Braithwaite, Edward Ricardo

Braithwaite was born in Georgetown, Guyana ^[5] , June 28, 1912 ^[6] . He got a good start in life: both of his parents studied at Oxford University . His father was a gold miner , and his mother was a housewife ^[7] . He attended Queen's College in Guyana, and then City College of New York (1940) ^[8] . During the Second World War he served in the ranks of the Royal Air Force as a pilot - later he will describe this experience in “Teacher, with love”, indicating that at that time he did not feel any discrimination because of his origin or race. He continued his studies at Gonville and Keyes College, University of Cambridge (1949), where he received bachelor's and doctor's degrees in physics ^{[9] [10]} .

After the war, despite an excellent education and extensive knowledge, Braithwaite, like many people from the colonies and representatives of national minorities, could not find a job by profession and, disappointed in his illusions about democracy and tolerance in the UK, was forced to find a job as a school teacher at the Greenslade School of London's East End . The experience of this work formed the basis of his first novel, “To Teacher, with Love” ^[11] , which was awarded the Anisfield-Wolf book prize ^[12] and adapted into the film of the same name (although it was a box office success, reviews from critics and Braithwaite himself considered it too sentimental ^[13] ). In 1955-1962, he also taught in Ghana .

Along with writing a book about the school, Braithwaite was engaged in social work , arranging non-white children in foster care. This is the subject of his second book, The Servant with a Salary ( Paid Servant , 1962) ^[8] .

He also wrote the books “Homecoming” ( A Kind of Homecoming , 1962), about his trip to Africa, “What straw to choose?” ( A Choice of Straws , 1965), which takes place in London, and “Unwanted neighbors” ( Reluctant Neighbors , 1972), autobiographical memories and thoughts of racism. Numerous Braithwaite works tell primarily about the difficulties faced by educated blacks, but also just people who find themselves in inhuman conditions; they contain a protest against racism, colonialism and neocolonialism .

In 1973, the South African government lifted the ban on his books, and Braithwaite reluctantly agreed to visit the country. He was granted the status of “honorable white”, which gave significantly more rights and privileges than the local “colored” population, but less than white. Six weeks spent by the writer in South Africa terrified him in the book Honorary White ( Honorary White , 1975). Braithwaite's poetry (collections of The Masks, 1968, The Islands, 1969) reflected the search by the Caribbean people of African descent for their national and cultural origins and the social problems of their countries. In addition, Braithwaite owns a number of sociological and journalistic works.

Braithwaite continued to write novels and short stories throughout his long international diplomatic career: as an educational consultant and lecturer at UNESCO , Guyana's first Permanent Representative to the United Nations (1967-1969), and then Guyana's Ambassador to Venezuela ^[8] . In the 1970s, he taught history at the University of the West Indies in Jamaica , then Anglicanism at New York University , and in 2002, he was a writer teaching literature at Howard University , Washington. He collaborated with Manchester Community College (Connecticut) in the 2005-2006 academic year as a visiting professor, and also read a congratulatory speech for graduates and received an honorary degree ^[14] . He also received an honorary doctorate from the University of Oxford and the Sorbonne in Paris.

In 2012, he turned 100 years old, and during his visit to Guyana as a patron of the Inter-Guyana Cultural Festival, he was awarded a national prize by President Donald Ramotar on August 23 of the same year ^[15] . In recent years, Braithwaite lived in Washington, DC ^[16] .

Braithwaite passed away at the Adventist Medical Center in Rockville, Maryland , on December 12, 2016, at the age of 104. ^{[13] [17]}