Peter Abrahams was a South African-born author, political commentator, and journalist.
Born to an Ethiopian father and a Colored (i.e. mixed-race South African) mother, Abrahams became one of South Africa's best-known authors. His thirteen books are largely focused on social issues, particularly racism and South Africa's official policy of segregation, which was known as apartheid.
In 1956, Abrahams settled in Jamaica, where he worked as a radio journalist while continuing to write novels and memoirs. At 97, he was found dead in his home; he is presumed to have been murdered.
Peter Abrahams's 1946 novel Mine Boy follows a young farm boy from the northern part of South Africa named Xuma as he moves to Johannesburg to work in a gold mine. As Xuma's heart is broken by a black woman who wishes to be white, and he is...
