The Late Dr. Ivan Van Sertima is an author, literary critic, anthropologist and linguist who has given over 30 years of service to Rutgers University as a professor in the Africana Studies Department at Rutgers-New Brunswick. He has lectured at more than 100 universities and engagements in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, South America and Europe.
As a linguist, he compiled the Swahili Dictionary of Legal Terms, based on his field work in Tanzania, East Africa in 1967. In 1968, he wrote Caribbean Writers: critical essays, a collection of critiques on the Caribbean novel. He also authored several major literary reviews published in Denmark, India, Britain, and the United States. He was recognized for his work in this field by being requested by the Nobel Committee of the Swedish Academy to nominate candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature from 1976 to 1980.
In 1976, Dr. Van Sertima published They Came Before Columbus, now in its 21st printing, a book which was a cornerstone in his career. In 1981, the book won the Clarence L. Holt Prize, an honor awarded every two years “for a work of excellence in literature and the humanities relating to the cultural heritage of Africa and the African Diaspora.” On July 7, 1987 he appeared before a Congressional Committee to challenge the Columbus myth and defended his thesis in an address to the Smithsonian Institute in 1991.
Dr. Van Sertima founded the Journal of African Civilizations in 1979 through which he has published numerous anthologies that celebrate the contributions of African people to the civilizations of the world. These publications have influenced the development of a new multi-cultural curriculum in the United States. The Journal publications include: Blacks in Science, Nile Valley Civilizations, African Presence in Early America, Black Women in Antiquity, Egypt Revisited, Egypt: Child of Africa, African Presence in Early Europe, Golden Age of the Moor, African Presence in the Art of the Americas, Great Black Leaders, Great African Thinkers (co-edited with Larry Obadele Williams), and African Presence in Early Asia (co edited with Runoko Rashidi). His latest work, Early America Revisited was published in 1998.