Adam's First Wife

Book excerpt: Adam's First Wife is an account of the story of Lilith, named in Gnostic and ancient Hebrew literature as the original wife of the man, Adam, his first "helpmeet". Described in those texts as having been created from " filth and sediment" instead of "pure dust," she was a woman of color. This mysterious dark-skinned woman is lauded as beautiful and blue-eyed. Simultaneously, she is named as the prototype of the incubus, night monster in early legend. Called a seducer in nightmares, vilified by gossip, she was eliminated as a real person and her possible historical legacy removed through denial of her very existence. Eve's descendants , the development of systemic colorism and certainly the seventeenth century scholars of King James attempted to omit every reference to her, even as an ancient queen. But, "she" existed.