Race as a Social Construct and the Africanness of Cleopatra

1. By Okoi Obono-Obla 

Race as a Social Construct and the Africanness of Cleopatra-

I don’t know if you have seen Halle Berry, the American actress and film star. In case you don’t know her, she is of mixed English and African American heritage. Would you then call her a white woman?

The classification of humanity into races was introduced by European anthropologists in the 16th century to justify the Transatlantic Slave Trade and colonialism, underpinned by the ideology that white people were the superior race. Therefore, the classification of people into races is a social construct. It is not tenable under biological or genetic sciences. Everyone—black, brown, yellow, or pale—originated from Africa. At one time, all ancestors were dark-skinned, but as people migrated from the hot sun of Africa into colder regions, their melanin levels changed. Without the ultraviolet sun of Africa, their skin naturally adapted to blend with their new environment.

Under the white classification of race, Halle Berry would not be considered a white woman. She is identified as black—just like President Barack Obama. Cleopatra herself had half African and half Macedonian ancestry. By the white man’s classification of race, she was African. This is why the English playwright William Shakespeare described her in his play Antony and Cleopatra as a “tawny Moor.” The term “Moor” referred to Africans through and through.

More recently, Austrian archaeologist Dr. Hilke Thür discovered the skeleton of Cleopatra’s sister, Arsinoe, in a tomb in Ephesus, Turkey. After examining the remains, she concluded that their mother was African. Why then is there a need to prove Cleopatra’s ethnicity? Coins found in Cyprus engraved with Cleopatra’s image further establish her Africanness.

Ancient Egypt was undoubtedly the land of black Africans, and that is why they called themselves Kemet. In the ancient Egyptian language, Kemet means “Black”—the land of black people. Similarly, Sudan in Arabic means “the land of black people.” Would anyone then suggest that Sudanese are not black?

Conclusion:
Race is a social construct, not a biological reality. The evidence from history, archaeology, and language shows that Africa’s heritage is deeply rooted in black identity. From Halle Berry to Cleopatra, the debate over classification only reinforces the truth: humanity’s origin is African, and the concept of race was imposed to divide rather than to reflect scientific fact.