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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Beyond Borders: Martin Luther King, Jr., Africa, And Pan Africanism, Jeremy I. Levitt Jan 2017

Beyond Borders: Martin Luther King, Jr., Africa, And Pan Africanism, Jeremy I. Levitt

Journal Publications

This modest essay was a work of love in honor of Henry J. Richardson III, my dear brother, friend, mentor, and father in international law. Hank is universally recognized as the Dean of Black international law scholars and lawyers in the United States (U.S.), Africa, and beyond. He has single-handedly mentored three generations of international lawyers, influenced three generations of international legal scholarship, and established the Black International Tradition (BIT), which "stretches back to the very origins of our nation, preceding even the Constitution." His works on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s (King) leadership, authority, and ministry as a global …


African Origins Of International Law: Myth Or Reality?, Jeremy I. Levitt Jan 2015

African Origins Of International Law: Myth Or Reality?, Jeremy I. Levitt

Journal Publications

This Article reconsiders the prevalent ahistorical assumption that international law began with the Treaty of Westphalia. It gathers together considerable historical evidence to conclude that the ancient world, particularly the New Kingdom period in Egypt or Kemet from 1570-1070 BCE, deployed all three of what today we would call sources of international law. African states predating the modern European nation state by nearly 6000 years engaged in treaty relations (the Treaty of Kadesh), and applied rules of custom (the MA 'AT) and general principles of law (as enumerated in the Egyptian Bill of Rights). While Egyptologists and a few international …