Progress and Achievements of the Colored People: Containing the Story of the Wonderful Advancement of the Colored Americans—the Most Marvelous in the History of Nations—Their Past Accomplishments, Together With Their Present-day Opportunities and a Glimpse Into the Future for Further Developments—the Dawn of a Triumphant Era. A Handbook for Self-improvement Which Leads to Greater Success
John Stuart Mill · en
In the chronological book, there is an entire chapter giving the history
of the kings of Ethiopia, from Ibn-al Hakim, son of Solomon by the Queen
of Sheba, down to recent times.
There are also volumes of poems of great beauty and perfect meter,
stories of wars, genealogical lists, biographies, commentaries, moral
maxims, philosophy, anecdotes, astrologies, homilies, hymns, etc. All of
these are contemporaneous.
In proof of this remarkable condition, reference is made to the
“Catalogue des manuscripts Ethiopiens (Gheez et Amharique) de la
Bibliotheque nationale de France, a Paris,” a copy of which may be found
in any of our great public libraries.
ETHIOPIAN WOMEN HELD IN HIGH ESTEEM
In refinement, the Ethiopians held women in a superior position in the
social scale, which says Dr. Reich, the historian, “Shows a higher point
of delicacy and refinement than either their Eastern or Western
successors. Colossal in art, profound in philosophy and religion, and in
possession of the knowledge of the arts and sciences, =the Ethiopian
race exhibits the astounding phenomenon of an elevated civilization at a
period when the other nations of the world were almost unknown=.”
Referring to this question of psychology in civilization exhibited by
the Ethiopians, the same Dr. Reich, in his “History of Civilization,”
says:
“People, as a rule cherish the idea that nations are like individuals,
and that accordingly nations have their childhood, their youth, and
their old age, and their death just as we are used to see in
individuals. This entire idea is utterly false. There is no such
parallel development. =A nation is a mental thing only.=”
Dr. Scholes, in his “Glimpses of the Ages,” citing Heeren’s “Manual of
Ancient History,” relative to the Ethiopians, says:
“It may be gathered from the monuments and records that Upper Egypt
(Ethiopia) was the first seat of civilization, which originating in the
South, spread by the settlement of colonies toward the North (Egypt).
“These migrations are proved by the representations, both in sculpture
and painting found in the yet remaining monuments throughout Egypt.”
“Glimpses of Ages,” p. 191. Heeren, p. 57.
There were tribes among the Ethiopians which were of a low grade of
civilization, just as in the most civilized countries of the present
times, there are peoples of a very low grade, not only in civilization
but in intelligence. But, there existed a highly cultured and civilized
Ethiopian people, who dwelt in cities, erected temples and other
edifices, and who had good government and humane laws. Moreover, their
fame and progress in knowledge and their social arts spread in the
earliest ages over a considerable part of the earth.