2020 Reprint of 1869 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition and not reproduced with Optical Recognition software. In 1869, Blyden published The Negro in Ancient History, a short 25-page work with the goal "that the eyes of the blacks may be opened to discern their true mission and destiny; that, making their escape from the house of bondage, they may betake themselves to their ancestral home, and assist in constructing a Christian African...