Ivan Gladstone Van Sertima (January 26, 1935 – May 25, 2009) was a Guyanese-born, associate professor of Africana Studies at Rutgers University in the United States. Van Sertima’s gained global recognition with his most famous work “They Came Before Columbus,” (Random House, 1976) which showed African influences in the Americas before the arrival of Europeans. Thereafter, he engaged in battle with conservative scholars who rejected his teachings.