Famous People with Name Abdias

Abdias Do Nascimento            Origin/Culture/Country: South America

Abdias Do Nascimento: is a prominent Afro-Brazilian scholar, artist, and politician.Abdias attended public school as a child and joined the military in 1930, but was discharged for disorderly conduct a few years later. He received a B. A. in Economics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in 1938, and graduate degrees from the Higher Institute of Brazilian Studies (1957) and the Oceanography Institute (1961) . Nascimento travelled South America with a group of poets calling themselves the "Santa Irmandad Orquidea", or the "Holy Brotherhood of the Orchid" and developed an interest for the dramatic arts. Returning to Rio de Janeiro, he founded the Black Experimental Theater in 1944. He performed in Orfeu da Conceiçao, a play by Vinicius de Moraes which was later adapted into the motion picture Black Orpheus. He became a leader in Brazil's black movement, and was forced into exile by the military regime in 1968.