Egypt’s civilization predates and was degraded into slavery by the West

Evidence

But returning to Egypt, the lesson she teaches history contains many reflections for philosophy. What a subject for meditation, to see the present barbarism and ignorance of the Copts, descendants of the alliance between the profound genius of the Egyptians and the brilliant mind of the Greeks! Just think that this race of black men, today our slave and the object of our scorn, is the very race to which we owe our arts, sciences, and even the use of speech! Just imagine, finally, that it is in the midst of peoples who call themselves the greatest friends of liberty and humanity that one has approved the most barbarous slavery and questioned whether black men have the same kind of intelligence as Whites! — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 1735

Categorization

• XREF: Directly supports the reader’s goal of tracing the Black radical tradition’s claim to an older civilizational origin — connects to the Afrocentric historiography tradition (Diop, ben-Jochannan, James) Robinson engages throughout.
• SEED: The paradox of Enlightenment universalism co-existing with racialized slavery — a ready essay angle on how ‘liberty and humanity’ were built on black subjugation.