Because I couldn't prove otherwise and
because my favorite Bible, the famous
Old Scofield Reference Bible, which had
become the official version of American
fundamentalism, endorsed the curse of
Ham theory, I had little recourse other
than to accept it. After all, those
promoting it were "trained" in the Bible
and theology at the finest fundamentalist
institutions in our country-institutions, by
the way, that at that time would not allow
blacks to enroll as students.
With the endorsement of the Old Scofield
Bible, coupled with the legal status of
American segregation, the myth was
firmly established and embedded in the
American psyche.
Never mind, of course, that the Bible
says that Canaan, Ham's son, was
cursed, not Ham himself. Thus, only one
of Ham's four sons, not all four, were
cursed. How then could all black people
everywhere be cursed? Never mind that
the Bible places limitations on curses-
only three or four generations at most
(Ex. 20:5).