Claims of Jewish descent could be deployed to dispossess Africans of their land

Evidence

Rufus Perry traced the ancestry of black Americans to the biblical Cushites, who were the descendants of Cush, Ham’s eldest son. According to Perry, the Cushites were the ancient Ethiopians and indigenous Egyptians whose history exemplified prowess in medicine, war, art, and religious thought. Identifying the Cushite leaders of the Bible, Perry considered the greatness of the African past to be the foundation stone of the African American’s future. — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 1357 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Colonial anti-Semites projected an idealized noble Jewish type onto Africans; Idealizing Africans as ancient Jews erased living Jews from sacred history; Colonial observers framed African peoples through anti-Semitic racial typing — Ivan Davidson Kalmar, Derek Penslar, Orientalism and the Jews, 335 (+12 more)

Broader Connections

• Black intellectuals claimed biblical descent to refute denigration of African ancestry. #complicates (0.75) — Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, Righteous Discontent, 1357
• Idealizing Africans as ancient Jews erased living Jews from sacred history #complicates (0.71)