Are Russians cool with the fact that Alexander Pushkin was African?

Question by anderson: Are Russians cool with the fact that Pushkin was African?
Pushkin was the Russian spring. Pushkin was the Russian morning. Pushkin was the Russian Adam.” –A.V. Lunacharsky

From the most remote times there has existed in Russia people of African descent. Indeed, perhaps the earliest distinct African presence in Russia may be traced to the reign of the Twelfth Dynasty African king Senusret III. On June 9, 1999 I returned from a nine-day study tour of Russia. It was my first visit. The tour celebrated the 200th birthday of the brilliant Russian writer of African descent Alexander Sergeievich Pushkin and included a two-day Symposium on Pushkin at Moscow State University and visits to some of the major sites in Pushkin’s brief life. The majority of tour was spent in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Born in Moscow on May 26, 1799 (several different birthdates have been offered for Pushkin) the patriarch of Russian literature was descended on his mother’s side from Major-General Abraham Petrovich Hannibal–an African prince who became a favorite of Russian Czar Peter I (1682-1725). By all accounts Hannibal was an outstanding figure and it is quite interesting that he assumed the name Hannibal–himself an African and one of the most outstanding figures from antiquity. In an unfinished work, The Moor of Peter the Great, Pushkin paid great homage to his illustrious ancestor, repeatedly referring to Hannibal as “the Moor”, “the Black” and the “African.”

Alexander Pushkin has been identified as the father of Russian literature and composed in Russian during an era when most Russian writers composed in French. The most distinguished Russian writers offer Pushkin effusive praise. Feodor Dostoevsky wrote that, “No Russian writer was ever so intimately at one with the Russian people as Pushkin.” Maxim Gorky wrote that, “Pushkin is the greatest master in the world. Pushkin, in our country, is the beginning of all beginnings. He most beautifully expressed the spirit of our people.” I. Turgeniev wrote that, “Pushkin alone had to perform two tasks which took whole centuries and more to accomplish in other countries, namely to establish a language and to create a literature.” According to N.A. Dobrolyubuv:

“Pushkin is of immense important not only in the history of Russian literature, but also in the history of Russian enlightenment. He was the first to teach the Russian public to read.”

Pushkin died prematurely on January 29, 1837 at 2:45 p.m., resulting from wounds suffered defending his honor in a duel. Czar Nicholas I, who hated and feared Pushkin, called him “the most intelligent man in Russia.” Allison Blakely has written that “Pushkin was truly the counterpart to Shakespeare.” Among his most significant works translated into English are: Eugene Onegin, The Ode to Liberty, The Captain’s Daughter and Boris Godunuf.

Bronze statues of Pushkin can be found throughout Moscow and St. Petersburg. Cities, town squares and museums are named after him. His portraits are everywhere. He is much beloved and remains one of Russia’s national heroes.

Answers and Views:

Answer by reality rules
Did his birth certificate say born in Hawaii also?

Read all the answers in the comments.

What do you think?