Governor Thorold Masefield.

"You don't need black skin to be proud to be an African,'' he told a packed audience at the final talk in the series of lectures put on by the Bermuda College to celebrate Black History Month on Monday night.

Delivering an unusual perspective on Africa to the packed auditorium, Mr.

Masefield delivered a talk on "Africa's proud contribution to the world''.

In addition to pointing out that all people in the world are descended from a female in Africa, Mr. Masefield held that people should be proud about it.

"You don't need black skin to be proud to be an African,'' he said, "but if you do have black skin, do please be proud, because you can learn more from our common heritage.'' Ugandan-born and raised for the early part of his childhood, Mr. Masefield was emphatic that he is an African. Throughout his address he stressed the importance of including African studies in the school cirriculum.

Holding that Africa has played the greatest influence on the world in the 20th Century, Mr. Masefield spoke passionately about the impact of African art, dance, music and literature on the rest of the world.

In particular he sought to correct any notions that modern artists like Pablo Picasso and sculptor Henry Moore were forerunners of the abstract form.

Holding up a wooden sculpture from his personal collection he noted: "These people (Picasso and Moore) drew their inspiration from Africa, this is not a piece of work where some African was doing a bit of Picasso for the tourists.

"This is what Picasso saw and said `I like it. This idea of abtract, not realistic appeals to me, I can work in this way but I don't want to work in wood', so he transformed it into paintings.'' In praise of almost every aspect of African culture, Mr. Masefield carefully showed where and how the influences have filtered into western society although often in a less vibrant or concentrated way.

He pointed to music of Brazil, the Caribbean and southern US and held that the sounds and rhythms are clearly decendent from Africa.

"In the same way you can see the influence in art, you can hear the influence in the music,'' he said. " Twentieth century music owes a huge debt to Africa.'' Illustrating the richness of African literature, Mr. Masefield talked glowingly about a number of West African authors including Chinua Achebe, Ben Okri and Wole Soyinka. He even suggested that The Bermuda College invite Mr.

Soyinka, a Nobel prize winner, to be a guest speaker.

"He is a charming, witty, erudite man -- an absolutely brilliant person to meet,'' he said.

"Still writing, his most famous play perhaps is Death and the Kings Horseman.

These are not only successful but they are studied and taught in schools. They influence other people,'' he noted.

Mr. Masefield also held that African drama has a long history and he pointed to a serious plays written by Ahmed Yeriman on the Yoruba civil wars in Nigeria.

"These bear comparison with anything that Shakespeare wrote in terms of the drama, the way in which history is portrayed, the pathos and then the humour which comes in to relieve it, when it all is becoming too difficult, too tense and too emotional,'' he said.

"These are contributions not tucked away for the erudite in an ivory tower,'' he continued, "They are part of the 20th Century literature. They have drawn on other people's experience but above all they have influenced other people and they continue to do so.'' Governor Throrold Masefield