Author | Trevor Noah |
---|---|
Language | English |
Genre | Autobiography |
Publisher | Spiegel & Grau |
Publication date | November 15, 2016 |
Media type | Print (Hardback) |
Pages | 304 |
ISBN | 978-0-399-58817-4 |
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood is an autobiographical comedy book written by South African comedian Trevor Noah, published in 2016. The book focuses on Noah's childhood growing up in South Africa after he was born of an illegal interracial relationship during the apartheid era. The book was a bestseller and has received overwhelmingly positive reviews.
The book details Trevor Noah's experiences growing up in Johannesburg, South Africa during the apartheid era. Noah's parents were a white Swiss-German father and a black Xhosa mother; at the time of Trevor Noah's birth in 1984, their interracial relationship was illegal under the Immorality Act. According to Noah, "for [him] to be born as a mixed-race baby" was to be "born a crime." [1] Interracial relations were decriminalised when the Immorality Act was amended in 1985. As a mixed-race person, Noah was classified as a "Coloured" in accordance to the apartheid system of racial classification. Noah was raised primarily by his mother and her family in Soweto.
In large part, the book is a paean to Noah's mother, Patricia Nombuyiselo, who grew up in a hut with fourteen occupants. Noah describes his mother as being stubborn, fearless, and an extraordinary teacher. She was a fiercely religious woman who took her son to three churches every Sunday, a prayer meeting on Tuesday, Bible study on Wednesday and youth church on Thursday, even when black South Africans were rioting in the streets and most people were cowering in their homes. [2]
The book opens with young Noah being thrown out of a minibus by his mother because she thought the driver, a man from another South African tribe, was going to kill them. Noah develops social and mental agility, using his fluency in languages to break barriers to his acceptance as a mixed race child. Growing up in poverty, he finds independence by earning money from selling illegal bootleg CDs, first at school and later on the streets of the notorious neighborhood of Alexandra. Noah describes the struggle of living with his abusive stepfather Abel. Through it all, his mother administers tough love and "old-school, Old Testament discipline". [3] When Noah is arrested while driving an unregistered car taken from Abel's workshop without permission, he describes his fear of doing time in prison, and his mother lays down the law about crime and punishment. The book ends with the story of Patricia being shot in the head by Abel while she was returning from church with her family, and her miraculous survival.
Published in November 2016, Born a Crime [4] was received favorably by major U.S. book reviewers. [2] [1] [3] [5] It became a No. 1 New York Times Bestseller and was named one of the best books of the year by The New York Times , Newsday , Esquire , NPR, and Booklist . [5] In early 2017, its title was used as a clue in the New York Times Crossword Puzzle , [6] and has been used two more times, in 2019 [7] and 2020. [8]
U.S. senator Tammy Duckworth cited Born a Crime as the book that inspired her to write her 2021 memoir Every Day Is a Gift, in which she relates her experiences as the child of a white American father and a Thai mother. [9] First Lady Jill Biden, an English professor at Northern Virginia Community College, assigned Born a Crime as required reading for an introductory English course. [10]
In 2018, it was announced that the memoir would be adapted into a film starring Lupita Nyong'o as Patricia, Noah's mother. Nyong'o was set to produce the film with Noah through his production company, Ark Angel Productions. [11] In March 2018, Liesl Tommy was hired to direct the film, [12] which would be produced by Paramount Players.
The Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act, Act No. 55 of 1949, was an apartheid-era law in South Africa that prohibited marriages between "whites" and "non-whites". It was among the first pieces of apartheid legislation to be passed following the National Party's rise to power in 1948. Subsequent legislation, especially the Population Registration and Immorality Acts of 1950, facilitated its implementation by requiring all individuals living in South Africa to register as a member of one of four officially defined racial groups and prohibiting extramarital sexual relationships between those classified as "white" on the one hand and those classified as "non-White" on the other. It did not criminalize sexual relationships between those classified as "non-Europeans".
Alek Wek is a South Sudanese-British model and designer who began her fashion career at the age of 18 in 1995. She has been hailed for her influence on the perception of beauty in the fashion industry. She is from the Dinka ethnic group in South Sudan, but fled to Britain in 1991 to escape the civil war in Sudan. In 2015, she was listed as one of BBC's 100 Women.
Prostitution in South Africa is illegal for both buying and selling sex, as well as related activities such as brothel keeping and pimping. However, it remains widespread. Law enforcement is poor.
Peter Anyang' Nyong'o is a Kenyan politician and author who is the Governor of Kisumu County. He is a former Secretary-General of Orange Democratic Movement. Professor Nyong'o was the acting party leader from March 11 until late May when Raila Odinga was in the United States and was elected to the National Assembly of Kenya in the December 2007 parliamentary election, representing the Kisumu Rural Constituency. He was the Minister for Medical Services and previously the Minister for Planning & National Development. He previously served as the Senator of Kisumu from 2013 to 2017.
Trevor Noah is a South African comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and former television host. He was the host of The Daily Show, an American late-night talk show and satirical news program on Comedy Central, from 2015 to 2022. Noah has won various awards, including a Primetime Emmy Award from 11 nominations. He was named one of "The 35 Most Powerful People in New York Media" by The Hollywood Reporter in 2017 and 2018. In 2018, Time magazine named him one of the hundred most influential people in the world. In 2023, he won the Erasmus Prize.
The Sexual Offences Act, 1957 is an act of the Parliament of South Africa which, in its current form, prohibits prostitution, brothel-keeping and procuring, and other activities related to prostitution. Before the law relating to sex offences was consolidated and revised by the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2007, it also prohibited various other sex offences, including sex with children under the age of consent and sex with the mentally incompetent. As the Immorality Act it was infamous for prohibiting sex between a white person and a person of another race, until that prohibition was removed by a 1985 amendment.
Danai Jekesai Gurira is a Zimbabwean–American actress and playwright. She is best known for her starring roles as Michonne on the AMC horror drama series The Walking Dead and as Okoye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero films, including Black Panther (2018) and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022).
Lupita Amondi Nyong'o is a Kenyan-Mexican actress. She is the recipient of several accolades, including an Academy Award, and nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Tony Award.
Americanah is a 2013 novel by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, for which Adichie won the 2013 U.S. National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. Americanah tells the story of a young Nigerian woman, Ifemelu, who immigrates to the United States to attend university. The novel traces Ifemelu's life in both countries, threaded by her love story with high school classmate Obinze. It was Adichie's third novel, published on May 14, 2013, by Alfred A. Knopf.
Queen of Katwe is a 2016 American biographical sports drama film directed by Mira Nair and written by William Wheeler. Starring David Oyelowo, Lupita Nyong'o, and Madina Nalwanga, the film depicts the life of Phiona Mutesi, a girl living in Katwe, a slum of Kampala, the capital of Uganda. She learns to play chess and becomes a Woman Candidate Master after her victories at World Chess Olympiads.
Maz Kanata is a fictional character in the Star Wars franchise. Introduced in the 2015 film Star Wars: The Force Awakens, she is a computer-generated character voiced and performed through motion capture by Lupita Nyong'o. Maz, a former pirate and smuggler, is more than 1,000 years old and manages an interstellar tavern in a castle on the fictional planet Takodana. While Maz's small role in the trilogy has been criticized, Nyong'o's performance and the technical aspects of the character have been praised by critics. For her performance in The Force Awakens, Nyong'o was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress.
Eclipsed is a play written by Danai Gurira. It takes place in 2003 and tells the story of five Liberian women and their tale of survival near the end of the Second Liberian Civil War. It became the first play with an all-black and female creative cast and team to premiere on Broadway.
Florence Kasumba is a Ugandan-born German actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Ayo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films Captain America: Civil War (2016), Black Panther (2018), Avengers: Infinity War (2018), and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022), as well as the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021). She is also known for her acting in German and Dutch films. She also played Senator Acantha in Wonder Woman (2017), Shenzi in The Lion King (2019), and the Wicked Witch of the East in the NBC television series Emerald City (2017).
Liesl Tommy is a South African-American director. Primarily known for her stage work, Tommy became the first woman of color to be nominated for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play, for directing the Broadway production of Danai Gurira's Eclipsed (2017). She made her feature film directorial debut with the biopic Respect, based on the life of singer Aretha Franklin, starring Jennifer Hudson and released in August 2021.
Us is a 2019 American psychological horror film written and directed by Jordan Peele, starring Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, and Tim Heidecker. The film follows Adelaide Wilson (Nyong'o) and her family, who are attacked by a group of menacing doppelgängers.
Little Monsters is a 2019 post-apocalyptic musical action comedy horror film written and directed by Abe Forsythe, starring Lupita Nyong'o, Alexander England, Josh Gad, and Kat Stewart. The story centres on a washed-up musician, a children's television personality, and a kindergarten teacher teaming up to protect a group of young schoolchildren during a sudden zombie outbreak.
Sisonke Msimang is a South African writer, activist and political analyst based in Perth, Western Australia, whose focus is on race, gender, and politics. She is known for her memoir Always Another Country: A memoir of exile and home (2017) and The Resurrection of Winnie Mandela (2018), a biography of anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.
Lady in the Lake is an upcoming American limited series based on the novel of the same name by Laura Lippman. It is set to premiere on Apple TV+.
Robert Katende is a Ugandan chess coach, footballer, and engineer. He is also the executive director of Sports Outreach.
Warrior Women with Lupita Nyong'o is a 2019 documentary about the actress' journey to Benin to learn about the history and culture of an all-woman army, the Ahosi, referred to by early European historians as the Amazons of Dahomey. The film explores the evolution of Lupita Nyong'o's understanding of the Ahosi, from her glorification of the women warriors at the onset of the film to her ultimate comprehension of Ahosi's complicated history at the film's conclusion.