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Afrocentrist multicultural pseudo-history

Statement

The claim is that the origins of western, and perhaps all civilization is to be found in black Africa. The argument goes thus, Egypt is the mother of Greek and Roman civilization, Egypt is in Africa, hence Egyptians are and were Africans, and Egyptians were Blacks.

Extreme ideas include the assertion that Africans voyaged to America since before the time of Christ and influenced Indian cultures. Claims are made that melanin (the chemical that makes Blacks' skin dark, and whites' tan) has extraordinary capabilities making Blacks mentally superior and better athletes.

No scholar doubts Egyptian learning influenced classical Greek and Roman civilization. Egypt in turn was influenced by African areas further south (Ethiopia and Sudan), and by Asia, and in turn influenced the cultures of these regions. However, most serious scholars reject the idea that cultures of West Africa or of the East African lakes region were either the source of Egyptian learning, or were much influenced by classical Egyptian civilization.

Sources

Afrocentrism - Skeptic's Dictionary
Mary Lefkowitz, Not Out of Africa: How Afrocentrism Became an Excuse to Teach Myth as History (New York: Basic Books, 1996)
Gerald Early, Wilson J. Moses, Louis Wilson and Mary R. Lefkowitz, "Symposium: Historical Roots of Afrocentrism." Academic Questions, 7(2, 1994) pp. 44-54.
Gerald Early, "Understanding Afrocentrism, why Blacks dream of a World without Whites." Civilization (mag. of Lib. of Congress) pp. 31-39.
Paul R. Gross and Norman Levitt, Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and its Quarrels with Science. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins U. P. 1994) pp. 203-214.
Bernard Ortiz de Montellano, "Multicultural Pseudoscience." Skeptical Inquirer, 16 (Fall 1991) 46-50.
Bernard Ortiz de Montellano, "Magic Melanin." Skeptical Inquirer, 16 (Winter 1992) 162-166
Robert Hughes, The Culture of Complaint: The Fraying of America (NY: Oxford U. P, 1993) pp. 130-151.
Peter A. Young, "Was Nefertiti Black?" Archaeology (Sept/Oct. 1992) p.2
Robert O. Collins (ed.), Problems in African History, "Problem I: Africa and Egypt" (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1968) pp.7-55.
Roland Oliver, The African Experience (NY: HarperCollins, 1991) esp. chaps. 5-7.
Frank Snowden, Blacks in Antiquity (Harvard Univ. Press, 1970)
Robert Palter, "Black Athena, Afro-centrism, and the History of Science." History of Science, 31 (1993) 227-287.
Irving M. Klotz, "Multicultural Perspectives in Science Education: One Prescription for Failure." Phi Delta Kappan (Nov. 1993) 266-269.
John Travis, "Schools Stumble on an Afrocentric Science Essay." Science 262 (12 Nov. 1993) 1121-1122.
Molefi Kete Asante, "More Thoughts on the Africanists' Agenda" Issue: A Journal of Opinion 23 (Win/Spr. 1995) 11-12
James D. Muhly et al. "Martin Bernal, Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization 1785-1985" a special review section of discussion and debate in Journal of Mediterranean Archaeology 3 (1, 1990) 50-137.
Walter F. Rowe, "School Daze: A Critical Review of the 'African-American Baseline Essays' for Science and Mathematics." Skeptical Inquirer, 19 (Sept./Oct. 1995) 27-32.