It Is a signal fact of American historyand a sad onethat of the many cultural and ethnic minorities who love this land. who die for it and call it home. the Negro alone has been deprived of his natural heritage. Virtually every national hero or saint. feast or fast day. may be celebrated on these shores. from the Year of the Dragon to the Day of St. Patrick. and rare is the American. no matter how distantly removed from immigrant status or country of origin. who does not know something of his ancestry. the name of his "household gods." But how many American Negroes ever heard the name of the ManiCongo (Lord of the Congo) Nzingo Mbemba (baptized Dom Affonso). the great chieftain of 1487. or of his son. who was appointed in Rome itself as his countrys first bishop. Yet these were men of great personal dignity and stature. rulers of states as large and larger than many of the European duchies and principalities of the same areablack men who were as well loved or who did as much for the people perhaps as a Medici. or a Bismarck. Thanks to the research scholar. the historian. the archaeologist. we have at our fingertips a whole series of high civilizations.
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