Of the Seventeenth Dynasty, William M. Flinders Petrie, the "Father of Modern Egyptology," has written: "It seems probable that the [Seventeenth] dynasty had come from Ethiopia… and the earlier part of it… of which we have no names, may have dwelt in Nubia, and only harassed the Hyksos from thence."8 In their examination of the mummies of Seventeenth Dynasty rulers, Egyptologists James Harris and Kent Weeks have observed that "[v]arious scholars in the past have proposed a Nubian… origin for Seqenenre and his family and his features suggest that this might be true. If it is true… the history of the Seventeenth Dynasty stand[s] in need of considerable re-examination."9

Seqenenre Tao (1558-1553 B.C.) and his sister/queen, Ahhotep, had a number of children, the most prominent of whom were Ahmose I (1549-1524 B.C.) and his sister, Ahmose Nefertari. Harris and Weeks have noted similarities between the remains of Ahmose I and those of his father: "Ahmose[I] and Seqenenre Tao shared many general physical features that were strikingly different from those of later Egyptian rulers… [O]ne wonders if both were not genetically influenced by peoples of the south [Nubia]."10

Much has been written of Ahmose Nefertari. Petrie has described her as "the most venerated figure of Egyptian history."11 British anatomist Grafton Elliott Smith was one of the first scientists to examine the great queen's remains. He reported, in part, that "Neferitari [Ahmose-Nefertari] had very little hair on her head and the vertex was quite bald. Elaborate pains had been taken to hide the deficiency. Twenty strings composed of twisted human hair, were placed across the top of her head… The appearance of these plats is not unlike that of modern Nubian women's hair."12 African American historian William L. Hansberry has stated that the "queen's teeth were large and healthy, her nose rather short and broad, her mouth wide, her lips full, and her jaws-particularly her upper jaw-tended toward marked prognathism."13 It should also be noted that, contrary to ancient Egyptian artistic convention, Ahmose Nefertari is virtually always painted black.

The descriptions of the mummies of Ahmose I and his sister/queen, Ahmose Nefertari, as decidedly Negroid is critical to our subject here because they reigned during a period of transition. Their parents and grandparents ruled during the Seventeenth Dynasty. Ahmose and his army expelled the Hyksos from Africa and drove them into Western Asia. Thereafter he and his sister/queen founded the Eighteenth Dynasty. If Ahmose I and Ahmose Nefertari were indeed Black Africans, then, it stands to reason that their predecessors and descendents (including King Tutankhamun) may have been of the same racial type. Harris and Weeks have stressed the consistency of the physical characteristics of this family across generational lines:

tradition, Ham, of course, was the father of the Black race. "Generally speaking all Semitic tradition (Jewish and Arab) class ancient Egypt with the countries of the blacks."6

Gradually, of course, migrants from Europe and Western Asia settled in Africa and mixed with the ancient Egyptians, but even this did not erase the clear imprint of their origins. "Egyptian crossbreeding spread out like a fan in the course of history… but it has never succeeded in overturning the racial constants of the early population, that of Upper Egypt in particular. The color of the Egyptians has become lighter down through the years, like that of West Indian Negroes, but the Egyptians have never stopped being Negroes. While all Egyptian civilization is directly linked to the cultural forms of Black Africa, a specialist would have great difficulty in demonstrating any cultural identity of Egypt with Europe or with Semitic or Chinese Asia."7

In thousands of years of history, extending from about c. 3,150 to c. 332 B.C., the ancient Egyptians occasionally experienced periods of strife and upheaval. In every major case, the nation was rescued and reunited by a Black man from Upper Egypt [southern Egypt] or Nubia, the country south of Egypt. This was especially true of Mentuhotep II of the Eleventh Dynasty, Ahmose I of the Eighteenth dynasty and Piankhi of the Twenty-Fifth Dynasty.

The family of King Tutankhamun, often referred to as King Tut, came to power following one of the great southern triumphs. Although he was born into the Eighteenth Dynasty, his roots extended back to the Seventeenth Dynasty.

For several centuries preceding the Seventeenth Dynasty, Egypt lapsed into confusion, contention and internal strife that ultimately led to what is called the Second Intermediate Period (i.e., the Thirteenth through the early Seventeenth Dynasties, c. 1786 - 1567 B.C.). During this time, the country was invaded by a people who have been called Hyksos, "rulers of foreign lands". These invaders were largely Semitic foreigners driven from Western Asia into Africa by instability and famine. They appear to have established themselves in Lower Egypt [the North] and may have extended their influence, if not their actual rule, over much of the remainder of the country. The Hyksos also appear to have expelled the native African royal family from Egypt and to have driven it far to the south.

In time a southern Egyptian or Nubian family took control of Upper Egypt (the south) and began a war to liberate the nation from Hyksos domination. According to conventional authorities, this family, the Seventeenth Dynasty, was founded by King Senakhtenre Tao (- 1558 B.C.) and his queen, Tetisheri. This royal couple headed the most powerful line of rulers in all of Egyptian history. Their descendants reigned for three hundred years.