Page 3 - Children of Genesis book sample

My Journey

often have discussed events that shaped
my life and propelled me on this never-
I ending journey of research on Africa and
people of African ancestry. It’s been a lifelong
journey supported with a continuous passion
for researching and exploring the wonders of
our historical past.

As I look back at my life, I see a series of events
and circumstances that contributed to my
cultural and personal development. I certainly did not understand
the big picture as these events occurred, but I now see them as the
foundation that helped me arrive at the point of writing this book.

In october 1956, my godmother gave me my first Bible. I was an
inquisitive 6-year-old, first-grade student at an all-negro segregated
school in Shelby, north Carolina. The Bible had a white leathery cover,
which caught my eye because it was different from the standard black
cover Bibles in our church.

For the next six years, I carried my Bible to Sunday school and
church. I initially couldn’t read all the words, but I constantly looked
at the pictures contained in the holy book. Along with my formal
education, the Bible was the primary source of my learning. It helped
me learn how to read, form sentences and pronounce new words.

In my earlier years, the pictures in the Bible dominated my thoughts.
As I read and listened to stories of Adam and eve in the Garden of eden,
noah and the Great Flood and Moses with the 10 Commandments,
these people were my early-life heroes. even though all characters
in the pictures were white, that concept didn’t bother me because
I learned that most — if not all — biblical characters were strong,
brave white people. I can’t recall any times that I questioned the
validity of those pictures.

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