Africans and Native Americans: The Language of Race and the Evolution of Red-Black Peoples

by Jack D. Forbes

Jack D. Forbes's monumental Africans and Native Americans has become a canonical text in the study of relations between the two groups. Forbes explores key issues relating to the evolution of racial terminology and European colonialists' perceptions of color, analyzing the development of color classification systems and the specific evolution of key terms such as black, mulatto, and mestizo--terms that no longer carry their original meanings. Forbes also presents strong evidence that Native American and African contacts began in Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Indigenous, Race, African American, Africa, Native American

352 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1993

About the author

Jack D. Forbes was a Native-American writer, scholar and political activist. He is best known for his book, Columbus and Other Cannibals, which has become a primary text of the Anti-civilization Movement.

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

The topic fascinates me, but the reading here is just not where I prefer it to be. For one thing, almost every other paragraph starts with "Thus,", which, once you notice, becomes a constant irritant. A lot of well-thought out points are displayed and backed up with evidence, and the author deserves credit for research and enthusiasm, but I just did not enjoy the actual reading. Another annoyance in the book, that happens quite often, is the tendency to quote Spanish and Portuguese texts, followed by an immediate analysis without any translation.

This is an ideal book if you are a professor of some sort looking for a collection of facts, and you also happen to speak Spanish and Portuguese, but for anyone else it's just a sleeping pill.

I am still waiting for the definitive book on the topic, any pointers in a direction would help.

[Irma Suggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for those doing genealogy research in the US.

[Jerome Strong · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book left no leaves un-turned relative to the etymology of racial terms like mulatto, black, colored, loro, blackamoor, etc. He also shows us that the transatlantic slave trade began by capturing Americans who were taken as slaves to Europe (particularly the Iberian peninsula), North Africa and West Africa. One's first instinct is to think that they were selling Americans to Africans but the Europeans had taken over portions of countries in Africa and the islands off the West coast of Africa. They were using Americans as slaves to build ports, cities, and forts.

I read it mostly for the history of race relations but found it to be more. It is certainly a history book but so much more in that it can also be used for social ethics/sciences, etc. There is one conclusion of his that I take issue with. In referring to the Olmec colossal heads found in Mexico, he stated that the scholarship is necessary to show that if they were carved by Africans that there needs to be evidence of Africans carving the same colossal heads on the continent. I disagree in that all one needs to do is show that Africans indeed traveled to the Americas between the period 800-300 BC. We do have records of such a trip taking place from the Sene-Gambia/Mali area in 800 BC as recorded by Sertima in his book They Came Before Columbus.

He also shows us that Americans had discovered Europe millennia before the Columbian era. He confirmed a hypothesis of mine that Americans were traded from one area to the next by showing how Americans were emptied from islands to fulfill labor demands on others. Overall an excellent book one must have in the library if interested at all in the formation of the current phenotype(s), folk-lore, and traditions of the so-called African-American and Indian of today.

[Trace Lara Hentz · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I found this book, I was editor of the Pequot Times in Connecticut and told EVERYONE to read it - history that connects African and Native Americans are scarce... this book is highly recommended!

[Clarissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read and informative used for my annotated bibliography.

[Massin87 · Rating 3 out of 5]

its about history

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wake me up when it's over...