As you followed my career for more than 30 years, you told me that nothing I could do in the future would ever surprise you. You told me that after I accompanied Jesse Jackson on a trip to the Vatican to visit Pope John Paul II. You told me that after I attended a private dinner for Nelson Mandela in New York and you told me that after I shared the stage with Bishop Desmond Tutu in Wilmington, Del.

You told me that but I think my two-week trip here to Egypt – with stops in Cairo, Hurghada, Aswan and Alexandria, among other places, would surprise you. You would not be as surprised about my coming here as you might be about what I found. And what I found was what you’ve been telling me since my childhood – and so much more.

As long as I can remember, you’ve told me about the glories of Africa, about how civilization originated in Egypt. You told me about Black kings who ruled a civilized society while people in other parts of the world roamed caves. I remember your frequent complaints about the depiction of Africa in the media and how ridiculous those old Tarzan movies were.

William, although you never completed elementary school, you taught me more about Africa than all of my teachers combined. I learned more from you, a self-taught man, than I learned in high school, in college, and in the special summer history programs I attended at Harvard and Yale universities.

I thought I was prepared for what I would see at the end of an 11-hour flight from New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport to Cairo, a bustling city with more smog and more people than New York City or London. When I stepped off the airplane in Cairo, I felt I was walking into history. We’re talking about a country that has existed for almost 6,000 years, a place where Jesus Christ himself walked. What is now the Abu Serga Church is said to be the spot where the Holy family lived when they escaped to Egypt to avoid King Herod. That was only part of the story. Hosea 11:1 reads: “Out of Egypt have I called my Son.”

You told me about the pyramids in Egypt but they are even more stunning than you could have imagined. Many people talk about the three major pyramids in Giza, but there are more than 100 of them, all perfectly shaped. I even climbed inside of the Great Pyramid and would love to show you those photographs. Guarding the Great Pyramid, built around 2650 B.C., is the ever-dutiful sphinx.

On this trip through history, one of the first things I noticed was that many of the monuments have been partly destroyed, usually missing a head or an arm. The tour guide said this was done when different countries conquered Egypt. But he couldn’t explain why the nose of many of the statues had been defaced. He didn’t have to explain why because, as you had told me, early Egyptians had physical features similar to ours. And that is obvious in the statues and monuments that were left intact.

One of the most remarkable segments of my trip has been visiting ancient temples and tombs and seeing the sophisticated way early Egyptians communicated. The various drawings and sketches we’ve seen reproduced were not art for art sake; each symbol had a meaning and told a story. Here, too, is unmistakable proof that their features were more African – after all, Egypt is and has always been in Africa – than European.

Your favorite part of the trip undoubtedly would be Aswan. This region is populated by dark-skinned people who express pride in seeing their American “brother” or “cousin” returning home. You can see the pride on their faces – and on the faces of the African-American journalists on this trip. Capturing this valuable history is the Nubian Museum, an impressive modern building that brings to life such figures as King Taharaka, a Nubian-born King who ruled all of Egypt. The museum celebrating Nubian culture that dates back almost 3,000 years before the birth of Christ is near the Nile River.

It’s amazing how much history we forget – or never learn. You told me that not only is the Nile the world’s longest river, it’s the only one that flows from south to north. So traveling from Cairo to Aswan was a trip up the Nile, not down, even though Aswan is geographically in the southern part of Egypt. I don’t know if any view can match watching the sun set on the Nile. Not only did I cruise “up” the Nile, I saw two other great bodies of water, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

Oh, there is so much I’d like to share with you, William. This trip comes two years after your death and because I couldn’t tell you all these things, I decided to write you a letter. You said nothing I could do would surprise you anymore. For some reason, I think this trip might have surprised you. Either way, for a person who had never visited Egypt, your teachings were surprisingly accurate. Thank you for the gift of knowledge.

Love always,
George