Black Egypt - Why are historians reluctant to accept this theory?

by [deleted]

If Ancient Egyptians looked like this, this and this why can't we claim they were black?

jschooltiger

The simplest answer is because our modern racial constructs are, well, constructs -- they are socially constructed. "Black" is a completely modern concept, which is rooted in the experience of the Atlantic slave trade but formalized in the 19th century. It would make no sense in the context of ancient Egypt to call people by a modern racial category.

For more on this, see this section of our FAQ, in particular these threads: