n of man. I had expected to find a few scattered references to African peoples or a few random accounts of individuals who had traveled from the African continent, but my study revealed that people of dark skin, who very well may be considered black by todays racial standards, were found scattered about the nations of the ancient world.Origins of the Negro RaceOne of the first or most obvious questions that may be asked when beginning to look for the presence of blacks in the Old Testament is with regard to the origin of dark skinned races. A logical place to begin this search may be in the table of nations presented in Genesis 10:1-14 and again listed in 1 Chronicles 1:8-16. This list begins with Noah and accounts for the dispersing of his sons to begin repopulating the Earth after the great flood account in Genesis. In this table of nations we find that two of the named sons of Ham are known dark skinned races. These being the descendants of Cush and the descendants of Canaan. The most commonly accepted reason for the sudden appearance dark skin within the genealogy is related to the curse Noah set upon Ham in Genesis 9:25-27. Although not explicitly stated in the text, it is generally accepted that Hams skin was turned dark as a result of this curse, and his descendants were then destined to carry the same mark. There are, however, other hypotheses for the origin of the black races. The first of these theories, expressed in ancient Babylonian myth, suggests that Ham defiled himself in a sexual act with the dog while on the ark. For this act of defilement, curses were placed on both the dog and Ham. Hams curse was that he and his descendants would be black-skinned. The next theory suggests that the Negro race actually began back with Adam and Eves first son Cain, who was turned black by the ashes of his inappropriate offering to God. The theory that Cain was in fact the father of the Negro race was a somewhat prevalent t...
