Kamau Brathwaite was born Lawson Edward Brathwaite in Barbados in 1930 to father Hilton Edward and mother Beryl Brathwaite. His upbringing in Barbados was firmly middle class; he attended Harrison College and, in 1949, he won the coveted Barbados Island Scholarship to Cambridge University in England. Brathwaite was a Pembroke College student at Cambridge, where he read for History and English. He earned a BA in History (1953) and a diploma in education (1954).
In 1954, he journeyed to Ghana, where he was an Education Officer at the Ministry of Education from 1955-62. These years in Ghana had a large impact on Brathwaite’s writing. The most explicit influence was his realization of the strong currents that bond members of the African Diaspora. His subsequent poetry, criticism and
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Citation: Josephs, Kelly Baker. "Edward Kamau Brathwaite". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 March 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=551, accessed 21 November 2024.]
