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

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

social entrepreneur Social entrepreneurship is an approach by individuals, groups, Startup company, 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 ...

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 most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

from 1945 to 1947. When he returned to Chicago, he studied at the DuSable High School (1947–1950) and Wilson Junior College, gaining qualifications as a

Radiographer Radiographers, also known as radiology technologists, radiologic technologists, diagnostic radiographers and medical radiation technologists, are healthcare professionals who specialise in the imaging of human anatomy for the diagnosis and tr ...

at Provident Hospital from 1952. In 1951, he sang in

Edward Virgil Abner Edward Virgil Abner (sometimes billed as E. Virgil Abner or simply Virgil Abner; 1925–1984) was an American singer of the mid 20th century, primarily active in the 1950s and 1960s. Abner studied at the Chicago Musical College, and in 1950 was t ...

'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

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mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute (philosophy), Absolute, but may refer to any kind of Religious ecstasy, ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or Spirituality, spiritual meani ...

numerology Numerology (known before the 20th century as arithmancy) is the belief in an occult, divine or mystical relationship between a number and one or more coinciding events. It is also the study of the numerical value, via an alphanumeric system, ...

, the

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and

science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

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

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, 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 at the

References

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