Ghanaian musician and rapper, Kwame Ametepee Tsikata, popularly known as M.anifest, has revealed that his grandfather gave celebrated American writer and poet Maya Angelou her first job in Ghana.
Speaking in an interview, M.anifest said he made the surprising discovery while browsing through books at Barnes & Noble in the United States.
According to him, he came across Angelou’s book All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes, which largely documents her experiences during her time in Ghana in the early 1960s.
He said he was particularly intrigued when Angelou described the man who gave her her first job in Ghana and realised that she was referring to his grandfather.
“Maya Angelou has a book, All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes, which majority of it was her time in Ghana. I stumbled upon it in a Barnes & Noble in America. She was describing the man who gave her her first job and it was my grandfather,” he stated.
M.anifest explained that the revelation came as a surprise because the story was not something he had previously heard from members of his family.
He said he was so intrigued by the discovery that he contacted his grandfather to verify whether Angelou’s account was accurate.
M.anifest’s grandfather, an ethnomusicologist who served as the head of the African Studies Department at the University of Ghana, Legon, reportedly offered Angelou a writing job during her stay in the country.
Reflecting on the unexpected connection between his family and the literary icon, M.anifest said the discovery reminded him of how interconnected life and history can be.
“Worlds are connected, and before you, it was destined to be,” he said.
