El Apellido Nicolas Guillen English Translation Jun 2026

Guillén guesses at African ethnicities because he has no records. The translation capitalizes “Black” and keeps “Congo” and “Bantu” as proper nouns – these were real peoples enslaved in Cuba.

Because I, too, am that Black man. We all are. And we continue looking for our last name, walking through the streets of memory, asking the sun and the moon: Who are we? Where do we come from? el apellido nicolas guillen english translation

Despite not knowing his “true” name, Guillén does not ask for a new one. He interrogates the name he has. This is not a victim’s poem – it is an accuser’s poem. He turns the Spanish name into evidence of a crime. Guillén guesses at African ethnicities because he has

My mother looked at him with a strange expression, part pity, part fear. —No one knows — she said — They say he’s trying to find his last name. We all are

Throughout his career, Guillén received numerous awards and honors for his contributions to literature. He passed away on October 16, 1989, in Havana, Cuba.

An effective English translation of “El apellido” must preserve: