It was in 1951, at the age of 27, Cheikh Anta DIOP was preparing a doctoral thesis at the University of Paris, its title: From Egyptian Negro antiquity to the cultural problems of today’s Black Africa, in which he affirms that the Egyptian Civilization was black, that it was prior to all the others and that the Egyptian language and culture then spread to Africa.
The thesis is refused, officially because he fails to assemble a jury. But the real reason was elsewhere: the academic world, at the time, was unwilling (it still isn’t today) to accept the truth that comes out of the head of a “colonized”. Which truth called into question all the literature produced until then on the origin of the ancient Egyptians.
Aimé Césaire then fights to find him a publisher, the refused thesis finally comes out in 1954 in book form, at the African presence of Alioune DIOP, under a title that has become mythical: NATIONS NÉGRES ET CULTURE.
“The most daring book that a negro has ever written”, said Aimé Césaire in his Discours sur le colonialisme.
The book meets a historic success, the young African intellectual is invited in the debates and begins to animate conferences, Cheikh Anta at 30 years old.
Against bad luck, the University finally accepts that he supports his thesis. It was one of the most publicized defenses of the 20th century. He finally obtained his doctorate in 1960 with honorable mention. Later, they avoided, in a subtle way, Cheikh Anta DIOP teaching. He shouldn’t have become a professor, he shouldn’t have any contact with the students of African universities…
This sanitary cordon is still there, CHEIKH Anta DIOP must be forgotten, his work discredited, so that colonial thought continues to dominate the world of ideas in Africa and to enslave consciences.
