Brathwaite, Kamau (1930-2020), was a poet, critic, and historian from the Caribbean island of Barbados. Brathwaite’s poetry explored Caribbean racial history and heritage and the search for identity. He used a Caribbean dialect and rhythm in much of his poetry. His best known poetry is a trilogy, consisting of the books Rights of Passage (1967), Masks (1968), and Islands (1969), which are printed together as Arrivants: A New World Trilogy (1973). He composed a second verse trilogy, also on Caribbean themes and his native Barbados, consisting of Mother Poem (1977), Sun Poem (1982), and X/Self (1987). Brathwaite’s other books of poetry include Days and Nights (1975), Black and Blues (1976), Third World Poems (1983), Shar (1990), Middle Passages (1992), Trenchtown Rock (1993), Ancestors (2001), Born to Slow Horses (2005), and Elegguas (2010).
Lawson Edward Brathwaite was born in Bridgetown, Barbados, on May 11, 1930. In 1953, he completed a bachelor’s degree in history at Pembroke College, Cambridge University, in the United Kingdom. He earned a diploma of education the following year. He worked as an education officer for the Ministry of Education in Ghana from 1955 to 1962, and then held teaching posts with the University of the West Indies. From 1965 to 1968, he earned a Ph.D. at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom. Brathwaite began using the name Kamau in the 1970’s. From 1982 to 1991, he taught social and cultural history at the University of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica. From 1991 to 2012, he was a professor of comparative literature at New York University . Brathwaite continued to write poetry. He also edited bibliographies of Caribbean culture and literature. Brathwaite died on Feb. 4, 2020, at his home in Barbados.
