Of One Blood

By Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins

Book Overview

A mixed-race Harvard medical student stumbles upon a hidden Ethiopian city, the inhabitants of which possess both advanced technologies and mystical powers.

Long before Marvel Comics gave us Wakanda, a high-tech African country that has never been colonized, this 1903 novel gave readers Reuel Briggs--a mixed-race Harvard medical student, passing as white, who stumbles upon Telassar. In this long-hidden Ethiopian city, the wise, peaceful inhabitants of which possess both advanced technologies and mystical powers, Reuel discovers the incredible secret of his own birth. Now, he must decide whether to return to the life he's built, and the woman he loves, back in America--or play a role in helping Telassar take its rightful place on the world stage. Considered one of the earliest articulations of Black internationalism, Of One Blood takes as its theme the notion that race is a social construct perpetuated by racists.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0262544296
• ISBN13: 9780262544290
• Release Date: August 2022
• Publisher: MIT Press
• Length: 260 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 7.8"

Customer Reviews

Grade: A-

In "Of One Blood" the author enlightens the reader about Ethiopian history(especially in 1903 when very few in America knew anything about African history)while educating African Americans of her time about a larger African world and a deep historical past. Critics have attempted to shoot her down with arrows called "Afro-romanticsm" and "Afrocentrity". Some have tried to negate her achievement by saying that by simply paying homage to Ethiopia's historical achievements in technology, culture, and literature she was advocating for 19th century Darwinistic values that said technology measured a civilization's progression. This is unfair, because Darwin did not invent that concept: power (be it technological or cultural) is revered throughout the world. By such a rationale, then any person of African descent cannot talk about technological achievements of Africans without being a victim of Darwinist ideals. There is only one truth...technology is impressive, and it will always be this way. Thus for Hopkins to want to acknowledge African achievements and educate her readers she is not saying ALL civilization should be measured by these standards, but that technological achievement is a part of the African past just as it is a part of other cultures. Her reason for focusing on Ethiopia is most related to the dominate African American religion, Christianity, and Ethiopia's pre-Roman Christian heritage.