The time period between 1160 and 1680 saw the ending and beginning of two different ages, the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Both of these ages experienced a large development in the Arts, specifically the icons, or religious images, representing the Jews. Of all of the great Biblical, or religious, icons, representing the Jews, created before, during, and after this period, strangely, there are very little representing, or including, people of color: especially since the Jews were people of color.

The current representation of the Jews may have occurred because of interpretations, perceptions, and attitudes displayed towards the Caucasian Jews and Black Moors, or black people in general, living in Medieval Europe. This representation may have also occurred as a result of the approved, or accepted, versus the unapproved, or unaccepted, historical representation of these people. This representation of history, because other theories concerning the Jews, even when backed by a substantial amount of evidence, are not even acknowledged, is called whitewashing (meaning to cover up). This form of history was thrust upon the inhabitants of the world and is still taught in schools today. Whether or not whitewashing was accidental or intentional remains to be disputed. The icons, as proven by various documents concerning the history surrounding the Jews, were originally paintings of a dark-skinned people. Whitewashing contributes to European thought and culture by making Europeans appear as if they have a history of great people and events, thereby elevating them to a status of greatness in the world’s eye.

Whitewashing, in relation to the icons, is the act of covering up, by painting over or recreating, the true image of a painting in order to conceal the truth concerning a people’s history. Whitewashing, of course, is not limited to recreating history, which is a mental genocide, but can also, in the extreme sense, involve a physical genocide. On March 22, 1999, The Sunday Morning Herald contained a present day example of whitewashing, because of racial prejudice. The title of this article is “Whitewashing Our Dark Past,” written by Robert Manne. This article deals with “breeding out the color” of Australia’s Aborigines by the Commonwealth Government. Robert Manne writes:

Between the wars, the Aboriginal children removed to the ‘half-caste’ homes in Darwin and Alice Springs were placed in conditions of utmost squalor. In Darwin, in 1930, 76 infants were locked up in a cottage big enough for a single family. In Alice Springs the children were confined in a fetid, insanitary, sweltering tin shed. And yet, in his address, Douglas Meagher, with a completely straight face, spoke of the Commonwealth’s nobility of purpose in rescuing these ‘half-caste’ children from poverty and the ‘degradation of the black camp.’

Another example of whitewashing depicting the mental aspect of genocide, which deals with the color of the Biblical Hebrew Israelites, is explained in Rudolf Windsor’s The Valley of The Dry Bones. He states: The Europeans had the reason to lie: to develop white supremacy. They reinforced their lie by placing white pictures throughout the Bible, with white pictures on religious calendars, and producing lily-white television programs and religious movies. As a result…the modern generation (white and black) just assumes, without the facts, that the ancient Hebrews were white. (54)

The original icons representing the Hebrew Israelites depicted them as dark in color. Many historians and archeologists have undertaken great pains to correct the lies, or whitewashing, concerning these icons by bringing out the correct history of the people connected to these icons. There are two types of Jews: the true Jews, who are the Jews of the Bible, and those people who converted to Judaism, who are the Jews of today. The Jews of the Bible, who are the Jews of the Diaspora, and the Jews of today, the Ashkenazim Jews, have two distinctly different backgrounds. They are not the same people. However, both of these Jews were living in Europe during the Middle Ages, but the icons that were created during the Middle Ages represent only one of these groups.

Before the Middle Ages began, the nation of Israel broke up into two Kingdoms, the kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah. After the death of Solomon, around 971 B.C., ten tribes led by the tribe of Ephraim became the kingdom of Israel, while two tribes led by the tribe of Judah became the kingdom of Judah. These two kingdoms constantly fought each other and sought to separate themselves by any means possible. According to Steven Collins, “The first Israelite king (Jeroboam) sought to sever cultural and religious ties between the Israelite and Jewish kingdoms by replacing God’s Holy Days with pagan festivals.” This attempt to sever the two kingdoms, along with the wars and captivities experienced by the two kingdoms, completely scattered them throughout Europe. According to Steven Collins, “Migrating Israelites would have quickly lost their Israelite identity” as they begin life all over somewhere else. By the time we reach the Middle Ages, the majority of the kingdom of Judah (meaning Jews) resided in Rome and Jerusalem, while the kingdom of Israel and some members of the kingdom of Judah lived scattered throughout Europe as the founders of empires such as “Phoenicia, Carthage, Scythia and Parthia,” who later became the “Teutons, Vandals, Saxons, Germans, Jutes, Alani, and Goths.”

The attempt to conceal the truth of the color of the people associated with the icons depicting Jews may be the result of attitudes displayed towards the Black Moors and other black rulers of Europe during the Middle Ages. These attitudes may have occurred because black people were ruling parts of Europe once ruled by white people. The Dark, or Middle, Ages designates the period between the fall of the Roman Empire and the fall of the Byzantium Empire (193 A.D. to 1453 A.D.). Rome made anyone, who took a pledge to serve Rome, Roman citizens. Rome also created armies out of these new Roman citizens and set them apart from Rome’s own army. In 193 A.D., a black man named Septimius Serverus (descendant of the Phoenicians), as a General in the Roman army, aided by the black men under his command, conquered Rome beginning the time period referred to as the Dark, or Middle Ages. According to Carl Roebuck, “The Roman Empire passed through a crucial period of internal anarchy and foreign invasion which transformed its nature. The death of Commodus in 192 was followed by civil war, from which Septimius Severus, the commander of the Danubian legions, emerged as victor and established the Severan Dynasty of Rulers.” From this period on, black people began to rule in different parts of Europe at different times during the Middle Ages.

As time passed, Constantine continued the stronghold of Europe when East and West Europe came together and formed the Byzantine Empire, today called Turkey. In a dream, the sword, in the symbol of a cross, appeared in a vision to Emperor Constantine as a sign that he would be victorious in conquering the rest of Europe. John Firth writes, “Lifting his eyes, the Emperor saw in the heavens just above the sun the figure of a cross, a cross of radiant light, and attached to it was the inscription, ‘Conquer by this.’” In a major battle against Maxentis, between 300 A.D. and 310 A.D., Constantine had Christ’s cross carried at the front of his army. Constantine began supporting the Israelite Christians and their teachings of Christ. According to Firth, “He [Constantine] beseeches all his subjects to become Christians, but he will not compel them.” Constantine himself became a follower of Christ. Firth states that he began to follow “the single Deity which his father, Constantius, had worshiped [who] was none other than Christ.” Constantine recommended that continuation of the most precious images of the biblical patriarchs of God, Christ, and the Angels. Many images were painted on column halls, portals, and churches all over Europe, or what was considered the Holy Roman Empire.

The icons are images of the Hebrew Israelites. The Hebrew Israelites are dark-skinned people according to the Bible and the few remaining original icons located throughout Europe. Many scriptures in the Bible describe the color of the Israelites. Solomon describes himself as a black man. He states, “I am black.” Job also describes himself as a black man. He states, “My skin is black.” Solomon describes the color of the Israelites when he states, “Their visage is blacker than a coal.” The tribe of Judah is “black unto the ground.” Even the Bible Concordance, which states the exact meaning of words used in a particular verse, states that black refers to the color of the skin. In Exodus, 2:10, Moses becomes Pharaoh’s daughter’s son and passes for an Egyptian. Moses is mistaken for an Egyptian by the daughters of a priest of Midian, when he helps these women water their flock. When the women explain to their father what Moses did for them, they say, “An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds.”

In reference to Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, the scriptures also describe their ethnic background. In Matthew 2:13-15, an angel tells Joseph to take Mary and Jesus and flee into Egypt in order to hide from Herod. They would not have been able to hide in Egypt if they were not dark in color. Could a white person hide amongst a group of dark-skinned people? Many books by historians and other learned men and women describe the color of the Hebrew Israelites. Rudolf Windsor describes the color of the Jews present during the 70 A.D. destruction of Jerusalem. He writes, “During the period from Pompey to Julius, it has been estimated that over 1,000,000 Jews fled into Africa, fleeing Roman persecution and slavery. The slave markets were full of black Jewish slaves.” The true Jews, the Jews of the Diaspora, are dark in color. They are not white. Arthur Koestler further describes the difference between the Jews of the Diaspora and the Jews of today. He states:

The Jews who inhabit it [Israel], regardless of their checkered origins, possess the essential requirements of a nation: a country of their own, a common language, government and army. The Jews of the Diaspora have none of these requirements of nationhood. What sets them apart as a special category from the Gentiles amidst whom they live is their declared religion, whether they practice it or not. Here lies the basic difference between Israelis and Jews of the Diaspora. The former have acquired a national identity; the latter are labeled as Jews by their religion-not their nationality, not by their race.

In 1453, Ottoman Turks conquered the Israelites, who were at this time controlling Constantinople. The Ottoman Turks were people of Caucasian descent who converted to the Islamic faith. The struggle between the Ottoman Turks and the Byzantium Empire had been going on for some time. The Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund of Luxemburg had created the Order of The Dragon, whose main purpose was the organization of a crusade against the Turks. The Turks, as Arthur Koestler describes, are actually the descendants of the ancient Khzars, who “were part of the white race of the steppe.” Arthur Koestler writes, “All we can say with safety is that the Khazars were a Turkic tribe.”

The fall of the Byzantium Empire signaled the end of the Dark Ages and marked the beginning of the Renaissance. “The concept of the Renaissance, whose goal was the rebirth or re-creation of ancient classical culture, originated in Florence in the early 15th century…by the end of the 16th century the new style pervaded almost all of Europe, gradually replacing the Gothic style of the late Middle Ages.” It was during the Renaissance that the icons and the images of the Hebrew Israelites were whitewashed on a much greater scale. Today, most of the icons seen are paintings of Caucasian (white) Jews. Concerning the Caucasian, or Askenazi, Jews of today, Koestler writes, “I have compiled the historical evidence which indicates that the bulk of Eastern Jewry-and hence of the world Jewry-is of Khazar-Turkish, rather than Semitic, origin.” In other words, the Caucasian Jews of today descend from the same group of people who conquered the Byzantium Empire. According to Steven Collins, “The Askenazi Jews are supposedly the descendants of the Khazars.” The true Jews are not Caucasians.

The images of Caucasian, or white, Jews painted during the Middle and Renaissance periods may be the results of interpretations based on those people who were calling themselves Jews living in Europe during this time period. As stated, the Jews were dispersed throughout Europe and Asia during, and before, the 70 A.D. destruction of Jerusalem. Before Septimius Severus conquered Rome, 123 years had passed since the 70 A.D. destruction of Jerusalem. The Jews were living separated and persecuted for 123 years, so, in order to survive, the Jews would have taken on new titles instead of continuing to call themselves Jews. According to Steven Collins, “It is typical of migrating populations that they lose their old identity, and assume a new one as they become identified with new homelands.” The Jews lost their identity and called themselves by other names as the Bible shows. Peter writes, “And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers of Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,…” By the time Septimius Severus conquered Rome, the Jews (from the kingdom of Judah) fleeing persecution, joined their brothers from the kingdom of Israel, who had been living as “Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Scythians, and Parthians” and later “Teutons, Vandals, Saxons, Germans, Jutes, Alani, and Goths.” The true Jews lost their identity and another group of people, the Khazars, took over their identity. According to Steven Collins, “The Khazars were gentiles, when they willingly adopted the customs and religion of the tribe of Judah.” Hughley states that the Caucasion Jews (descendants of the ancient Khazars) “according to some non-Jewish European historians and even some European Jewish sources, were converted to Judaism in the year 740 A.D.” The Khazars were the people living throughout Europe who now called themselves Jews, and these people became the new models for religious icons and images.

The whitewashed images of the Israelites may also be the result of attitudes and racial prejudices displayed towards the Black Moors and the other blacks ruling throughout Europe at different times. Septimius Severus, a black man, conquered Rome and took the rulership of Europe once held by whites and put in the hands of blacks. European hatred and resentment for blacks stem from this act. According to David MacRitchie, in reference to European hatred for blacks,

‘The black giants of the Welsh, and other tales, are hateful and horrid. The Welsh Black Oppressor, and the Black Knight of Lancashire are fierce tyrants, the cruel foes of all white people. At a later date, when the whites were gaining the ascendancy, and the blacks were cut up into straggling bands, or lurking, like the Black Morrow of Galloway, in solitary dens and forest-shades, out of which they issued by night, intent on murder and rapine, -even at this stage of their history the blacks were the dreaded enemies of the whites.’

From the time of Septimius Severus, Europe was plunged into the Dark Ages, or European rulership under black people. J.A. Rogers, concerning the Black Moors, writes, “They dominated the Mediterranean and the North Atlantic and plundered the coasts of Western European and the British Isles. They even conquered and ruled parts of Scotland.” The Black Moors were also present in many of the royal families of Europe whom we thought were white. J.A. Rogers writes, “Moorish blood came into the English royal family. Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV and mother of Henry VIII, had several Moors in her family.” J.A. Rogers wrote about black rulership of Europe throughout the Dark, or Middle, Ages, and he has substantial proof of this condition. The Sephardim Jews, or the Jews living in Spain, are also described as being dark-skinned. According to Windsor:

It was A.D. 1492 (January 2nd), when the Moorish stronghold of Granada surrendered to the armies of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. For the first time since the year 711, all of Spain was in Christian hands. The reason given for the expulsion of the Jews was that it was thought they corrupted the Marranos (Jews converted to Christianity) by privately encouraging them in disloyalty to Christianity. These black Jews would naturally go to African countries most of all, because of less persecution and they could disguise themselves easily among blacks.

Marion Johnson concurs with Windsor’s historical information concerning the Moorish stronghold of Granada. She writes, “On 2 Jan [1492], Granada, the last stronghold of the Moors in Spain, fell to the army of the Catholic kings, Ferdinand and Isabella.” Thirty-nine years after the Ottoman Turks conquered the Byzantium Empire, ending the Dark Ages, or rulership of Europe under black people, the last stronghold of the Moors was destroyed, displacing many of the black Jews living in Spain.

Whitewashing took place on a much greater scale under the leadership of the Borgia’s family, who used many artists, including Leonardo and Michelangelo, to decorate the churches. The family is described as the first crime family. Russell Aiuto uses words like greed, incest, murder, and piety to describe the Borgias. Caesar Borgia became the model for the Vicar of Christ. The white images of Christ displayed all over the world today bare a striking resemblance to the image of Caesar Borgia, the second son of Pope Alexander VI. Could this be a coincidence? Many sponsors for the creation of paintings were known to have insisted on having themselves painted into a religious image. In fact, some of the well-known characters, such as Greek gods and such, used in these paintings resembled the likeness of the sponsor. J.A. Rogers, addresses the apparent contradiction between the painting of Christ and the descriptions of Christ given by the historical records of the Bible when he writes:

The earliest traditions of the ‘Saviors of Mankind,’ from the Buddhas to Jesus depict them as black, or dark-skinned. Eisler R. Says that Josephus, Jewish historian of the first century said that Christ ‘was a man of simple appearance mature age, dark skin, with little hair.’ The early Christians, he says accepted that picture…but that the Halosis underwent the usual ‘corrections at the hands of Christian copyists with a view to embellishment.’ A portrait of Christ, entirely apocryphal and with absolutely no foundation in truth, was conceived somewhere along the line by a European artist according to European ideals of beauty and that seems to have served as concept for thousands of pictures that since followed.

European beauty, specifically color, was based on European faith. “Western Europe distorted the image of the black to fit its own ideas.” Since Western Europe was separated from places where blacks lived in large numbers, such as Africa, and thus black Jews, their ideas surrounding beauty, which they displayed in art (especially religious art), favored themselves. These ideas, regardless of what little history they had access to concerning people of color, were justified according to demands of their faith. Information concerning the Jews was available. According to Steven Collins, “Ancient historians knew both who the Israelites were, and where they went.” However, history is told from the ruling people’s point of view. Anything contrary to European ideas, or faith, was associated with the color black. Even today we are fed negative images and connotations of the color black like Black Monday, blackmail, black sheep, and black day. “The idea that sin is black leads implicitly to the notion that God is white.”

Indeed, whitewashing may have been a combination of both the attitudes displayed towards black people in general and personal interpretations of art based on one’s faith and surroundings. As stated before, from the time of Septimius Severus, blacks were ruling throughout Europe and Asia until the fall of the Byzantium Empire, when black rulership was greatly reduced and later, as the last stronghold of the Moors was toppled, destroyed. Thus began the Renaissance, or re-birth, of white rulership and representations of such. According to David Freedberg, concerning images and other representations of a people’s rulership, “the aim is to pull down whatever symbolizes…the order which one wishes to replace with a new and better one. One removes the visible vestiges of the bad past. To pull down the images of a rejected order…is to wipe the slate clean and inaugurate the promise of utopia.” The true images of the Jews, and thus of the rulers of Europe and Asia during the Dark Ages, were rejected, because these images were apart of the old order and reminded the new rulers of their once debased state.

Freedberg gives a further example of this Renaissance movement when he writes, “Take the problem of the meaning of the removal of symbols of the king or emperor or dictator. When the image of the emperor went round in the Byzantine cities and provinces, he was there too: he was present in his image. Once could imagine no more effective act for diminishing his living power than by destroying his image.”

Once people are subjected to a new order, or rulership, the rules change and thus their way of living. Once the rulership of the blacks living in Europe and Asia was destroyed, they became the lower class citizens and were subjected to new rules. To add insult to injury, once the symbols and images of the black rulership was destroyed, or whitewashed, they would not be allowed to educate. This would further destroy them by erasing the memory of their history from the minds of their children, who would not be able to read or write. The only way these people would be able to learn now would be through sight. According to Freedberg, “Pictures were justified because they were the books of the illiterate…and writers like Luther emphasized the value of pictures which showed histories. Histories, in the broad sense, meant pictures and sculptures with narrative subjects from the Bible.” This new class of illiterate blacks would have to learn a whitewashed history; a history they would not know was their own.

The question to ask now is, is whitewashing an organized attempt to cover, conceal, and fashion history to fit another people’s taste? I would venture to say yes, but only to a certain degree. Whitewashing may in fact be the result of both organized intents (resulting from power struggles) and gradual effects (resulting from ignorance and even interracial marriages). Whatever the cause may be, one fact can be made with great certainty and that is that whitewashing continues even today. This statement is true because the facts concerning whitewashing, even if whitewashing was not intentional, are not even discussed when studying the Medieval period or any part of history and art that concerns the Jews. Also, other theories concerning the Jews, even when backed by a substantial amount of evidence, are not even acknowledged or mentioned. Whether these ideas are accepted or unaccepted is irrelevant. According to Steven Collins, “Modern history books de-emphasize or omit the histories of empires founded by the ten tribes of Israel (Phoenicia, Carthage, Scythia, and Parthia) while waxing eloquent about the histories of the non-Israelite empires.”

Important issues arise out of picking and choosing which part of history to teach and which part to omit. When someone addresses or questions the ideas concerning the Jews, some common replies are, “That’s not a part of the focus of this course,” or “Color doesn’t matter,” or “The Jews looked like Arabs.” If color does not matter, why are the Jews displayed as something other than what the Bible describes them as? The color of a person does not become an issue until he is described as something other than what he actually is. Arabs look like Arabs, so how can the Jews look like Arabs? The Bible gives the visual appearance of the Jews and they do not look like Arabs. Japanese do not look like Chinese. Blacks do not look like Africans.

Many of the learned men and women who take it upon themselves to research the history concerning the Jews are often discredited because their books are contrary (radical) to popular belief, which states the Jews are white and that then of the tribes of Israel just disappeared. Because these authors have such radical views on history surrounding the Jews, most publishing companies will not publish their books, and so the authors must publish their own books. According to Steven Collins, “Establishment histories have a strong bias against finding any of the ‘lost’ tribes of Israel.” This bias of “established histories” would explain why authors, whose views are contrary to popular belief, or the accepted views, must publish their own books at the risk of being discredited. In response to the one-sided view of history we are give, Collins writes, “How accurate a picture of ancient history would we have if textbooks neglected to mention the Roman Empire? It would yield a very distorted view of world history, wouldn’t it?” How much more of a distorted view of history would we yield, if, instead of omitting history, we changed, or whitewashed, it? Europeans had a reason to whitewash. The Jews of the icons were painted as fair-skinned and the Europeans harbored some hatred for the ruling black families, such as the Moors, of Medieval Europe.

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Annotated Bibliography

Primary

Caesar Borgia: A comparison between paintings of Christ and Caesar Borgia. Painting of Caesar Borgia from The Borgias by Marion Johnson, (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1981): 163, 173.

Painters whitewashing icons from Russian Icons, (New York: Rizzoli International Pub, Inc.)

Images of Negroes in coats-of-arms of noble families from Nature Knows No Color-Line by: J.A. Rogers, (New York: Helga M. Rogers, 1952): 84, 90,100.

Images of the Black Madonna from African Presence In Early Europe by: Ivan Van Sertima, (New Jersey: Rutgers Books, 1985): 118, 122, 125.

Image of St. Maurice from African Presence In Early Europe by: Ivan Van Sertima, ( New Jersey: Rutgers Books, 1985): 147.

Images of Christ and The Apostle Peter from Icons : The Fascination and The Reality translated by Daniel G. Conklin, (New York: Riverside Book Co., inc., 1997):7, 89, 124.

Secondary

Roebuck, Carl. The World of Ancient Times, (New York: Scribner, 1966): 666. Roebuck’s The World of Ancient Times is a book of world history. In this book, Roebuck discuses different historical accounts of the world. For the focus of this paper, the details surrounding Septimius Severus’s takeover of Rome will be used. This information is important, because it sets up the time frame delineating the beginning of black rulership throughout Europe.

Steven M. Collins, The “Lost” Ten Tribes of Israel...Found!, (Oregon: CPA Books, 1995): ix. This book specifically addresses the subject of the “lost ten tribes of Israel,”a subject widely ignored by modern Christianity. While the Jews are well known in history, most assume the non-Jewish ten tribes of Israel became “lost,” unable to be traced in history or identified today. On the contrary, the ten tribes of Israel were never “lost” after their removal from the “Promised Land” into Asia. Using Biblical and historical records, this books attempts to explain what happened to the “lost ten tribes of Israel.” This information is important, because it discusses the rulership of great nations, throughout Europe and Asia, made up of people of Jewish (Hebrew) descent.

Rudolph R. Windsor, From Babylon To Timbuktu, (Georgia: Windsor’s Golden Series, 1969). Because of the scarce literature on the contributions of blacks to world civilization, most people today hold the erroneous opinion that the black races have little real history. It was not known, for instance, that the ancient Hebrews, Mesopotamians, Phoenicians, and Egyptians were black. This book sets forth in fascinating detail the history, from earliest recorded times, of the black races of the Middle East and Africa. This information is important, because it not only discusses the color of the Jews, but it also describes many of the nations, which were made up of people of Jewish (Hebrew) descent, as being black.

Arthur Koestler, The Thirteenth Tribe, (New York: Random House, Inc., 1976). This book traces the history of the ancient Khazar Empire, a major but almost forgotten power in Eastern Europe, which in the Dark, or Middle, Ages (193 A.D. to 1453 A.D.) became converted to Judaism. In the second part of this book, Mr. Koestler speculates about the ultimate faith of the Khazars and their impact on the racial composition and social hertiage of modern Jewry. The story of the Khazar Empire, as it slowly emerges from the past, begins to look like the most cruel hoax which history has ever perpetrated. The information in this book is important, because it not only describes the difference between the Jews of today and the Jews of the Diaspora, but it also gives us background information on who the Ottoman Turks, the people who conquered the Byzantium Empire, were.

The Bible, KJV. The Bible is a book of scriptures containing the records and laws of the Hebrew Israelites. These records give many descriptions of the condition and color of the Hebrew Israelites. These descriptions pertain to the Hebrew Israelites only and not to those people who refer to themselves as Jews today only by conversion.

J. A. Rogers, Nature Knows No Color-Line, (New York: Helga M. Rogers, 1952). This book is intended not only to show intermixture but to give some idea of the Negro’s contribution biologically and culturally in Europe, itself. Negro contribution inside Europe is very much more than is generally believed. To show Negro ancestry in the white race, Rogers goes to direct historical evidence from early writers and sculptors-Egyptians, Greeks, Romans down through the centuries to those of our times. This book is important, because it shows that blacks lived and ruled in Europe.

Jean Devisse and Michel Mollat and Jean Vercoutter, The Image of The Black In Western Art, (New York : W. Morrow, 1976). This book is important, because it discusses some of the reasons associated with the role that blacks play in Western art. These reasons are a result of personal interpretations of what beauty is.

Marion Johnson, The Borgias, (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1981). The name of Borgia symbolizes all that is considered corrupt in the Church of the fifteenth century. Marion Johnson plots the dramatic rise of the Borgias from their beginnings in Spain to their occupation of the highest position in Renaissance society. The Borgias fought against the Moors in an attempt to eliminate the strongholds of the Moors. The painting of Cesare Borgia bears a striking resemblance to many of the paintings of Christ. This book is important, because it shows various instances of whites and blacks fighting against each other for rulership, but more importantly, this book shows us a family of popes and popes abroad who supported, if not assisted in this war for rulership in Europe. This book also discusses the use of famous artist and painters in the decorations, or redecoration, of churches and other religious items.

Ella Hughley, The Truth About Black Biblical Hebrew-Israelites (Jews), (New York: Hughley Publications, 1982). This book gives historical and Biblical information about the ancient Black Biblical Hebrew-Israelites and their way of life (religion). This is not a widely accepted view of the history of the Jews, but Hughley does support her findings with research from various other sources. She argues that the history of the ancient Israelites (Jews) of the Bible refers to a nation of people of the Black race. The book explains what happened to the true Jews in 70 A.D., and where their descendants are today. It also identifies the origin of the white European Jews and their conversion to Judaism. This book also refers to information found in many of the other books being used here, thus giving the information in this book some validity.

Rudolf Windsor, The Valley of The Dry Bones, (Georgia: Windsor’s Golden Series, 1986). This book is a fascinating compilation of history, anthropology, sociology, and theology concerning the conditions that face black people in America. Windsor tells the history of the black people, from biblical times until today. Drawing extensively upon the Bible and many works by eminent scholars in various disciplines, the author has created a work that is at once inspiring and intriguing. This book is important, because Windsor addresses the question that deals with the notion of the Jews being white.

Ivan Van Sertima, African Presence In Early Europe, ( New Jersey: Rutgers Books, 1985). This book is devoted to a chapter of African history that is little known. It deals with the migration of black peoples to Europe and their impact upon the cultures of that continent, not as the servants and colonials of Europe but as the fathers of its inhabitants, the creators of its art, its first tools, and, in some places and historical periods, its masters and teachers, invaders and traders, its most venerated madonnas, saints and popes. This book also includes many pictures of black icons, which are important to the thesis of this paper.

David Freedberg, The Power of Images: Studies In The History and Theory of Response, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989). This book is important because it discusses the power an image has over people and what happens when an image is not liked. It also discusses what happens to images belonging to an old order when a new order assumes rulership.

John Firth, Constantine The Great, (New York: Scribner, 1966). This book is used to describe the faith of Constantine and what happened to Christianity under Constantine’s rulership.