An ancient Roman coin depicts Christ’s Afrikan identity In the British Museum, an ancient gold coin shows Christ as an Afrikan with tightly curled, woolly hair and a cross behind him.3 This coin was minted under the second reign of Roman Emperor,
Justinian II who ruled at two separate times, separated by ten years (685-695 and 705-711 A.D.).
During his first reign, the gold coins he had minted depicted Christ as a straight-haired European. During his second reign, he had the Christ-image on the coin changed to an Africoid image in order to ensure that this depiction was more in keeping with the original traditions of the Byzantine Church,4 which commonly portrayed Jesus as an Afrikan. The obverse side of the coin shows Justinian with a cross behind him also. The Cambridge Encyclopedia wrote: “Whatever the fact, this coin places beyond dispute the belief that Jesus Christ was a Negro. The coin is otherwise of great historical interest, for it was the cause of a war between Justinian and Abdula Malik, 5th caliph of the Omniads, the former demanding tribute to be paid in these same coins and the latter refusing.” 5