Martin Bernal, 76, Writer Of ‘Black Athena’ And Exploder Of 19th-Century Myths

“The first volume, published in 1987 — the same year as ‘The Closing of the American Mind,’ Allan Bloom’s attack on efforts to diversify the academic canon — made Mr. Bernal a hero among Afrocentrists, a pariah among conservative scholars and the star witness at dozens of sometimes raucous academic panel discussions.”