught them.” (Pg. 117-118)
He recounts, “epics like the ‘Lamentations of Ipuwer’ (circa 2000 BC) aren’t just a poet’s imaginings---they’re the records of the fall of Egypt to foreign invaders… The fall of their noble society was tragic… It recovered a few times, especially thanks to the return of the Nubian dynasties, yet… it would never fully return to the technological grandeur of the Old Kingdom. This is when the craft of writing history is taken up mostly by the conquerors. After 1200 BC, Europeans begin writing their own histories, which promoted them as victors and heroes while writing their victims out of history as savages deserving of contempt.” (Pg. 140-141)
He states, “the Australian message stick … bears a set of marks that communicate an invitation to an emu hunt… When Brough Smyth copied the geometric figures… he explained that ‘all these figures have a meaning that is intelligible to the blacks.’ However, no European anthropologist was able to identify ‘any conventionally fixed characters.’ … Except only ‘the blacks’ would read it! These aren’t the only messages Europeans haven’t been able to decode. Most of the world’s oldest scripts… have never been cracked. Maybe you’ll be the one?” (Pg. 147-148)
He notes, “African metalworking… seemed to come quite late when compared with metalworking in the rest of the world. For years, scientists used this fact as evidence for the ‘primitive nature’ of ‘sub-Saharan Africa.’ After all, why did it take nearly a thousand years for Africa to adopt a technology used nearly everywhere else? Let’s talk about that… Often, people may not WANT a new technology… Indigenous people may not NEED a technology popular elsewhere. Sometimes we adopt a technology because we need it for utilitarian purposes, and sometimes we adopt it for aesthetic reasons, but rarely do we adopt something with neither of these factors as motivation… while some of us may think metal tools were necessary, scientists now know that a blade made from obsidian has a cutting edge many times sharper than high-quality steel surgical tools. So we were doing pretty good with our Stone Age tools… Also, let’s not make the assumption that metal… meant ‘better for everyone.’ In fact, iron… also empowered [the Bantu] … to drive out the remaining hunter-gatherer societies… And of course, we can’t forget that there would have been no muskets, rifles, and cannons, had it not been for iron. Is that why some indigenous cultures had an age-old warning against the making of iron? Is this why Africa appears to have discovered metallurgy long before everyone else, then discontinued its use for a few thousand years, until picking it back up and outpacing its neighbors yet again?” (Pg. 170-171) Later, he adds, “Considering the gaps in the historical record and the complexity found in African metalworking, it is not only possible that Africans independently began smelting iron, but that this innovation first occurred long before 5,000 years ago. This technology, like so many others, may simply have not ‘caught on.’” (Pg. 174)
He states, “modern society came to us from the Egyptians, who in turn, had inherited it from the Nubians to their south. Black People invented everything. The Greeks also said that Egyptians derived their civilization and religion from Ethiopia. The earliest dynasties of Egypt were a recovery effort after some great calamity that had devastated the Nile around 4000 BC. Thus the Egypt of 3000 BC was a great civilization nearing its end, not one at its beginning!” (Pg. 182)
He argues, “Every written script white folks have ever used came from Black people. Greek, Hebrew, even English All of it came from Black people. None of it was ‘indigenous’ to Europeans. Yet they told the world that Africa was where written language was lacking, and used this as their justification for their dehumanization of its people and the rewriting of their history!.. What happened to these ancient African alphabets and syllabaries? Some of these indigenous systems were suppressed and destroyed by European settlers, while others were lost in the chaos of European rule! Many were lost when enslaved Africans were stripped of their rights to read or write. Others were associated with people outside of Africa to disguise their origins. For example, the Phoenician script… came from the same source as other north African scripts. Most of these scripts have not survived…” (Pg. 202-203)
In the book’s ‘About the Author’ section, he notes. “This book has many sections that read technical and scholarly. These are in the voice of Dr. Sujan Dass, the scientist who cites his references and makes sure even the academic community will accept it. Other parts sound more like Supreme Understanding, the cultural warrior who speaks from the heart with wit or wisdom that’s easy to understand, even if you’re not an academic!... This is because this book was completed in several stages, over a period of ten years. While some of the scholarly articles were originally written in 2012, some of the more audacious theories in the book only came to me recently. In future books, I’ll make sure to label different sections with their respective ‘authors.’” (Pg. 231-232)
This book is fabulously illustrated with photographs, and very clearly written. Its biggest problem is that, although it has 220 footnoted references, these cover more than 228 pages of text---so most of the author’s statements throughout the book do not indicate any ‘source’ supporting them. Nevertheless, this book will be absolute “must reading” for those studying Black history, and related subjects.
Sujan Kumar Dass (aka ‘Supreme Understanding’) was born in Jersey City, New Jersey to Bangladeshi parents. He is a member of the Nation of Gods and Earths (aka ‘The Five-Percent Nation’). He says of himself, “I became a street youth, and wouldn’t have made it far, had the teachings of the Five Percent not saved my life… I graduated with honors (from Morehouse) in 2001… I went on to teach in the Atlanta public schools … for 15 years.”
He wrote in the Introduction to this 2020 book, “Who invented the traffic light? What about the modern computer? Farming? Art? Nuclear Chemistry? Would you believe me if I told you there was one answer… Black people. That’s a difficult idea to stomach for many of us… I’m no racist… I’m a historian and a social scientist. And I love turning old notions over on their heads, showing people how to combat outdated ways of thinking… This is a reference book full of information you can use… It begins with the historical facts, starting in America… We examine exactly why Black America is so ingenious. Then we go deeper into the Black past, exploring the original history of these ideas and inventions, and just how advanced the technology of our ancestors was.” (Pg. 9-10)
Later, he adds, “In this book, we’ll explore how every form of science, culture, and technology---even some of today’s most advanced ideas---were originally developed by Black people. These ideas were revived by Black American inventors in recent times because they carried the genetic inheritance of thousands of creators, pioneers, and scientists before them! Thus, the history of Black people inventing anything must go back before America, before Western civilization itself, and to the earliest times.” (Pg. 32)
He explains, “Black people are the originators of just about everything because they are the what? The Original People! Because dark-skinned, or melanated, people have been on this planet, and all over it, for millions of years, there’s almost nothing practical that wasn’t invented by Black people at some point… In this book, we’ll also expand on the meaning of ‘black’ as a global and cultural identity. As you know, most Native Americans have some African ancestry. And most black people in America have some Native blood. Yet most Black people still ‘look Black’ while so many of today’s Indians look almost white. Why?... First, the designation ‘Black’ is not a local or geographic title, but a designation of ancestry, marked by the clear visual presence of melanin rich skin. It points to a common unity among people who all descend from an ancestral Black source community formed ages ago, before the world was settled by humans…
“So yes, the ancestors of Native Americans were Black. Many today, including many Mexicans are still dark-skinned and coarse-haired. People from Alaska to the Caribbean should know that the Indians there [were] not pale-skinned until the conquerors came… In the U.S., Indian children … were encouraged to marry white or lighter-skinned people so their children would be more ‘socially acceptable.’ And this happened everywhere in the world where white colonialism went! Thus, while many of the world’s people… are Black, they may not want that title!... yet Black is a global identity because it refers to the Original people---who were, and are, Black.” (Pg. 34-36)
He suggests, “Myths and written histories across the world have mentioned flying vehicles for thousands of years. Many ancient murals and wall reliefs show what looks like modern technology, including airplanes and rockets… What happened to the legendary technology described in to many ancient myths? Everywhere in the ancient world, our oldest tombs and temple vaults were looted for nearly everything they contained… items flooded the smugglers’ market after 1914, but few reports mention the countless metal objects … that were taken and have never been seen again!... What kind of secrets do these artifacts hold? Today, many such items are held in private collections… Others are hidden in plain sight, like the museum exhibit of Wakandan technology in the film ‘Black Panther.’ The truth is stranger than fiction!” (Pg. 45-46)
He points out, “Around 800 BC, Greek poet Homer remarked in the Odyssey, ‘In Egypt, the men are more skilled in medicine than any of human kind’ and the Egyptians were ‘skilled in medicine more than any other art.’ Of course, Homer wasn’t familiar with many other Black civilizations… [But] he WAS well acquainted with ancient Greece and its European neighbors… he could look at all kinds of white folks everywhere and still say those Black folks on the Nile were best… Following the reports of Homer, Herodotus, and Pliny the Elder (among others), the Greeks who would later be credited with the foundations of the medical industry began visiting Egypt to study at the temple of Amenhotep and other institutions. These included Hippocrates… and Galen, all of whom acknowledged the contribution of ancient Egyptian medicine to Greek medicine. Later European writers, however… managed to credit the ancient Greek students while forgetting about the Black folks who had taught them.” (Pg. 117-118)
He recounts, “epics like the ‘Lamentations of Ipuwer’ (circa 2000 BC) aren’t just a poet’s imaginings---they’re the records of the fall of Egypt to foreign invaders… The fall of their noble society was tragic… It recovered a few times, especially thanks to the return of the Nubian dynasties, yet… it would never fully return to the technological grandeur of the Old Kingdom. This is when the craft of writing history is taken up mostly by the conquerors. After 1200 BC, Europeans begin writing their own histories, which promoted them as victors and heroes while writing their victims out of history as savages deserving of contempt.” (Pg. 140-141)
He states, “the Australian message stick … bears a set of marks that communicate an invitation to an emu hunt… When Brough Smyth copied the geometric figures… he explained that ‘all these figures have a meaning that is intelligible to the blacks.’ However, no European anthropologist was able to identify ‘any conventionally fixed characters.’ … Except only ‘the blacks’ would read it! These aren’t the only messages Europeans haven’t been able to decode. Most of the world’s oldest scripts… have never been cracked. Maybe you’ll be the one?” (Pg. 147-148)
He notes, “African metalworking… seemed to come quite late when compared with metalworking in the rest of the world. For years, scientists used this fact as evidence for the ‘primitive nature’ of ‘sub-Saharan Africa.’ After all, why did it take nearly a thousand years for Africa to adopt a technology used nearly everywhere else? Let’s talk about that… Often, people may not WANT a new technology… Indigenous people may not NEED a technology popular elsewhere. Sometimes we adopt a technology because we need it for utilitarian purposes, and sometimes we adopt it for aesthetic reasons, but rarely do we adopt something with neither of these factors as motivation… while some of us may think metal tools were necessary, scientists now know that a blade made from obsidian has a cutting edge many times sharper than high-quality steel surgical tools. So we were doing pretty good with our Stone Age tools… Also, let’s not make the assumption that metal… meant ‘better for everyone.’ In fact, iron… also empowered [the Bantu] … to drive out the remaining hunter-gatherer societies… And of course, we can’t forget that there would have been no muskets, rifles, and cannons, had it not been for iron. Is that why some indigenous cultures had an age-old warning against the making of iron? Is this why Africa appears to have discovered metallurgy long before everyone else, then discontinued its use for a few thousand years, until picking it back up and outpacing its neighbors yet again?” (Pg. 170-171) Later, he adds, “Considering the gaps in the historical record and the complexity found in African metalworking, it is not only possible that Africans independently began smelting iron, but that this innovation first occurred long before 5,000 years ago. This technology, like so many others, may simply have not ‘caught on.’” (Pg. 174)
He states, “modern society came to us from the Egyptians, who in turn, had inherited it from the Nubians to their south. Black People invented everything. The Greeks also said that Egyptians derived their civilization and religion from Ethiopia. The earliest dynasties of Egypt were a recovery effort after some great calamity that had devastated the Nile around 4000 BC. Thus the Egypt of 3000 BC was a great civilization nearing its end, not one at its beginning!” (Pg. 182)
He argues, “Every written script white folks have ever used came from Black people. Greek, Hebrew, even English All of it came from Black people. None of it was ‘indigenous’ to Europeans. Yet they told the world that Africa was where written language was lacking, and used this as their justification for their dehumanization of its people and the rewriting of their history!.. What happened to these ancient African alphabets and syllabaries? Some of these indigenous systems were suppressed and destroyed by European settlers, while others were lost in the chaos of European rule! Many were lost when enslaved Africans were stripped of their rights to read or write. Others were associated with people outside of Africa to disguise their origins. For example, the Phoenician script… came from the same source as other north African scripts. Most of these scripts have not survived…” (Pg. 202-203)
In the book’s ‘About the Author’ section, he notes. “This book has many sections that read technical and scholarly. These are in the voice of Dr. Sujan Dass, the scientist who cites his references and makes sure even the academic community will accept it. Other parts sound more like Supreme Understanding, the cultural warrior who speaks from the heart with wit or wisdom that’s easy to understand, even if you’re not an academic!... This is because this book was completed in several stages, over a period of ten years. While some of the scholarly articles were originally written in 2012, some of the more audacious theories in the book only came to me recently. In future books, I’ll make sure to label different sections with their respective ‘authors.’” (Pg. 231-232)
This book is fabulously illustrated with photographs, and very clearly written. Its biggest problem is that, although it has 220 footnoted references, these cover more than 228 pages of text---so most of the author’s statements throughout the book do not indicate any ‘source’ supporting them. Nevertheless, this book will be absolute “must reading” for those studying Black history, and related subjects.
September 9, 2026
Full of fantasy, if you believe this, your favorite movie is probably Black Panther
July 23, 2025
When I say Black people invented everything, I mean everything. From the traffic light to transportation itself, from farming to art, even to the domestication of cats—Dr. Sujan Kumar Dass pulls no punches in this eye-opening, truth-telling, mini-encyclopedia of Black innovation across the ages.
Like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.” This book is living proof of that. It’s not just a reference guide—it’s a mirror, a blueprint, and a challenge. A challenge to think beyond the history books we were handed in school. A challenge to reclaim the roots of genius that have long been hidden or stolen.
Dr. Dass masterfully lays out facts, photographs, timelines, and tantalizing questions: Who really invented modern chemistry? Who set the foundation for advanced civilizations in science, math, and governance? What if the answer to it all is—Black people? Spoiler alert: It is.
This isn’t your average history book. It’s packed with wit, wisdom, and more receipts than a tax audit. Whether you’re a student, an educator, an innovator, or just hungry for truth, this book is a must-read and a must-own. It doesn’t just tell you what was done—it inspires you to ask, what can I do now with what I’ve inherited?
Read it. Reread it. Share it. Build with it.
Like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.” This book is living proof of that. It’s not just a reference guide—it’s a mirror, a blueprint, and a challenge. A challenge to think beyond the history books we were handed in school. A challenge to reclaim the roots of genius that have long been hidden or stolen.
Dr. Dass masterfully lays out facts, photographs, timelines, and tantalizing questions: Who really invented modern chemistry? Who set the foundation for advanced civilizations in science, math, and governance? What if the answer to it all is—Black people? Spoiler alert: It is.
This isn’t your average history book. It’s packed with wit, wisdom, and more receipts than a tax audit. Whether you’re a student, an educator, an innovator, or just hungry for truth, this book is a must-read and a must-own. It doesn’t just tell you what was done—it inspires you to ask, what can I do now with what I’ve inherited?
Read it. Reread it. Share it. Build with it.
September 21, 2021
This book full of esoteric knowledge. Deeply fascinating! Worth reading!
September 19, 2023
This book is for real. I'd give this mofo 10 stars if I could. If you don't believe this book you a racist.
October 11, 2024
Absolutely delusional to say the least. "We wuz kangs n sheeeit".
November 15, 2022
Great read
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews