THE GLOBAL AFRICAN COMMUNITY

H I S T O R Y
N O T E S


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TRIBUTE TO A TRAILBLAZER THE REVEREND
DR. RUFUS LEWIS PERRY
By RUNOKO
RASHIDI


DEDICATED TO THE REVEREND DR. CHARLES BUCHANAN
COPHER



Historian, scholar and social activist Rufus
Lewis Perry (1834-1895) was one of the most outstanding men of the nineteenth
century. Perry was a "Race Man" and lived a life dedicated to the uplift of
African people. Born a slave in Smith County, Tennessee, Rufus Lewis Perry
became a Baptist minister, journalist, "Ph.D., Editor, Ethnologist, Essayist,
Logician, Profound Student of Negro History, Scholar in the Greek, Latin and
Hebrew Languages."

Dominant in Dr. Perry's work is the pronounced emphasis on the ancient
African nation spanning both Africa and Asia identified by the Greeks and Romans
as Ethiopia and known in the Biblical Table of Nations as Cush. In 1893, Dr.
Perry's most comprehensive work, The Cushite, or the Descendants of Ham as Found
in the Sacred Scriptures and in the Writings of Ancient Historians and Poets
from Noah to the Christian Era, was published. In his conclusion to the text
Perry reminded us that:

"Now what the Cushite was, certainly has some bearing on what he is, and
is to be. It should inspire him with an ambition to emulate his forefathers;
for if to the memory of the distinguished Negroes of modern times we add the
historic facts..., it were pusillanimous in us, and dishonoring to our
ancestors, to be ashamed of either our color or our name."
Rufus Lewis Perry was a remarkable man. In spite of his humble beginnings
and the innumerable difficulties and staggering obstacles in his path, through
his own brilliance, his determination and conviction, he engaged in a noble work
and embarked upon a vital mission. The Reverend Dr. Rufus Lewis Perry was a
Black nationalist and trailblazer whose life and works have served as both
guidance and inspiration for more than a century.

SOURCES:
The Cushite, by Rufus Lewis Perry
African Presence In Early Asia, Edited by Rashidi & Van Sertima