Kwame Kwei Armah

Kwame changed his name in 1989 after tracing his family history through the slave trade back to his African roots. His parents were born in Grenada but his great great great grandfather was originally from Ghana. He was captured and transported across the Atlantic to become a slave.
 
Kwame Kwei Armah is his ancestral name and means "One most ancient, born on a Saturday, with wisdom to find a way".

Kwame wasn't able to make it into our offices, so we called him on the phone!
 
Here's the interview.

Do you think the UK should be commemorating the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade?

Without a shadow of a doubt. This country was made great by the industrial revolution, and that was funded in part by the investment from former slavers and people associated with the trade like Lloyds bank. Therefore if the country has been made great by the input of those who worked for free, then the least we can do is commemorate and not celebrate such an important occasion.

Kwame Kwei-Armah means "One most ancient, born on a Saturday, with wisdom to find a way". It's interesting that you’ve taken your own personal legacy seriously, can you explain the name change?

I believe that culture is an ever evolving thing. That we contribute to its evolution on a daily basis and I find slavery to be an illegitimate enterprise and the byproducts of it culturally devastating, therefore I didn’t wish to perpetuate the name of someone who owned my forebears, or pass that legacy to my children.

Do you think it’s important to learn about slavery in school and if so why?

Yes, or most importantly, about the transatlantic trade and its legacy as it allows for some answers to the question of where African Caribbeans and African Americans find themselves today.

Do you ever decide to give your children more information than the schools provide on subjects like slavery?

I think my children will testify that I am a bit of a historical bore! I tend to put their genealogy in perspective. I talk to them about their grandparents, their great grandparents and their great great grand parents having come from Ghana, so in order to put that into context, I have to explain about the slave trade and I have done so since they were young.

Do you think that modern day slavery is comparable to that of the transatlantic slave trade (bonded labour, child trafficking, forced prostitution etc)?

I have to be honest, I separate the two and I think there isn’t a person with any amount of sensitivity in the world who wouldn’t agree that bonded labour etc shouldn't be allowed to continue. The difference though is that those activities are illegal. In the transatlantic slave trade, the people were legally transported across the Atlantic.

I believe you have already been to Senegal; have you ever visited Brazil, Haiti or Sierra Leone?

I have just returned from Sierra Leone actually. I was doing a radio documentary called ‘Riches from Freetown’ looking at Sierra Leonian society. It was my first time and it was fascinating to find a culture that looks back to the period of enslavement with pride; to say 'this is my heritage'. They held a very positive version of what it means to be from the Diaspora, so I had an intellectually illuminating time.
 
The Creole culture is really that of those who were once enslaved, they only make up 1% of the country, yet Creole is the national language and is even taught in schools. I had an amazing time, I found them to be a very resilient people.

What does freedom mean to you?

It means living in an environment that allows you to fulfil your true potential to be all that you can be and more.

How would you like your own legacy to be remembered?

Isn’t that the kind of question one should leave for Tony Blair?! If I were forced to answer, I would like my kids, when they are 30 or 40, to be able to look back and say “My Dad contributed”.