Peter Abrahams

Peter Henry Abrahams Deras (3 March 1919 – 18 January 2017), commonly known as Peter
Abrahams, was a South African-born novelist, journalist and political commentator who in 1956
settled in Jamaica, where he lived for the rest of his life.[1] His death at the age of 97 is
considered to have been murder.[2]

Biography

Early years and education

Abrahams was born in 1919 in Vrededorp, a suburb of Johannesburg, South Africa; his father
was from Ethiopia and his mother was Coloured, with French and African roots.[3] Abrahams was
five years old when his father died, and with his family thereafter struggling financially his
mother sent him to live with relatives until the age of 11, when he became a boarding student at
the Anglican Church's Grace Dieu School in Pietersburg.[4] On graduation from there, he went to
St Peter's Secondary School in Rosettenville, paying his tuition fees by working at the Bantu
Men's Social Centre.[3]
Move to London Peter Abrahams
(1939) and
Jamaica (1956)
In 1939, Abrahams left South Africa, and
worked first as a sailor, and then settled in
London, where he was a journalist. While
working in London, Abrahams lived with his
wife Daphne in Loughton, whilst meeting
several important black leaders and writers.

Hoping to make his way as a writer, he faced

considerable challenges as a South African,
as Carol Polsgrove has shown in her history,
Photo of Abrahams
Ending British Rule: Writers in a Common by Carl Van Vechten,
Cause (2009). Despite a manuscript reader's
recommendation against publication, in 1942 1955
Allen & Unwin brought out his Dark Testament,
made up mostly of pieces he had carried with Born Peter
him from South Africa. Publisher Dorothy
Crisp published his novels Song of the City Henry
(1945) and Mine Boy (1946). According to
Nigerian scholar Kolawole Ogungbesan, Mine
Abrahams
Boy became "the first African novel written in
English to attract international attention."[5]
Deras
More books followed with publication in 3 March
Britain and the United States: two novels —The
Path of Thunder (1948) and Wild Conquest 1919
(1950); a journalistic account of a return
journey to Africa, Return to Goli (1953); and a
Vrededorp,
memoir, Tell Freedom (1954).[6] Transvaal,
In 1945, Abrahams helped to organised the
fifth Pan-African Congress which took place in
Union of
Manchester and is today regarded as a South
turning point within the independence
struggle. In attendance at the event were Africa
names like Kwame Nkrumah, Hastings Banda,
Jomo Kenyatta and W. E. B. Du Bois. [7] In Died 18
1956, Abrahams published a roman à clef
about the political community of which he had January
been a part in London: A Wreath for Udomo.
His main character, Michael Udomo, who 2017
returns from London to his African country to
preside over its transformation into an
(aged 97)
independent, industrial nation, appeared to be Saint
modelled chiefly on Nkrumah with a hint of
Kenyatta. Other identifiable fictionalized Andrew
figures included George Padmore. The novel
concluded with Udomo's murder. Published
Parish,
the year before Nkrumah took the reins of
Jamaica
independent Ghana, A Wreath for Udomo was
not an optimistic forecast of Africa's future.[8]
Occupation Novelist
Abrahams is commemorated by a blue plaque
on his former council house in Jessel Drive in journalis
Loughton, London installed in 2020.
political
In 1956, Abrahams settled in Jamaica,[9]
where he continued novels and memoirs, also
comme
working as a journalist and radio
commentator.[3] In 1994 he was awarded the Nationality South
Musgrave Gold Medal for his writing and
journalism by the Institute of Jamaica.[10]
African
and
Jamaica
 Notable Mine Boy
Death works (1946)
Abrahams was found dead at his home in Tell
Saint Andrew Parish, Jamaica, on 18 January
2017, aged 97.[11][12][13][14] A forensic Freedom
examination showed that Abrahams was a
victim of foul play. A local 61-year-old man,
(1954)
Norman Tomlinson, was later charged with
A Wreath
murder.[15] Court proceedings began in March
2017 after a delay due to a lengthy power for
outage in the court house;[16] and on 7
October 2018, having pleaded guilty to Udomo
manslaughter, Tomlinson was jailed for seven
years.[17]
(1956)

Writing
Peter Abrahams is one of South Africa's most prominent writers,[18] his work dealing with
political and social issues, especially with racism. His novel Mine Boy (1946), one of the first
works to bring him to critical attention,[19] and his memoir Tell Freedom (1954)[20] deal in part
with apartheid.[21] His other works include the story collection Dark Testament (1942) and the
novels The Path of Thunder (1948, which inspired both a ballet of the same name and the opera
Reiter der Nacht by Ernst Hermann Meyer), A Wreath for Udomo (1956), A Night of Their Own
(1965), the Jamaica-set This Island Now (1966, the only one of his novels not set in Africa) and
The View from Coyaba (1985). His memoir The Coyaba Chronicles was published in 2000.
Works

Dark Testament (1942)

Song of the City (1945) 179p, novel,
published by Dorothy Crisp & Co Ltd
London
Mine Boy (1946) published by Dorothy
Crisp & Co Ltd London – his seminal
novel, the first author to bring the horrific
reality of South Africa's apartheid
system of racial discrimination to
international attention.
The Path of Thunder (1948)
Wild Conquest (1950)
Return to Goli (1953)
Tell Freedom (1954; new edn 1970)
A Wreath for Udomo (1956)
Jamaica: an Island Mosaic (1957), Her
Majesty's Stationery Office, the Corona
Library
A Night of Their Own (1965)
This Island Now (1966)
The View from Coyaba (1985)
The Coyaba Chronicles: Reflections on
the Black Experience in the 20th Century
(2000)
2. Olivier Stephenson, "Essay: No Outcry for
the Tragedy at Coyaba" (http://www.peepalt
reepress.com/blog/guest-bloggers/essay-n
o-outcry-tragedy-coyaba) , Peepal Tree
Press blog, 9 March 2017.
3. J. Brooks Spector, "Politically incorrect
since 2009" (http://www.panafricanwritersa
ssociation.org/pawa-news-2/40-politically-i
ncorrect-since-2009) , PAWA website.
4. Gikandi, Simon (2003). Encyclopedia of
African Literature (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=hKmCAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA5) .
Taylor & Francis. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-134-
58223-5. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
5. Ogungbesan, Kolawole (1979), The Writings
of Peter Abrahams, New York: Africana
Publishing Company, quoted in "Peter
Henry Abrahams" (http://www.sahistory.or
g.za/people/peter-henry-abrahams) , South
African History Online.
6. Carol Polsgrove, Ending British Rule in
Africa: Writers in a Common Cause (2009),
pp. 61, 76, 83.
7. Adi, Hakim; Sherwood, Marika (1995). The
1945 Manchester Pan-African Congress
Revisited (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=W7mfAAAAMAAJ) . New Beacon
Books. ISBN 978-1-873201-12-1.
8. Polsgrove, Ending British Rule, p. 133.
 9. Larson, Charles R. (1 March 2002). "Self-
Exile From Wretchedness: South African
novelist Peter Abrahams left his homeland
amid the horrors of apartheid and resettled
in Jamaica" (http://www.accessmylibrary.c
om/coms2/summary_0286-25311465_IT
M) . World and I. News World
Communications, Inc.
10. "Musgrave Awardees" (https://archive.toda
y/20141018165642/http://instituteofjamaic
a.org.jm/musgrave-awards) . Institute of
Jamaica. Archived from the original (http://i
nstituteofjamaica.org.jm/musgrave-award
s) on 18 October 2014. Retrieved
6 February 2015.
11. Schudel, Matt, "Peter Abrahams, whose
novels detailed South Africa's racial
injustice, dies at 97" (https://www.washingt
onpost.com/entertainment/books/peter-ab
rahams-whose-novels-detailed-south-africa
s-racial-injustice-dies-at-97/2017/01/20/03
8aaf72-dea2-11e6-ad42-f3375f271c9c_stor
y.html) , The Washington Post, 20 January
2017.
12. Grimes, William, "Peter Abrahams, a South
African Who Wrote of Apartheid and
Identity, Dies at 97" (https://www.nytimes.c
om/2017/01/22/books/peter-abrahams-a-s
outh-african-who-wrote-of-apartheid-and-id
entity-dies-at-97.html?_r=0) , The New York
Times, 22 January 2017.
13. "Long-Time Journalist Peter Abrahams Dies
at 97" (http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/n
ews/20170118/long-time-journalist-peter-a
brahams-dies-97) . The Gleaner. 18 January
2017. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
14. "Literary Icon Peter Abrahams Is Dead" (htt
p://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-storie
s/20170119/literary-icon-peter-abrahams-d
ead) , The Gleaner, 19 January 2017.
15. "61-y-o man charged with murder of Peter
Abrahams" (http://www.jamaicaobserver.co
m/news/61-y-o-man-charged-with-murder-o
f-Peter-Abrahams_90303) , Jamaican
Observer, 21 February 2017.
19. Jackson, Sally-Anne (22 December 2007).
"Peter Abrahams's Mine Boy: a study of
colonial diseases in South Africa" (http://w
ww.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary
_0286-33263818_ITM) . Research in
African Literatures. 38 (4): 153–169.
doi:10.2979/RAL.2007.38.4.153 (https://do
i.org/10.2979%2FRAL.2007.38.4.153) .
S2CID 153678836 (https://api.semanticsch
olar.org/CorpusID:153678836) .
20. Tymieniecka, Anna-Teresa, ed. (2007).
Temporality in Life as Seen Through
Literature. Analecta Husserliana. Vol. 86.
Springer Netherlands. pp. 37–46.
doi:10.1007/1-4020-5331-2 (https://doi.or
g/10.1007%2F1-4020-5331-2) . ISBN 978-1-
4020-5330-6.
21. Mason, Philip (January 1955). "Review".
International Affairs. 31 (1). Royal Institute
of International Affairs: 93–94.
doi:10.2307/2604615 (https://doi.org/10.2
307%2F2604615) . JSTOR 2604615 (http
s://www.jstor.org/stable/2604615) .

External links

The African Activist Archive Project

website includes a photograph of Peter
Abrahams (http://africanactivist.msu.ed
u/image.php?objectid=32-131-313) and
family at his home in England.
Ensor, Robert. (1992). The Novels of
Peter Abrahams and the Rise of
Nationalism in Africa (https://searchwork
 s.stanford.edu/view/2488335) . Essen:
Die Blaue Eule Verlag.
J. Brooks Spector, "Politically incorrect
since 2009" (http://www.panafricanwrite
rsassociation.org/pawa-news-2/40-polit
ically-incorrect-since-2009) , PAWA
website.

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