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The Curse of Ham is a misnomer for the curse upon Canaan that was imposed by the biblical patriarch Noah.

The relevant narrative occurs in the Book of Genesis and concerns Noah's drunkenness and the accompanying shameful act perpetrated by his son Ham the father of Canaan (Gen. 9:20–27). The controversies raised by this story regarding the nature of Ham's transgression, and the question of why Noah cursed Canaan when Ham had sinned, have been debated for over two thousand years. The story's original objective was to justify the subjection of the Canaanites to the Israelites, but in later centuries, the narrative was interpreted by some Jews, Christians and Muslims as a curse of, and an explanation for, black skin. Nevertheless, most Christian denominations strongly disagree with such interpretations due to the fact that in the original biblical text, Ham himself is not cursed and race or skin color is never mentioned, and therefore, out of context in the story of Genesis 9.

Origins

The concept of the Curse of Ham finds its origins in the Genesis narrative of Gen. 9:20–27:

Ham, along with his father and brothers, blessed by God
Genesis 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

Canaan cursed by Noah
Genesis 9:20 And Noah began to be an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard:
And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.
And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.
¶ And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him.
And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
And he said, Blessed be the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.
(—Authorized Version)

Keil and Delitzsch (1885) suggested that the curse was a prophecy of the history of the tribes descending from Canaan, while Robert Alter holds that the overall objective of the story is to justify the subject status of the Canaanites, the descendants of Ham, to the Israelites, the descendants of Shem. However, according to Nahum Sarna, the narrative of the curse upon Canaan is replete with difficulties. It is uncertain what the precise nature of Ham's offense is. Verse 22 has been a subject of debate, as to whether it should be taken literally, or as a euphemism for gross immorality. In verse 25, Noah names Shem and Japheth as the "brethren" (the New Living Translation reads "relatives") of Canaan, seven verses after indicating that they were Canaan's uncles. The Table of Nations presents Canaan and Mizraim (Egypt) among the sons of Ham (10:6). In the Psalms, Egypt is equated with Ham. The treatment of Japheth in verses 26–27 raises questions: Why is YHWH named as the God of Shem, but not of Japheth? What does it mean that God will "enlarge" Japheth? And why will Japheth "dwell in the tents of "Shem"? Further difficulties include Ham's being referred to as "the youngest son", when all other lists make him Noah's second son. Per Sarna, the biggest challenge of the narrative is why Canaan was cursed, rather than Ham, and the concealed details of the shameful incident bear the same reticence of Reuben's sexual transgression.

The narrative's short five verses give indication that Canaan's Hamite paternity must have had great significance to the narrator or redactor, according to Sarna, who adds: "The curse on Canaan, invoked in response to an act of moral depravity, is the first intimation of the theme of the corruption of the Canaanites, which is given as the justification for their being dispossessed of their land and for the transfer of that land to the descendants of Abraham."

Ham's transgression

The majority of commentators, both ancient and modern, have felt that Ham's seeing his father naked was not a sufficiently serious crime to explain the punishment that follows. Nevertheless, Genesis 9:23, in which Shem and Japheth cover Noah with a cloak while averting their eyes, suggests that the words are to be taken literally, and it has recently been pointed out that in 1st millennium Babylonia, looking at another person's genitals was indeed regarded as a serious matter.

Other ancient commentators suggested that Ham was guilty of more than what the Bible says. The Targum Onqelos (an Aramaic translation of the Bible dating from the first few centuries AD) and several other sources had Ham gossiping about his father's drunken disgrace "in the street" (a reading which has a basis in the original Hebrew), so that being held up to public mockery was what had angered Noah; as the Cave of Treasures (4th century) puts it, "Ham laughed at his father's shame and did not cover it, but laughed aloud and mocked."

Ancient commentaries have also debated that "seeing" someone's nakedness meant to have sex with that person (e.g. Leviticus 20:17). The same idea was raised by 3rd-century rabbis, in the Babylonian Talmud (c. 500 AD), who argue that Ham either castrated his father, or sodomised him. The same explanations are found in three Greek translations of the Bible, which replace the word "see" in verse 22 with another word denoting homosexual relations. The castration theory has its modern counterpart in suggested parallels found in the castration of Uranus by Cronus and a Hittite myth of the supreme god Anu whose genitals were "bitten off by his rebel son and cup-bearer Kumarbi, who afterwards rejoiced and laughed ... until Anu cursed him".

Modern scholars have suggested that to "uncover the nakedness" of a man means to have sex with that man's wife (e.g. Leviticus 20:11). If Ham had sex with his mother, and Canaan was the product of this forbidden union, it could explain why the curse falls on his son; the weakness, however, is that Genesis 9:21 has Ham "seeing" his father's nakedness, not "uncovering" it.

Book of Jubilees

In the Book of Jubilees, the seriousness of Ham's curse is compounded by the cultic significance of God's covenant to "never again bring a flood on the earth". In response to this covenant, Noah builds a sacrificial altar "to atone for the land". Noah’s practice and ceremonial functions parallel the festival of Shavuot as if it were a prototype to the celebration of the giving of the Torah. His "priestly" functions also emulate being "first priest" in accordance with halakhah as taught in the Qumranic works. By turning the drinking of the wine into a religious ceremony, Jubilees alleviates any misgivings that may be provoked by the episode of Noah’s drunkenness. Thus, Ham’s offense would constitute an act of disrespect not only to his father, but also to the festival ordinances.

Medieval Judaism

The medieval commentary of Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki 1040-1105), who cites older sources from Judaism's Oral Torah, which is relied upon by traditional Judaic scholarship as the most basic commentary to the present time, provides an introductory explanation. (Genesis 9:22–27)):

• Genesis 9:22: and Ham, the father of Canaan, saw: "There are those among our rabbis who say that Canaan saw and told his father and this is why Canaan was mentioned with regard to the matter and was cursed." (Tanhuma 15; Genesis Rabbah 36:7). And saw his father's nakedness.: "There are those of our rabbis who say he emasculated (סרסו castrated) him, and there are those who say he had (homosexual רבעו) relations with him." Sanhedrin 70a.
• Genesis 9:23: And Shem and Japheth...covered their father's nakedness, their faces were turned backward...: "...as for Ham who disgraced his father it is said of his offspring 'Thus will the king of Assyria lead the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, and with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt." (Isaiah 20:4). (Tanhuma 15; Genesis Rabbah 36:6).
• Genesis 9:24: his small (הקטן) son:" הפסול The 'defective' one (Genesis Rabbah 36:6) והבזוי and the 'disgraceful' one. similar to 'Behold, I have made you the smallest (קטן) among the nations.'" (Jeremiah 49:15, Obadiah 1:2).
• Genesis 9:25: Cursed (ארור) is Canaan: Noah said to Ham: "You caused me that I should not father a fourth son, another one to serve me. May your fourth son be cursed by serving the offspring of these greater ones ... What did Ham see that he emasculated him? He said to his brothers Adam the first man had only two sons (Cain and Abel) yet one killed the other because of the inheritance of the world and our father has three sons yet he seeks still a fourth son."
• Genesis 9:26: ...Blessed is יהוה the God of Shem: "Who is destined to keep His promise to offspring to give them the Land of Canaan" and he shall be: "Canaan shall be to them as a servant to pay tribute."
• Genesis 9:27: and Canaan shall be a slave to them.: "Even after the children of Shem will be exiled slaves will be sold to them from the Children of Canaan."

Curse of Canaan

• Genesis 9:25: "And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren,"

It is noteworthy that the curse was made by Noah, not by God. Some biblical scholars claim that when a curse is made by a man, it could only have been effective if God supports it, unlike the curse of Ham and his descendants, which was not confirmed by God or, at least, it is not mentioned in the Bible that he had confirmed it.

Dead Sea Scrolls

4Q252, a pesher (interpretation) on the Book of Genesis found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, explains that since Ham had already been blessed by God (Genesis 9:1), he could not now be cursed by Noah. The 4Q252 scroll probably dates from the latter half of the first century BC. A century later, the Jewish historian Josephus argued that Noah refrained from cursing Ham because of his nearness of kin, and so cursed Ham's son instead.

Book of Jubilees

The Book of Jubilees explains that Noah had allocated Canaan a land west of the Nile along with his brothers, but that he chose instead to squat in land which was delineated to Shem (and later Abraham), and so rightly deserved the curse of slavery.

Classical Judaism

Philo of Alexandria, a 1st-century BC Jewish philosopher, said that Ham and Canaan were equally guilty, if not of whatever had been done to Noah, then of other crimes, "for the two of them together had acted foolishly and wrongly and committed other sins." Rabbi Eleazar decided that Canaan had in fact been the first to see Noah, and had then gone and told his father, who then told his brothers in the street; this, said Eleazar, "did not take to mind the commandment to honour one's father." Another interpretation was that Noah's "youngest son" could not be Ham, who was the middle son: "for this reason they say that this youngest son was in fact Canaan."

Genesis 9:25: Cursed (ארור) is Canaan: Noah said to Ham: "You caused me that I should not father a fourth son, another one to serve me. May your fourth son be cursed by serving the offspring of these greater ones ... What did Ham see that he emasculated him? He said to his brothers Adam the first man had only two sons (Cain and Abel) yet one killed the other because of the inheritance of the world and our father has three sons yet he seeks still a fourth son."

Genesis 9:26: ...Blessed is יהוה the God of Shem: "Who is destined to keep His promise to offspring to give them the Land of Canaan" and he shall be: "Canaan shall be to them as a servant to pay tribute."

Genesis 9:27: and Canaan shall be a slave to them.: "Even after the children of Shem will be exiled slaves will be sold to them from the Children of Canaan."

Origins of the misnomer

In the past, some people have claimed the "curse of Ham" as a biblical justification for imposing slavery or racism on Black people, although this concept is essentially an ideologically driven misnomer. Regarding this matter, the Christian leader Martin Luther King Jr. called such attempt "a blasphemy" that "is against everything that the Christian religion stands for."

Early Judaism and Islam

While Genesis 9 never says that Ham was black, he became associated with black skin, through folk-etymology deriving his name from a similar, but actually unconnected, word meaning "dark" or "brown". The next stage, are certain fables according to ancient Jewish traditions. According to one legend preserved in the Babylonian Talmud, God cursed Ham because he broke a prohibition on sex aboard the ark and was cursed with blackness; according to another, Noah cursed him because he castrated his father. Although the Talmud refers only to Ham, the version brought in the Medrash goes on further to say "Ham, that Cush came from him" in reference to the blackness, that the curse did not apply to all of Ham but only to his eldest son Cush, Cush being a sub-Saharan African. Thus two distinct traditions existed, one explaining dark skin as the result of a curse on Ham, the other explaining slavery by the separate curse on Canaan.

The two concepts may have become merged in the 7th century by some Muslim writers, the product of a culture with a long history of enslaving black Africans; the origin and persistence of the "Curse of Ham", in which Ham, blackness and slavery became a single curse, was thus the result of Islam's need for a justifying myth. Most mediaeval Muslim authorities including Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabari, Ibn Khaldun, and even the later Book of the Zanj all asserted the view that the effects of Noah's curse on Ham's descendants included blackness, slavery, and a requirement not to let the hair grow past the ears.

However, an independent interpretation of the curse being imposed on all of the descendants of Ham persisted in Judaism, especially since the other children of Ham were situated in the African continent, i.e. Mizraim fathered the Egyptians, Cush the Cushites, and Phut the Libyans.

Medieval serfdom and 'Pseudo-Berossus'

In medieval Christian exegesis, Ham's sin was regarded as laughter (for mocking his father and doing nothing to rectify his condition).

Elsewhere in Medieval Europe, the "Curse of Ham" also became used as a justification for serfdom. Honorius Augustodunensis (c. 1100) was the first recorded to propose a caste system associating Ham with serfdom, writing that serfs were descended from Ham, nobles from Japheth, and free men from Shem. However, he also followed the interpretation of 1 Corinthians 7:21 by Ambrosiaster (late 4th century), which held that as servants in the temporal world, these "Hamites" were likely to receive a far greater reward in the next world than would the Japhetic nobility.

The idea that serfs were the descendants of Ham soon became widely promoted in Europe. An example is Dame Juliana Berners (c. 1388), who, in a treatise on hawks, claimed that the "churlish" descendants of Ham had settled in Europe, those of the temperate Shem in Africa, and those of the noble Japheth in Asia – a departure from normal arrangements, which placed Shem in Asia, Japheth in Europe and Ham in Africa – because she considered Europe to be the "country of churls", Asia of gentility, and Africa of temperance. As serfdom waned in the late medieval era, the interpretation of serfs being descendants of Ham decreased as well.

Ham also figured in an immensely influential work called Commentaria super opera diversorum auctorum de antiquitatibus. In 1498, Annius of Viterbo claimed to have translated records of Berossus, an ancient Babylonian priest and scholar; which are today usually considered an elaborate forgery. However, they gained great influence over Renaissance ways of thinking about population and migration, filling a historical gap following the biblical account of the flood. According to this account, Ham studied the evil arts that had been practiced before the flood, and thus became known as "Cam Esenus" (Ham the Licentious), as well as the original Zoroaster and Saturn (Cronus). He became jealous of Noah's additional children born after the deluge, and began to view his father with enmity, and one day, when Noah lay drunk and naked in his tent, Ham saw him and sang a mocking incantation that rendered Noah temporarily sterile, as if castrated. This account contains several other parallels connecting Ham with Greek myths of the castration of Uranus by Cronus, as well as Italian legends of Saturn and/or Camesis ruling over the Golden Age and fighting the Titanomachy. Ham in this version also abandoned his wife who had been aboard the ark and had mothered the African peoples, and instead married his sister Rhea, daughter of Noah, producing a race of giants in Sicily.

European/American slavery, 17th–18th centuries

The explanation that black Africans, as the "sons of Ham", were cursed, possibly "blackened" by their sins, was advanced only sporadically during the Middle Ages, but it became increasingly common during the slave trade of the 18th and 19th centuries. The justification of slavery itself through the sins of Ham was well suited to the ideological interests of the elite; with the emergence of the slave trade, its racialized version justified the exploitation of African labour.

In the parts of Africa where Christianity flourished in the early days, while it was still illegal in Rome, this idea never took hold, and its interpretation of scripture was never adopted by the African Coptic Churches. A modern Amharic commentary on Genesis notes the 19th century and earlier European theory that blacks were subject to whites as a result of the "curse of Ham", but calls this a false teaching unsupported by the text of the Bible, emphatically pointing out that Noah's curse fell not upon all descendants of Ham, but only on the descendants of Canaan, and asserting that it was fulfilled when Canaan was occupied by both Semites (Israel) and Japhetites (ancient Philistines). The commentary further notes that Canaanites ceased to exist politically after the Third Punic War (149 BC), and that their current descendants are thus unknown and scattered among all peoples.

Robert Boyle, a 17th-century scientist who also was a theologian and a devout Christian, refuted the idea that blackness was a Curse of Ham, in his book Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours (1664). There Boyle explains that the Curse of Ham used as an explanation of the complexion of coloured people was but a misinterpretation embraced by "vulgar writers", travelers, critics and also "men of note" of his time. In his work, he challenges that vision explaining:

And not only we do not find expressed in the Scripture, that the Curse meant by Noah to Cham, was the Blackness of his Posterity, but we do find plainly enough there that the Curse was quite another thing, namely that he should be a Servant of Servants, that is by an Ebraism, a very Abject Servant to his Brethren, which accordingly did in part come to pass, when the Israelites of the posterity of Sem, subdued the Canaanites, that descended from Cham, and kept them in great Subjection. Nor is it evident that Blackness is a Curse, for Navigators tell us of Black Nations, who think so much otherwise of their own condition, that they paint the Devil White. Nor is Blackness inconsistent with Beauty, which even to our European Eyes consists not so much in Colour, as an Advantageous Stature, a Comely Symmetry of the parts of the Body, and Good Features in the Face. So that I see not why Blackness should be thought such a Curse to the Negroes...

— Robert Boyle (author's italics and capitalization)

A number of other scholars also support the claim that the racialized version of the Curse of Ham was devised at that time because it suited ideological and economical interests of the European elite and slave traders who wanted to justify exploitation of African labour. While Robinson (2007) claims that such version was non-existent before, historian David Brion Davis argues, as well, that contrary to the claims of many reputable historians, neither the Talmud nor any early post-biblical Jewish writing relates blackness of the skin to a curse whatsoever.

Latter Day Saint movement

After the death of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) taught that Black Africans were under the curse of Ham, although the day would come when the curse would be nullified through the saving powers of Jesus Christ. In addition, based on his interpretation of the Book of Abraham, Brigham Young believed that as a result of this curse Negroes were banned from the Mormon Priesthood. In 1978 then LDS president Spencer W. Kimball said he received a revelation that extended the Priesthood to all worthy male members of the LDS Church.

See also

• Curse and mark of Cain
• Hamitic
• Sons of Noah

References

Citations

1. Metcalf 2005, p. 164; Goldenberg 2003, p. 168; Lulat 2005, p. 85, 86.
2. Sarna 1981, p. 76.
3. Goldenberg 2003, p. 157
4. ^ Alter 2008, pp. 52–53
5. White Over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550-1812 (Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American Hist) pg 18
6. Goldenberg 2003, p. 170.
7. Whitford 2009, p. 35; Ham, Sarfati & Wieland 2001.
8. Keil & Delitzsch 1885, p. 157.
9. ^ Sarna 1981, p. 77.
10. Sadler 2005, pp. 26–27.
11. Sarna 1981, p. 77: Ps.78:51; 105:23,27; 106:22.
12. Brett 2000, p. 45
13. Sarna 1981, p. 77:Gen.35:22
14. Sarna 1981, pp. 77, 78: Lev.20:23f
15. ^ Goldenberg 2005, pp. 259–260
16. ^ Levenson 2004, p. 26
17. ^ Kugle 1998, p. 222
18. Goldenberg 2005, p. 258
19. Robertson 1910, p. 44
20. Graves & Patai 1964, p. Ch.21, Note 4
21. Kissling 2004, p. 347
22. ^ Dimant, 2002, p. 137
23. Philo, Abr. 34
24. Albeck. Buch der Jubiäen,p. 21, 33
25. VanderKam. Righteousness of Noah,p. 20, 76
26. Dimant, 2002, p. 139
27. ^ The Torah: With Rashi's Commentary Translated, Annotated, and Elucidated, Rabbis Yisrael Herczberg, Yaakov Petroff, Yoseph Kamenetsky, Yaakov Blinder (1996). Sefer Bereishis/Genesis. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, Ltd. pp. 96–99. ISBN 0-89906-026-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
28. ^ Pentateuch with Targum Onkelos, Haphtaroth and Rashi's Commentary, Rev. M Rosenbaum, Dr. A. M. Silbermann, A Blashki, L. Joseph (1935). Genesis. New York: Hebrew Publishing Company. pp. 40–41.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
29. ^ The Torah: With Rashi's Commentary Translated, Annotated, and Elucidated, Rabbis Yisrael Herczberg, Yaakov Petroff, Yoseph Kamentsky, Yaakov Blinder (1996). Sefer Bereishis/Genesis. Brooklyn: Mesorah Publications, Ltd. pp. 96–99. ISBN 0-89906-026-9.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
30. Phyllis Wiggins, (2005) "The Curse of Ham: Satan's Vicious Cycle", page 41, 42; 48
31. Goldenberg 2005, p. 158
32. Trost 2010, p. 42
33. ^ Kugle 1998, p. 223
34. Van Seters 2000, pp. 491–492
35. Goldenberg 2003, p. 168; Lulat 2005, p. 85, 86; Metcalf 2005, p. 164.
36. "Paul’s Letter to American Christians", Delivered at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Montgomery, Alabama, on 4 November 1956. "I understand that there are Christians among you who try to justify segregation on the basis of the Bible. They argue that the Negro is inferior by nature because of Noah's curse upon the children of Ham. Oh my friends, this is blasphemy. This is against everything that the Christian religion stands for. I must say to you as I have said to so many Christians before, that in Christ "there is neither Jew nor Gentile, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for we are all one in Christ Jesus."
37. Goldenberg 1997, pp. 24–25
38. Talmud, Sanhedrin 108b
39. Goldenberg 1997, p. 24
40. Yalkut Shim'oni. Noah Sec. 58
41. Bruce, Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, p. 305
42. Goldenberg 1997, p. 33
43. Goldenberg 1997, pp. 33–34
44. Goldenberg, The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam p. 170.
45. William M. Evans, "From the Land of Canaan to the Land of Guinea: The Strange Odyssey of the 'Sons of Ham'". American Historical Review 85 (February 1980), 15–43 .
46. Paul Freedman, Images of the Medieval Peasant, Stanford, 1999, p88
47. Whitford 2009, pp. 31–34
48. Freedman 1999, p. 291
49. Whitford 2009, p. 38
50. Whitford 2009, p. 173
51. Morse, Michael A. How the Celts Came to Britain. Tempus Publishing, Stroud, 2005. page 15.
52. Benjamin Braude, "The Sons of Noah and the Construction of Ethnic and Geographical Identities in the Medieval and Early Modern Periods, "William and Mary Quarterly LIV (January 1997): 103–142. See also William McKee Evans, "From the Land of Canaan to the Land of Guinea: The Strange Odyssey of the Sons of Ham,"American Historical Review 85 (February 1980): 15–43
53. John N. Swift and Gigen Mammoser, "'Out of the Realm of Superstition: Chesnutt's 'Dave's Neckliss' and the Curse of Ham'", American Literary Realism, vol. 42 no. 1, Fall 2009, 3
54. Amharic Commentary on Genesis pp. 133–142. (PDF)
55. David Mark Whitford (2009), "The curse of Ham in the early modern era", page 174-175; Nina G. Jablonski (2012), "Living Color: The Biological and Social Meaning of Skin Color", page 219
56. Robert Boyle (1664), "Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours", Henry Herringman, London, page 160
57. Tim Robinson (2007), "Racism: a History", (BBC Documentary)
58. David Brion Davis Sterling Professor of History Yale University (Emeritus), "Inhuman Bondage: The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the New World", Oxford University Press, Apr 1, 2006, pages 67-68
59. Simonsen, Reed R. (1991), If Ye Are Prepared: a reference manual for missionaries, Centerville, Utah: Randall Co., pp. 243–266, OCLC 28838428
60. Bush, Lester E., Jr.; Mauss, Armand L., eds. (1984). Neither White Nor Black: Mormon Scholars Confront the Race Issue in a Universal Church. Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books. p. 70. ISBN 0-941214-22-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
61. "[[Doctrine and Covenants]]", Standard Works, LDS Church {{citation}}: |contribution= ignored (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)

Bibliography

• Alter, Robert (2008). The Five Books of Moses. W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-33393-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Brett, Mark G. (2000). Genesis: procreation and the politics of identity. Routledge. ISBN 0203992024. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Dimant, Devorah (2001). "Noah in early Jewish literature". In Michael E. Stone; Theodore E. Bergren (eds.). Biblical Figures Outside the Bible. Trinity Press. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Freedman, Paul H. (1999). Images of the Medieval Peasant. Stanford University Press. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Goldenberg, David M. (2005). "What did Ham do to Noah?". In Stemberger, Günter; Perani, Mauro (eds.). The words of a wise man's mouth are gracious. Walter de Gruyter. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Goldenberg, David M. (2003). The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Princeton University Press. ISBN 1-4008-2854-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Goldenberg, David M. (1997). "The Curse of Ham: A Case of Rabbinic Racism?". In Salzman, Jack; West, Cornel (eds.). Struggles in the promised land: toward a history of Black-Jewish relations. Oxford University Press. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Graves, Robert; Patai, Raphael (1964). Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis. Princeton University Press, Cassel. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Ham, Ken; Sarfati, Jonathan; Wieland, Carl (2001). Batten, Don (ed.). "Are black people the result of a curse on Ham". ChristianAnswers.net. Retrieved 28 September 2013. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |deadurl= (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Keil, Carl; Delitzsch, Franz (1885). Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament. Vol. 1. Trans. James Martin. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Kissling, Paul (2004). Genesis. Vol. volume 1. College Press. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Kugle, James L. (1998). Traditions of the Bible. Harvard University Press. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Levenson, Jon D. (2004). "Genesis: introduction and annotations". In Berlin, Adele; Brettler, Marc Zvi (eds.). The Jewish study Bible. Oxford University Press. p. 26. ISBN 0-19-529751-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help) (Levenson author note).
• Lulat, G (2005). A History of African Higher Education from Antiquity to the Present a Critical Synthesis. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. pp. 85, 86. ISBN 9780313068669. an ideologically driven misnomer... {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Metcalf, Alida C. (2005). Go-betweens and the colonization of Brazil, 1500-1600 (1st ed. ed.). Austin: University of Texas Press. p. 164. ISBN 0292712766. Goldenberg further argues that the "Curse of Ham" is a misnomer... the biblical text actually says that Noah cursed Canaan, Ham's son. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help); Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Robertson, John M. (1910). Christianity and mythology. Kessinger Publishing (2004 reprint). p. 496. ISBN 0-7661-8768-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Sadler, R.S. (2005). Can a Cushite change his skin?. T&T Clark. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Sarna, Nahum (1981). "The Anticipatory Use of Information as a Literary Feature of the Genesis Narratives". In Friedman, Richard Elliott (ed.). The Creation of Sacred Literature: Composition and Redaction of the Biblical Text. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-09637-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Trost, Travis D. (2010). Who should be king in Israel?. Peter Lang Publishing. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Van Seters, John (2000). "Geography as an evaluative tool". In VanderKam, James (ed.). From revelation to canon: studies in the Hebrew Bible and Second Temple literature. Brill. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Whitford, David M. (2009). The curse of Ham in the early modern era. Ashgate Publishing. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

• Online reprint of statements about abolition by Joseph Smith, originally printed in the Messenger and Advocate, vol. 2, no. 7, Kirtland, Ohio, 1836 {{citation}}: Missing or empty |title= (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Sermon on separate heavens and race relations in Mississippi
• Jasher 7 An account of the theft of the garment by Ham is found in Jasher 7:24–29.

• Book of Genesis
• Criticism of Judaism
• Ham (son of Noah)
• Historical definitions of race
• Latter Day Saint doctrines, beliefs, and practices
• Racism
• Religion and race
• Slavery and religion