The Black experience in the 20th century

by Abrahams, Peter

"The Black Experience in the 20th Century is both a personal memoir and a powerful meditation on what W. E. B. Dubois defined at the beginning of the century as " ... the problem of the colour line; of the relations between the lighter and darker races of man ... " Using Dubois as a point of departure, Abrahams writes passionately, about the inherent "wrongness" of racial hatred and contemplates such timeless questions as: "Why was colour the most crucial issue of our century?" "When will we get over the deep psychic and emotional damage done by the racial experience?" This is one of the major themes of the memoir - that of the quest for an integrated identity - a challenge that faces people of colour in both first and third-world countries." "The Black Experience in the 20th Century is also the personal journey of Peter Abrahams. It is the odyssey of a young South African who worked for a time as a seaman in order to leave his homeland for wartime Britain and post-war France to become