If you have an ancient history class, you might get lucky if your professor goes over sub-Saharan African history. They might hit Mansa Musa, but most sub-Saharan African history is not included in a history course. To be clear, I am not referring to Egyptian history. It is my belief that Egyptian history overshadows other regions of Africa.

A typical world history course covers areas from Ancient Mesopotamia, Rome, China, and India. Most of it is from Europe and Asia but little is done on African history. However, African history is very rich. As people part of the African diaspora, it is important to understand our history and how it has been erased. Our history does not start with slavery, but with highly civilized empires and social structures with advanced technology. Did you know that metallurgy and iron smelting began in Sub-Saharan Africa around 3,000 BCE? Did you also know that a medieval city on the Swahili coast was made from coral stone?

Our ancestors contributed a lot more than we know to world history. Even if we don’t know much about our great ancestors’ history and it hasn’t necessarily been taught in school, we live in the information age. There is a greater opportunity now than ever to understand Ancient African history. I believe our history does not start with slavery but with great empires with kings and queens. Yes, slavery is an unfortunate part of African-American history but that isn’t everything. If you are interested in learning more about Ancient African history, I recommend you watch HomeTeam History and From Nothing on YouTube. Let’s begin rewriting our history.