Posted on June 25, 2020 at 2:00 PM by Sadye Scott-Hainchek

The first Black student to graduate from Eton College wrote a memoir that detailed the racism he experienced there.

As a result, Dillibe Onyeama was banned from returning to the prestigious British boarding school — a decision that the current headmaster has now reversed.

Simon Henderson invited Onyeama to return at any time and to receive an in-person apology; Onyeama told the Guardian that he would accept the offer if his airfare was included.

He also told both the newspaper and the BBC that he hadn’t sought or needed the apology, but appreciated that it acknowledged “that prejudice on the grounds of colour or race dehumanises its victims in a way that ordinary forms of prejudice do not.”

Onyeama has written nearly thirty books, starting with his memoir, (N-Word) at Eton, and also including The Story of an African God, a biography of his grandfather, who was a slave trader and British colonial ally.

Categories: Today in Books

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