Isaiah Washington Takes Us On His Journey In His Full Documentary: Passport To Sierra Leone

The Southern Truth

By Gloria Zuurveen, Editor-in-Chief

“I now self-identify as a Black American Negro Freedmen and a Sierra Leonean American with citizenship with Sierra Leone solely based on my mitochondrial DNA on my mother’s side, and I am waiting for my full citizenship from Angola now, also based on my mitochondrial DNA on my father’s side. I am the first Black American and the only human being to receive dual citizenship from a sitting West African President back in 2010.” — Isaiah Washington

Actor and philanthropist Isaiah Washington said these words recently, and they are powerful enough that I felt compelled to pass them along—because they speak directly to the true identity of a people who have long had a need to be free. Free from the chains of miseducation. Free from the narratives that have kept Black American Negro Freedmen disconnected from their lineage, their ancestry, and their rightful knowledge of self since the days of the 13 colonies that have now become these United States.

Washington’s words are not just powerful. They are exhilarating. They are liberating. And when he shared them in an email with me—and with a host of our brothers and sisters—they resonated deep within the soul because they speak to a time such as this: a time when many of us desire to live life free from the fallacy of “civil rights” as the pinnacle of liberation, and instead seek a pathway that truly sets the enslaved Black American Negro Freedmen free.

Isaiah Washington has documented his travels to his destiny, and in doing so he has gifted the world with a beautiful, necessary truth. His full documentary, Passport to Sierra Leone, is more than a film—it is a revelation. And during this holiday season, it is a gift worthy of being under every Christmas tree, if any other gift shall be there at all. It should be one indeed.

You can watch Washington’s film on YouTube for free. But if you are moved, as many are, you can also contribute to the ongoing education and elevation of a man who chose to turn his pain into purpose. His book, Man from Another Land: How Finding My Roots Changed My Life, is the beginning of the story—a story that unfolds into his full emergence into the reality of his life in Sierra Leone. It is there that he found home. And he gives credit to AfricanAncestry.com for opening the door to his newfound journey, where he found himself and where he now invites others to discover their truth too.

Washington’s journey is not just about travel. It is about transformation. It is about resurrection. It is about coming back from the fiery pits of Hollywood—a place that can elevate one moment and destroy a character literally, figuratively, and physically the next. Hollywood tried to break him. But he emerged with a higher calling, proving that even through the hell, there is an opportunity to do very well.

This is a Southern Truth review, and The Southern Truth is what we do. We give truth. We tell truth. We stand in truth. Washington’s documentary and his lived testimony offer just that. They show how a man, stripped by a system designed to erase him, reclaimed his identity, his purpose, and his divine assignment. And in doing so, he lights a pathway for others who desire to break free from the chains of spiritual and mental slavery taught through generations of lies.

Isaiah Washington found purpose. And so can you.

He is a man who went home—home to himself, home to his ancestors, home to the land that called his spirit back. And in telling his story, he invites us to consider our own journey to truth.

This is the Southern Truth. And his story is truth worth telling.