Author Description

Anthony "Tony" Blake, a top high school swimming recruit, entered Yale as a freshman in 1989. By 1991 he was the first African American on the All Ivy League Swimming Team, but in 1992 he failed to qualify for the U.S. Olympic Trials. In February of 1993, three days after leading Yale to its first Conference Championship in fifteen years, and just two months before graduation, Tony Blake disappeared. In the fall of 1995, he returned to Yale, but he was no longer the same person. These letters, for the first time, reveal the new man, Ras Nathaniel who would go on to lead a millennial movement and diplomatic effort at the African Union on behalf of the Rastafari and African Diaspora communities.