Kamau Brathwaite (1930?2020) was a vitally important Caribbean poet and critic who wrote on the experience of Black cultural life throughout the worldwide African diaspora. Born in Bridgetown, Barbados, and educated in Barbados and England, Brathwaite received the Griffin Prize as well as Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellowships. He was for many years a professor of Comparative Literature at New York University and awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Sussex in 2002.