The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the Modern World)

Good read

It was information I had be looking for.

In the Bible, Noah curses Canaan after some sort of sexual misconduct occurs, stating "a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers." Christians and Muslims later perverted this language into a defense of their policy of enslaving black Africans, based on an imaginary "curse of Ham", even though (1) Ham was not cursed, and (2) Canaanites were Israel's neighbors and thus not black. How did this happen?Goldenberg begins by discussing the Tanach (what Christians call the Old Testament) and shows that the Bible knows no color line. There are references to Kushites, but it is unclear whether they are black Africans, and there is certainly no suggestion that Kushites should be slaves. In late antiquity (3rd-7th centuries) some commentators of all monotheistic religions began to suggest that Ham was cursed with dark skin for misconduct, but did not usually claim that this curse affected only sub-Saharan Africans or caused them to be enslaved by others. For example, Origen a 3d c. Christian commentator) suggests that Ham was cursed, but says that this curse affects Egyptians who "sink to every slavery of the vices."But when Arabs conquered large chunks of Africa in the 7th and 8th centuries, they enslaved Africans and exported them north-- so it became perfectly natural for Arabs and Europeans to equate Africa with slavery, since most Africans they saw were presumably slaves. Biblical interpretation began to reflect this view, and legends based on the Bible turned the original curse of Canaan into a dual curse of blackness and slavery that was focused like a laser beam upon the blackest people (that is, sub-Saharan Africans).I note that this book is a dense, scholarly book with hundreds of footnotes, so it may not be the ideal book for non-scholars.

Yes, it is "scholarly" but mostly straw. He quotes a lot of infidels. Our society has also forgotten about the curse on Eve and all women. It does not know what the rainbow is a reminder of. Moses wrote Genesis hundreds of years later and condensed the story. The exact sin is made clear by him, but missed by the blind infidels. You have to be amazed at the stupidity of Ham. God just destroyed all mankind except for these 8. Why did he do that? Because of their sins. And that fact did not sink in on Ham. Talk about a blatant sin. Consider how they must have chided him for months over that. The resultant curse on his offspring is a reminder of that sin. That too is forgotten by the current society.

The Curse of Ham has such historic significance to the history of oppression of Africans and African Americans for so many centuries that it's helpful to have a book that sets the record straight on the origins. It's a scholarly text so the multiple cited sources is important! This needs to be read!

Was Ham African? This book tries to divinate the truth and the origin of the 'curse of Ham' since over the generations many have perverted the bible to show that the descendants of Ham were African and were also meant to be slaves. The truth is a little different. Just as Atalantic slavers used the exuse that africans were not human to enslave them thus Muslims likewise used the excuse that africans could be enslaved as pagans. But the Bible was simply used as an easy way to not feel guilty about slavery. The reality was that slavery was practiced not just against Africans and that the race of Africans had little to do with slavery. Rather the slave trade seems to have been so long and prosperous in Africa due to the Africans being active participants, the lack of a unified empire in Africa to oppose slavery and the lack of other sources of humans to serve as slaves. After all we know that Rome enslaved the Gauls and other europeans. But when Europe developed a strong state the only europeans open to being enslaved where those colonized by the Ottomans. Likewise the depopulation that followed the Islamic conquest of the middle east meant that slaves could not come from thos eregions. Slaves certainyl couldnt be transported out of China. Thus Africa became the meat market for human cruelty, the sickness of slavery that eventually consumed and destroyed african soceity. But among the warrior tribes such as the Zulu we do not see enslavement, why? Because they dared to raise the sword against the Perverts who came to buy their daughters into slavery. The 'curse of Ham' had little to do with Africa rather it had more to do with Humans and the weakness of the state.Seth J. Frantzman

THIS BOOK IS MORE THAN HALF CITATIONS!!!! THE ACTUAL READING MATERIAL IS ONLY 200 PAGES....DO NOT BE FOOLED!!!! THERE ARE OTHER BOOKS TO CHOOSE FROM ON THIS TOPIC THAT DO NOT SIMPLY MENTION THE WORKS OF OTHER BOOKS.

So we are going to act like the original Jews/ Israelites are not dark skinned? The evidence is overwhelming

Not quite what I needed for my dissertation but still useful