I'm Clive Myrie, and my new BBC ancestry series left me angry about history – but with a constructive way to use it

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

In a confusing world, we search for our origins. Within many of us there is a deep yearning to find our roots, to discover where our own unique stories begin. This yearning is behind the remarkable popularity of ancestry DNA tests and the success of television shows like Who Do You Think You Are?

In making my series African Adventure, I’ve fed penguins in South Africa and explored the wonderful and chaotic exuberance of Lagos in Nigeria. But I’ve also experienced a traditional naming ceremony in Ghana, where I was metaphorically welcomed back into the African fold and given an African name – an origin.

As well as this new name, I had a flag made by a craftsman of the Fante people, who still practice this ancient folk-art in Ghana. It’s beautiful, vibrant with colour and designs that include symbols representing my Jamaican history. It’s hanging above my desk at home and I take pleasure in this layer being added to my identity.

You might think I have enough identity already. I was born in Bolton in Lancashire, so I’m a Northerner and proud of it. But I’m also very proud of being British and then there are my Caribbean roots, that come courtesy of my Jamaican parents. Thanks to them I remain Caribbean in my bones; I love West Indian food and Jamaican culture.

So, do I have room for another Clive Myrie? My answer is yes, for if you want to be true to who you are, then you really do need to know who you are. In my case, I have parents from Jamaica but before them my ancestors were African. I’m not sure exactly where from, but a DNA test suggests somewhere on what was once called the Gold Coast, most likely modern Ghana or Nigeria. Whichever it was, they were sent across the Atlantic as slaves on the terrible Middle Passage journey to the Caribbean.

In my new series, I’ve visited the slave fort in Ghana where my ancestors could well have been kept in appalling conditions before they were taken through the “Gate of No Return” and loaded onto ships. Unlike my ancestors, I was free to come and go as I wished; being there was painful for me and some of the American tour group I joined at the fort were in tears.

Experiences like that can make you very angry about history, about how your ancestors have been treated. But what is that anger going to do for you? Instead, I prefer to use my emotions constructively, to find out more about those people, keep their stories alive (for we should never forget what happened) but also to find out more about who I am.

Today identity is often used in a negative way; you can see it in the ethno-nationalism playing out across the western world. But you can also use identity as a positive force, to say, “This is who I am, just as important and as individual as anybody else.” And you can afford the same

privilege to others; respect their right to the same dignity you would claim for yourself. For we are all essentially the same flesh and blood. As the Jewish Shylock says to his Christian tormentors in The Merchant of Venice, “If you prick me, do I not bleed?”

Making African Adventure has been emotional and powerful. We’ve all come from somewhere and I may well have come from this part of West Africa; knowing that makes me feel a little more grounded, a little more connected to the people of Africa and more knowledgeable about who I am.

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Clive Myrie's African Adventure begins on BBC Two and iPlayer from Monday 26 January at 6:30pm.

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