THE GLOBAL AFRICAN COMMUNITY
H I S T O R Y N O T E S
 |
TRIBUTE TO A TRAILBLAZER
THE REVEREND DR. RUFUS LEWIS PERRY
| DEDICATED TO THE REVEREND DR. CHARLES BUCHANAN COPHER |
Historian, scholar and social activist Rufus Lewis Perry (1834-1895) was one of the most outstanding men of the nineteenth century. Perry was a "Race Man" and lived a life dedicated to the uplift of African people. Born a slave in Smith County, Tennessee, Rufus Lewis Perry became a Baptist minister, journalist, "Ph.D., Editor, Ethnologist, Essayist, Logician, Profound Student of Negro History, Scholar in the Greek, Latin and Hebrew Languages."
Dominant in Dr. Perry's work is the pronounced emphasis on the ancient African nation spanning both Africa and Asia identified by the Greeks and Romans as Ethiopia and known in the Biblical Table of Nations as Cush. In 1893, Dr. Perry's most comprehensive work, The Cushite, or the Descendants of Ham as Found in the Sacred Scriptures and in the Writings of Ancient Historians and Poets from Noah to the Christian Era, was published. In his conclusion to the text Perry reminded us that:
"Now what the Cushite was, certainly has some bearing on what he is, and is to be. It should inspire him with an ambition to emulate his forefathers; for if to the memory of the distinguished Negroes of modern times we add the historic facts..., it were pusillanimous in us, and dishonoring to our ancestors, to be ashamed of either our color or our name."
Rufus Lewis Perry was a remarkable man. In spite of his humble beginnings and the innumerable difficulties and staggering obstacles in his path, through his own brilliance, his determination and conviction, he engaged in a noble work and embarked upon a vital mission. The Reverend Dr. Rufus Lewis Perry was a Black nationalist and trailblazer whose life and works have served as both guidance and inspiration for more than a century.
SOURCES:The Cushite, by Rufus Lewis Perry
African Presence In Early Asia, Edited by Rashidi & Van Sertima
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Revised: November 03, 2000.
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