heads six to ten feet tall. Wherever they were from, the human models for these
heads were important people, people to be worshiped or obeyed or at least
remembered.^33 However, most archaeologists think they were Mayan, so
including the Afro-Phoenicians must be done as a mere possibility—an
ongoing controversy.
Of all the textbooks I surveyed, only two even mention the possibility of
African or Phoenician exploration. The American Adventure simply poses two
questions: “What similarities are there between the great monuments of the
Maya and those of ancient Egypt?” and “Might windblown sailors from Asia,
Europe, Africa, or the South Pacific have mingled with the earlier inhabitants
of the New World?” The textbook supplies no relevant information and even
claims “You should be able to deal with these questions without doing
research.” Nonsense. Most classrooms will simply ignore the questions.^34 The
United States—A History of the Republic mentions pre-Columbian
expeditions only to assure us that we need not concern ourselves with them:
“None of these Europeans, Africans, or Asians left lasting traces of their
presence in the Americas, nor did they develop any lasting relationships with
the first Americans.”
American history textbooks promote the belief that most important
developments in world history are traceable to Europe. To grant too much
human potential to pre-Columbian Africans might jar European American
sensibilities. As Samuel Marble put it, “The possibility of African discovery
of America has never been a tempting one for American historians.”^35
Teachers and curricula that present African history and African Americans in a
positive light are often condemned for being Afrocentric. White historians
insist that the case for the Afro-Phoenicians has not been proven; we must not
distort history to improve black children’s self-image, they say. They are right
that the case hasn’t been proven, but textbooks should include the Afro-
Phoenicians as a possibility, a controversy.
Standard history textbooks and courses discriminate against students who
have been educated by rap songs or by Van Sertima. Imagine an eleventh-grade
classroom in American history in early fall. The text is Life and Liberty;
students are reading Chapter 2, “Exploration and Colonization.” What happens
when an African American girl shoots up her hand to challenge the statement
“Not until 1497 to 1499 did the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama sail
around Africa”? From rap songs the girl has learned that Phoenicians beat da