World's Great Men of Color, Volume I: Asia and Africa, and Historical Figures Before Christ, Including Aesop, Hannibal, Cleopatra, Zenobia, Askia the Great, and Many Others [Paperback]

J. A. Rogers (Author), John Henrik Clarke (Introduction, Commentary)

Book Description

Series: World's Great Men of Color | Publication Date: January 23, 1996

An eye-opening account of the great black personalities of world history.

In this first volume: outstanding blacks of Asia and Africa, and historical figures before Christ -- including Akhenaton, Aesop, Hannibal, Cleopatra, Zenobia, Askia the Great, the Mahdi, Samuel Adjai Crowther, and many more.

World's Great Men of Color is a comprehensive account of the great Black personalities in world history. J. A. Rogers was one of the first Black scholars to devote most of his life to researching the lives of hundreds of men and women of color. This first volume is a convenient reference; equipped with a comprehensive introduction, it treats all aspects of recorded Black history. J. A. Rogers's book is vital reading for everyone who wants a fuller and broader understanding of the great personalities who have shaped our world.

The companion volume covers the great Blacks of Europe, South and Central America, the West Indies, and the United States, including Marcus Garvey, Robert Browning, Dom Pedro, Alexandre Dumas, Joachim Murat, Aleksander Sergeevich Pushkin, Alessandro de' Medici, St. Benedict the Moor, and many others.

Editorial Reviews

Review

William Loren Katz Author of Eyewitness J.A. Rogers's anthropological and historical research and careful documentation sought to rescue his people from the humiliations of white scholarly mythology. Rogers's classic World's Great Men of Color has added vital pages to what has become known as Black Studies.

About the Author

J.A. Rogers was an anthropologist and historian whose pioneering work in Black Studies was little appreciated during his lifetime. Among his many books are Superman to Man and Sex and Race. World's Great Men of Color was completed in 1947 but was published only in a small private edition. This edition has been brought up to date with an introduction, commentaries, and bibliographical notes by John Henrik Clarke, editor of Malcolm X: The Man and His Times and Harlem, U.S.A.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Touchstone; Revised edition (January 23, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684815818
• ISBN-13: 978-0684815817
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #28,286 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #97 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Ethnic & National > African-American & Black

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars World's Great Men of Color Vol 1 and 2, September 12, 2006

By 

David Moore "Historian" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: World's Great Men of Color, Volume I: Asia and Africa, and Historical Figures Before Christ, Including Aesop, Hannibal, Cleopatra, Zenobia, Askia the Great, and Many Others (Paperback)

I have owned both of these books for over 15 years. I have lectured at Harvard University, MIT, Umass Amherst, Amherst College and other places citing references from J.A. Rogers exhaustive research. He was greatly ahead of his time and any one of his books are worth their weight in gold. I am a self-taught historian and have been lecturing for 16 years now and consider J.A. Rogers' easy to read,informative style the best ever. He tells his readers about many Africans and others of African descent that achieved great feats while many Europeans were still in savagery. He discusses the first recorded Dr. Imhotep. Hatshepsut (Queen ruler who has a temple that still stands). Makeda, Clitus (General with Alexander the Great), King Taharqa (mentioned in the Bible) and many other great figures. I have all 14 of his books and would not trade one for a bar of gold. His research vastly improved my confidence in the achievement of Africans the world over that have been hidden from general knowledge for lifetimes. If anyone doubts the works of J.A. Rogers I would debate them any place using his research and embarrass you with the research you bring.

The great thing about his works are he just calmly states the facts without tearing any other race or civilization down. How many other works do that? Also with his vast research he could have berated many other races and civilizations, but chose not to waste his time and just stated the facts.

We all greatly benefit still from what he dedicated his life to!

25 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ahead of his time, October 22, 2001

By 

icebergslims "icebergslims" (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: World's Great Men of Color, Volume I: Asia and Africa, and Historical Figures Before Christ, Including Aesop, Hannibal, Cleopatra, Zenobia, Askia the Great, and Many Others (Paperback)

JA Rodgers was ahead of his time when it came to historical reserch. He exposed alot of things that even in our xenophobic world we are afriad to talk about. He discovered through his reserch many of the great people of the past was infact blacks,and that they had been covered up by white wash over centuries. People should read these books with an open mind,because it explains alot in our soceity that are very race conscious people. I learned about Al Jahiz though him and he taught me about many great people I had never even heard of. I never knew about lokman the southern Arabian sage that was considered one of the wisest men. I never knew about the black vikings in this book called blaumen. The book also discussed how many people of the royal family have indeed black ancestry and how they have tried to hide these facts. Get this book to expose the truth and check out other JA Rodgers books.

15 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just say no to angry critics, May 22, 2006

By 

Byoba - See all my reviews

This review is from: World's Great Men of Color, Volume I: Asia and Africa, and Historical Figures Before Christ, Including Aesop, Hannibal, Cleopatra, Zenobia, Askia the Great, and Many Others (Paperback)

The revisnist history, appears to come from ppl like this new orleans critic who doesnt know much about history or its remaining artifacts... The old kingdom and predynasty clearly shows so-called African negro's as the rulers of Egypt not the fantasy semitci nonsense born of 17th/18th western racist... As far as Cleopatra, there were quite a few Cleopatra's through different dynasty periods... of course one would know this if they cared to research properly... Also, Hannibal was always described as being a Afrikan... regardless of in mulatto traits... Its funny how europeans when they can't take Afrikans out of the area which would give us high regard, they must somehow convince others they would should be seen as sub-human, stock, negro, primitive, simple minded, etc... This is clearly white male dogma, since these particular white males are obviously suffering from a inferiority complex, [...] envy, etc.. which activates some defense mechanism within them as they can only see themselves in a competition with other males outside of their circles... Of course this also reflects on what most women desire as well... But, thats too obvious to point out...


Anyway, J.A. Rogers has done a excellent job of putting Afrikans back into the civilize arena where we belong... Of course any fool who would listen to the empty ramblings of angry insecure white males as being some say all authority of what is legit, needs a wake up call...


Notice that racism over a 2,000+ period has been the perpetration of white males or indo-aryans who try to justify such uncivilized behavior through their socio-political opinions, their empty spiritual system (religion), and psuedo-science of survival of the fittest... I guess the latter makes sense for these groups who have genetically undergone a mutated change do to hardship of having to survive with limited resources in areas that did not produce enough edible vegetation... Which led to heavy consumption of eating animals and stealing from others... a habit the europeans are still practicing... as a badge of honor... p.i