When reading about the early scientific theories of Lemuria, I was struck by the racism that grew out of Ernst Haeckle’s theory that Lemuria was populated by anthropoid apes. He postulated that the ‘not-fully human’ creatures left before the continent sunk and eventually evolved into the human species of today. An unfortunate extension of this theory is that the peoples still living around the Indian Ocean basin are the closest living relatives to the anthropoid apes. Their theories also supposed that dark-skinned people are somewhat lower on the evolutionary scale compared to the light-skinned authors of the theories. There is no evidence in the archaeological record to support these theories, nor can any be found that state the opposite, that lighter-skinned people are lower on the evolutionary scale compared to dark-skinned people.
Albert Churchward (1852-1925)
I have known that James and his younger brother Albert (1852-1925) were at odds over their belief in evolution. James was a die-hard creationist, whereas, Albert wrote books about his evolutionary theories, as well as the subject of Freemasonry.
From the website “Black Britain”
Imagine my surprize to discover a website devoted to the theory that world history has been re-written by ‘Albinos’ to cover up the actual accomplishments of ‘black’ people, using the theories of Albert Churchward, a believer in the evolutionary theories involving anthropoid apes.
On the webpage ‘Black Britain,’ the author displays the text of Albert’s Origin and Evolution of Primitive Man to show that the first people were identified as coming from Africa, populating the globe, and creating civilization.
What the webpage author fails to realize is that Albert wrote that these first ‘pygmies’ are the next evolutionary step from anthropoid apes, to be followed by Bushmen, Masaba Negro, etc. until the ‘Aryanists’ evolve. The use of an tired old racist evolutionary theory as ‘proof’ is disconcerting in any circumstance, however when it is used to attempt to prove the exact opposite, it is almost comical. The webpage author has included a passage that demonstrates Albert’s belief that ‘dark-skinned’ people are lower on the evolutionary scale than ‘light-skinned’ people while attempting to prove that “The Worlds First Civilizations Were Black Civilizations.”
The point of this posting is not to determine whether the webpage author’s thesis is correct, only to indicate this particular use of Albert Churchward’s writings does not support the webpage author’s point.
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