Ham
Ham, one of Noah's three sons, was the father of Canaan and the ancestor of various nations.
Ham was one of Noah's three sons whose descendants, according to the Table of Nations (Genesis 10), populated Africa and the ancient Near East, including Egypt (Mizraim), Canaan, Cush (Ethiopia), and Put (Libya). His act of 'seeing his father's nakedness' after the flood, while his brothers Shem and Japheth covered Noah respectfully, earned a curse on his son Canaan: 'Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be to his brothers' (Genesis 9:20–27). The nature of Ham's offense—whether merely seeing, mocking, or something more serious—is debated by scholars. The 'curse of Ham' was misused historically to justify the enslavement of Africans, a reading now universally rejected as both exegetically wrong (the curse fell on Canaan, not Ham) and ethically repugnant.