Haiti News > Haiti Top Stories

Antenor Firmin, The Haitian Scholar Who Predicted Obama's Presidency Over a Century Ago

Updated June 2, 2017 9:54 AM

Haitian Anthropologist Antenor Firmin predicted America's first Black president in 1885!


Antenor Firmin

Si se te Nostradamus... CNN ta di-w sa...

Antenor Firmin wrote about the day when Barack Obama would become president of the United States in a book he published in Paris back in 1885.

Here is what Antenor Firmin said in the chapter "The Role of the Black Race in the History of Civilization" - This book, by the way, was written as a counterpunch for an essay that influenced NAZI ideology.

Appearances to the contrary, this big country is destined to strike the first blow against the theory of the inequality of the human races.

Indeed, at this very moment, Blacks in the great federal republic have begun to play a prominent role in the politics of the various states of the American union.

It seems quite possible that, in less than a century from now, a Black man might be called to head the government of Washington and manage the affairs of the most progressive country on earth, a country which will inevitably become, thanks to its agricultural and industrial production, the richest and most powerful in the world.

These are not utopian musings. We only have to consider the increasing participation of Blacks in American society to cast aside our skepticism.

Besides, we must remember that slavery in the United States was abolished only twenty years ago.

The book is called: "De l'egalite des Race Humaines", it was translated into English - The Equality of the Human Races - in 2002 by Asselin Charles (University of Illinois Press, 2002)

I have to give credit to two people for this find:

1 - Thanks to Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban who actually wrote the original article; more than that, Carolyn Fluehr-Lobban is a professor of anthropology at Rhode Island College AND she wrote the introduction to The Equality of the Human Races (Asselin Charles' English translation) by Antenor Firmin

2 - Thanks to Merritt G. Claude who emailed it to me.

By the way, if you want the hard copy of this book...

It's $142.00 U.S.!!!

3 - Want to get the book?

Get the book and read it "The Equality of the Human Races, Positivist anthropology" by Antenor Firmin, translated by Asselin Charles, Introduced by C. Fluehr-Lobban, Univ of Illinois Press, ISBN: 0-252-07102-6. Maybe you'll find it in a local library.

The soft copy is available for much less at Amazon.com

Thanks Florence R. for the info

(Updated 2009-04-06)

Write a comment  (7)

Tags: More Articles

You might also like

Return to Articles List

All Comments (7)

Franck Larece says...

Keep up the good

Reply  ... More

Maggie says...

Good information to share.

Thank

Reply  ... More

Elias Lamle says...

I am an anthropologist who foresaw the rise of the black nation many years ago. I told a Jamaican woman in 2004 while doing a fieldwork among the maroons in Charles town Jamaica that the black race will save the nations of the earth.

I told her that a king would soon come out of the black race to take humanity from the hands of barbarians to that of civility and peace.

Reply  ... More

Frederic Theogene says...

WELL I'LL DROP AN EYE ON HIS WRITING TO FIND OUT MORE

IM

Reply  ... More

Durossert D. Clerval says...

Kudo for that one..

Keep it up Haitians we can't let things goo on unchallenged.

But We have to start at home first to regain

Reply  ... More

Garry Destin says...

Actually, my late friend Jean Pierre Pradie said the same thing before he died of lung cancer in 1995. He said that the Western Civilization is on its brink of collapsing and nothing in the world can save it.
Its own hate and love of power will be its counter medicine and for real here President LULA of Brasil said it.
Only if the so call "Blue Eye Know It All" move aside and let Mr. Obama and those who love this country treat the patient properly; other wise the patient will die with the US, Europe, Australia and all countries governed by them. In other words, the ship will sink with all.
Prophecy yes but we can avoid it all with respect and understanding.

Reply  ... More

Joseph Gourgue says...

Woodring,

Keep the information floowing my friend...I just love what you have been feeding your readers...Unfortunately for those who are not a member of the Haitian internet will eventually be big loosers and the winners will just have to share the prizes with those that aren't aware.

joe gourgue,
ft

Reply  ... More

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

E-mail (required, will not be published)

Subject: Antenor Firmin, The Haitian Scholar Who Predicted Obama's Presidency Over a Century Ago edit

» »