People of African descent educated themselves for thousands of years in scholastic centers across Africa. They learned about and analyzed the social, physical, and spiritual world of antiquity in renowned universities in Egypt that taught legendary Greek philosophers and, later, in the bustling West African cities of Timbuktu and Jenne. When hundreds of thousands of Africans were snatched from their communities and enslaved in the United States, they were shut out of colleges and universities for two centuries, as were most Americans.