My name is Khallida Kidd and I am currently a student at Berea College in Kentucky. In response to Rob Wittmann and his article published in 2003, on Cleopatra of mixed lineage, I would like to say a few things. In reading this article I am baffled by your perspective on Cleopatra and her true lineage. This article states that Cleopatra was not of Afrikan descent yet Egypt is located in AFRIKA. What part of this is so puzzling? My belief is similar to yours in that every ethnicity would love to claim such great rulers as apart of their own. But in converse of what you have stated, I believe that many Eurocentric scholars like to claim Egyptian history, which by the way is Afrikan history, in attempt to improve the self-esteem of their people. Africans were the first people. Everyone came to Afrika to study. This is a known fact. Why don’t you know it? From no other race/ethnicity did the Egyptians acquire writing, religion, irrigation and mathematics. The Greeks themselves acknowledge the Afrikan influence and presence in their history. You either have failed to find this information, overlooked the information, or am in denial of the evidence that you have found supporting that Egyptians such as Cleopatra, were indeed black Africans. Besides, what other type of Afrikans are there? Indeed we don’t all look the same, but we are no less Afrikans. Miseducation and ignorance has blatantly been shown throughout the reading of your article. Study The FACTS and history a little bit more than what you have done. I suggest that you approach it without any bias. That may help. The truth is what the truth is. It may hurt but facts are facts. Please feel free to respond to any and all that I have said. This letter is in no way an attempt to trample all over you as a person. Instead it is but an attempt to challenge your thinking and force you to do more research on this touchy topic of race and the miseducation of world history.kiddk@berea.edu859)985-4985
campus brat
Cleopatra of Mixed Lineage
The first realization of my own age hit me in the months before I started college. I was helping my dad clean the small office he’d occupied in Rush Rhees longer than I’d been alive. The walls of which boasted childhood drawings that my sister and I had crayoned. Even though I was looking at my distant past, I realized I would soon be starting a new page of my future. Read More
cultural identity
Cleopatra of Mixed Lineage
President and senior Mennatallah “Mennah” Mohamed shared that this dinner was a “time to highlight how Arab culture is so interconnected.” Read More