Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, “The Negro Not a Beast — Noah's Character and His "Curse" Upon Ham”
“Noah declared, prophetically, that Ham's characteristics which had led him to unseemly conduct disrespectful to his father, would be found cropping out later, inherited by his son,—and prophetically he foretold that this degeneracy would mark the posterity of Canaan, degrading him, making him servile. We are not able to determine to a certainty that the sons of Ham and Canaan are the negroes; but we consider that general view as probable as any other.”
The passage answers a reader's fourth question about Noah's curse. The magazine insists the word "curse" means penalty rather than imprecation, and defends Noah against the charge of drunkenness. It stops short of asserting that black people descend from Canaan, calling that view only "as probable as any other".
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Nota de procedencia y verificación for Zion's Watch Tower and Herald of Christ's Presence, The Negro Not a Beast — Noah's Character and His "Curse" Upon Ham
Nota de confianza. Read in the 1902 Reprints volume on the Internet Archive on 19 September 2026. The section heading falls at the foot of the Reprints page whose running head reads “(215-216)”; the answer itself stands on the next Reprints page, whose running head reads “(216-217) ZION’S WATCH TOWER Allegheny, Pa.” OCR damage repaired.
Procedencia del escaneo. Internet Archive item “Magazines: Zion’s watch tower and herald of Christ’s presence, 1902”, the Watch Tower Reprints volume for 1902.
Corroborado por. src-race-ga-1929-0724-origin-of-negro
Notes. The 1902 formulation is hedged (“not able to determine to a certainty … as probable as any other”); the version printed in The Golden Age of 24 July 1929 is not.
Consultado. 19 de septiembre de 2026 · Identificador de la fuente. src-race-zwt-1902-0715-ham-canaan