When New Nation asked experts to list the 100 most important figures in black history, they put Jesus on top of the list.
"Jesus was more likely to be black than anything else," argued the paper's editor Michael Eboda, pointing out that the Bible describes Christ as "dark skinned" - and that 2,000 years ago, the people of Bethlehem were a "mix of Ethiopians, Egyptians and Babylonians, all mixed with people from central Africa."
'When we put the list of black icons together we never thought some people might think our choice of Jesus at No1
''Of course no-one knows what colour he was but let's not get too hung up about this. While on the one hand it is meant to be educational and encourage debate, on the other it's a bit of fun," he said.
"With that in mind, there are a few other reasons why Jesus was black - he called everybody "brother", he liked Gospel and he couldn't get a fair trial."
Others who made it to the top 10 include Dr Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, Muhammad Ali , Mary Seacole, Oprah Winfrey, Bob Marley Marcus Garvey and various black inventors like Garrett Morgan, George Washington Carver and Elijah McCoy.
