African-Iraqis originate from many countries of Africa, and they have been brought to Iraq in different periods up until the beginning of the last century. They were used in farms and homes, and sometimes in combat confrontations in the ongoing disputes between the princes and aristocrats in the south and center of the country, within the aristocratic structure of Iraqi society at the time. They are still used as servants in the houses of clan elders or employed in very low fields of work.
Collective awareness about the identity challenges facing the black minority in Iraq rose after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. Black Iraqis started to form associations and organize social events to demand their rights to participate in political and social life, but they continued to face many obstacles socially, culturally and politically. The Free Iraqi Movement is this minority’s first official entity. It was founded by Jalal Diab [Jalal Thiyab] and other Iraqi Africans in 2007, and is a secular civil gathering aimed at achieving their rights away from racism or discrimination, as expressed by the founder of the movement.
In the book “Minorities in Iraq,” edited by Saad Saloum, there is a chapter titled “Black Iraqis: Scarred Memory and Recovered Identity” in which Diab tackles discrimination and racism against slaves, including religious mythology, social behavior and political participation.
Blacks were increasingly treated as inferior, which undermined their humanitarian value in a culture that was racist against black people. This is with the knowledge that a few of the old thinkers tried to criticize this phenomenon, like al-Jahiz (AD 869), who did so in his book, "The Superiority of the Blacks to the Whites."
The popular stories taken from the Book of Genesis say that blacks originate from Ham, the son of Noah. According to these stories, Ham mocked his father and God then punished him by making his descendants enslaved blacks. Moreover, religious holy books did not declare the abolition of slavery, but rather approved it — directly or indirectly — and have even helped to broaden and deepen the culture of slavery.
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