Anna Graham (nee Bain-Aggrey) is the protagonist of Sankofa. Born of a Black West African father and a white Englishwoman, Anna is a woman in her 40s who lives in London at the start of the novel. After the recent death of her mother, Bronwen, and the collapse of her decades-long marriage due to her husband’s infidelity, Anna feels lost. Her only child, Rose, has moved out, and Anna now struggles to define who she is beyond the set roles of wife, daughter, and mother. Anna’s racial identity also complicates her sense of self, as she was raised by a white mother who discouraged Anna from connecting with her Black and African heritage. Now, Anna longs for a sense of belonging but feels out of place among both her Black and white peers in London.

After discovering the diaries written by Francis, Anna learns of her father’s true identity. She is inspired by her initial perception of him as a daring young revolutionary but is soon repelled by his apparent transformation into Kofi, the corrupt leader of Bamana who is known to many as a dictator. Hoping that confronting her father will help her to sort out her own identity issues, Anna travels to Bamana alone.