By Don Valentine
It’s amaz-ing how His-Story manages to forget certain factual details. To wit, the Moors’ sophisticated contributions to Europe, centuries before those same Europeans decided to enlighten anyone else. The logic, of course, is duplicitous: ignore centuries of Black achievements, then declare slavery a “favor” to those ignorant Africans. To Black people, who had built empires and advanced civilizations, saying slavery elevated us is almost a “Trumpian” insult. The Moors, with their scientific and architectural marvels, must be rolling in their graves. But why let facts get in the way of a good, self-serving myth?
Florida’s esteemed Governor DeSantis had no qualms about supporting the state’s schools teaching that slavery was really a vocational program for the cretins. Thanks to slavery these illiterate savages could learn skills like blacksmithing, farming, quilting and the essential skill of picking cotton.
The Moors were a group of North Africans who conquered and ruled Spain for nearly 800 years, from 711 to 1492. They entered Spain, after crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, passing through Morocco. They introduced the use of Arabic numbers in Europe, which are still used worldwide today. They also made significant advances in medicine, developed treatments for various diseases and created medical textbooks. Ancient Origins Series by Robert Storey noted, “The Moors introduced a variety of fruits and vegetables… These items included peaches, lemons, oranges, saffron, cotton, rice, silk…” The Moors introduced architectural techniques that amazed European stonemasons. One impressive example is the Alhambra, a palace complex located in Granada, Spain.
Historians still debate the Moors crossing of the Atlantic. Denying the nautical prowess of these seafaring savants—pioneers in cartography, science, and mathematics—is absurd. Their ancestors, using the lateen sail and astrolabe, were established sailors, traveling from Aden to Sri Lanka. The book Understanding Slavery gives profound evidence of the incessant racist distortion of Black history: “In the 18th century, racist views of Africa were most famously expressed by Scottish philosopher David Hume: ‘I am apt to suspect the Negroes to be naturally inferior to the Whites. There scarcely ever was a civilized nation of that complexion, nor even any individual, eminent either in action or in speculation. No ingenious manufacture among them, no arts, no sciences.’” Mendacious distortions like that show the value of the Black press to preserve Our history.
