Introduction
Hugh Trevor Roper, Professor of History at Oxford University, writing in 1961 said, “At present there is no African history: there is only the history of the Europeans in Africa. The rest is darkness.”

Unfortunately, because of the scarcity of suitable material for middle grade teachers to use in the classroom students are given very little with which to challenge this statement.

The absence of an interior African ancient civilization from the curriculum is markedly apparent.

Although, for example, the California Framework includes Africa’s oldest interior civilization, Kush, with all the other ancient civilizations, teachers for the most part pay only lip service to it. Either it is ignored with the comment,

“No, I don’t teach it. We cannot possibly cover all the suggested civilizations, there is not the time,” or it is dismissed with,

“There is no suitable material around for me to teach it,” or,

“Kush? I haven’t any alternative but to teach it as if it was part of Egypt,” and students are left with the impression that there was no separate and distinct culture located south of Egypt within the African Continent.

However, those of us who are keen to study the history of Africa now know that Roper’s statement is inaccurate. We have archaeological evidence, learned articles, and a growing wealth of information revealing a culture in the interior of Africa that had all the attributes of a civilization, and dates back to the time of the Minoan and Mycenaean cultures of Greece, the pre-Aryan cities of India, and the Sumerian cities of Mesopotamia.

We find a culture whose rulers took over Egypt and ruled as the 25th Dynasty and who, in later years, challenged the advance of the mighty Roman Empire and negotiated a treaty with the Emperor Augustus.

At certain times in its history Kush was strongly influenced by Egypt, but to think of it as an extension of Egypt would be wrong. The culture was already established when Egypt’s influence began to be felt in Kush, and although the people took on many of the Egyptian ways, they also retained their own culture, giving the Egyptian ways a strong African flavor.

Fortunately, there is now a growing number of teachers who recognize how important it is that the ancient civilization of Kush is studied alongside the other ancient riverine societies of Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Ancient China and the Indus Valley.

Roots
It has always been of concern to us that when studying history at school, many African/American students first encounter people from their ethnic historical background during the era of slavery.

When this happens, it is very difficult not to convey a message that says, “Nothing of importance happened historically in the interior of Africa before contact with Europeans.”

To avoid this pitfall we need to be aware, when we first introduce our students to the earliest world cultures, that Kush is included. Just as we teach them about the civilizations developing around the Mediterranean, along the Fertile Crescent, and in China and India, we should also teach them about Africa’s oldest interior civilization. Waiting until the Middle Ages to study Africa by introducing the empires of Ghana and Mali suggests to students that Africa had no earlier civilization as did the rest of the world.

Role of Women
Furthermore the study of Kush enables us to see a society where women took on roles of leadership. Unlike most of the civilizations of the time this was a society where women were highly respected and held positions of power alongside men.
For example, queens in Kush were portrayed in art as of equal size to the king. Compare this to Egypt where the queen was portrayed in art as much smaller than the king indicating comparative importance.

The queens of Kush were also admired for their full figures and indeed the full figure was to be desired and looked upon as a symbol of wealth and power and importance. Compare these role models with those of today where young girls are bombarded with the images of unhealthily thin female figures, and are continually having unnaturally thin models held up as the only appearance to be desired.

Historical Concepts
The study of Kush also gives teachers the ideal opportunity to teach a number of concepts; concepts and themes that are the goals of our social studies curriculum.

For example, students need to understand the historical concepts of cultural diffusion and acculturation. The relationship between Egypt and Kush gives the ideal opportunity to learn about these concepts. However, in order to use these two cultures as illustrative material students need to have a sound knowledge of both societies.

If we guide our students to stand in the shoes of a Kushite boy, leaving his home to live and receive an education at the court of the Egyptian pharaoh, and returning as an adult to take up a position of power in Kush, then students are well prepared for understanding, at first hand, the idea of acculturation.

Meeting Challenges
As teachers we know only too well how important it is to sow rich seeds of knowledge and inquiry at receptive times in a student’s life. Champollion, the man we give credit to for deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs, first took up the challenge when still a boy. Learning that the picture writing on temple walls and on ancient papyrus in Egypt was a complete mystery to the modern world, he vowed that one day he would crack the code.

Today, a similar situation exists in the archaeological discoveries of Ancient Kush. The wealth of written material discovered remains a mystery to us, for no one has yet cracked the code. Are there students in our classrooms today who will be inspired by an exciting presentation of Kushite history to the point where they will vow that one day they will make a lasting contribution in this field?

Kush Alive in the Classroom
Not so long ago we visited a class that had been using our teaching unit on the Ancient Civilization of Kush. They were nearing the end of the allocated period and were drawing the study to a close with a class performance of the short drama in Module 2 where Candace Amanirenas leads her people against the might of Augustus’ Roman army.

From their study of Kushite society they knew that the Queens of Kush were tall, full figured African women. They knew that the Kushites saw beauty, wealth and power reflected in the size of their queens.

The students also knew that these rulers were very elegant. They used makeup in a similar manner to their neighbors, the Egyptians, paying special attention to their eye makeup. This elegance also showed itself in their long manicured nails. The Kushites believed that long and beautiful nails were an indication that the person was rich and powerful enough never to do any manual work.

We were delighted when the students began to speak their lines. The Queen’s voice was loud and authoritative. She had truly taken on the role and had become the part, visibly growing in stature as she spoke her lines.

Later we spoke with the teacher and found it hard to believe that this was the first time that this student had come forward to take any kind of lead or prominent role in class activities. She wouldn’t have done so this time had not the class encouraged her to take the role because of her all round suitability for the part.

We agreed that if this student remembered nothing else from her early school days she would remember playing the role of the Kushite Queen, Candace Amanirenas, who challenged the great Roman Emperor Augustus. We came away thinking that this alone could justify the inclusion of a study of the ancient African civilization of Kush in the middle grades curriculum. It is clear that the time has arrived for Kush to be a basic and core part of the history-social studies curriculum.

Joyce and David Mollet are former teachers and teacher educators. They recently produced a series of nine teaching packs on the ancient civilizations, one of which is Kush. Their teaching pack on Kush is unique in that it is the first resource to provide teachers with comprehensive material to teach this ancient African civilization. They have brought together, for the first time, research documents, archaeological reports, and recent discoveries in such a way as to make them meaningful to middle grade students, and user-friendly to middle grade teachers. The assignments develop, not only history/social study skills but also language arts skills and the approach is interdisciplinary and cross-curricula. Information on their packs can be obtained at 619 463 1270 (phone/fax) email: waldorfedu@cox.net