Alton Abraham (5 May 1927 – 6 June 1999) was an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

social entrepreneur Social entrepreneurship is an approach by individuals, groups, start-up companies or entrepreneurs, in which they develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. This concept may be applied to a wide range of ...

who acted as business manager for jazz musician

Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific ou ...

Early life

Abraham was born in Chicago and served in the U.S Military in

Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city ...

from 1945 to 1947. When he returned to Chicago, he studied at the

DuSable High School Jean Baptiste Point DuSable High School is a public four-year high school campus located in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. DuSable is owned by the Chicago Public Schools district. The school ...

(1947–1950) and Wilson Junior College, gaining qualifications as a

Radiographer Radiographers, also known as radiologic technologists, diagnostic radiographers and medical radiation technologists are healthcare professionals who specialize in the imaging of human anatomy for the diagnosis and treatment of pathology. Radi ...

at Provident Hospital from 1952. In 1951, he sang in Edward Virgil Abner's vocal ensemble, the Knights of Music.

Association with Sun Ra

In late 1951, Abraham met Sun Ra and the two men soon discovered a shared interest in

ancient history Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history to as far as late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient history cove ...

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in ...

, numerology, the occult and

science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...

.Guide to the Alton Abraham Collection of Sun Ra 1822-2008

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

, accessed 26 June 2011 Together with Sun Ra and his brother Artis A. Abraham Father of Anita A. Abraham, current President of Ihnfinity Inc., they also co-founded El Saturn Records. During his tenure as Sun Ra's business manager, he amassed a large collection of objects, artifacts, documents, and materials associated with the musician, which are preserved as the Alton Abraham Collection of Sun Ra at the

Regenstein Library The Joseph Regenstein Library, commonly known as "The Reg" is the main library of the University of Chicago, named after industrialist and philanthropist Joseph Regenstein. It is one of the largest repositories of books in the world and is noted ...

at the

References

1927 births 1999 deaths Sun Ra African-American businesspeople Businesspeople from Chicago American entertainment industry businesspeople 20th-century American musicians American expatriates in Japan {{Chicago-stub