Dillibe Onyeama | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Charles Dillibe Onyeama 6 January 1951 |
| Died | 10 November 2022 (aged 71) Enugu, Nigeria |
| Education | Eton College |
| Occupation(s) | Author
Publisher and Journalist |
| Notable work | Nigger at Eton (1972) |
| Children | 6 |
| Parent | Charles Onyeama (father) |
| Relatives | Geoffrey Onyeama (brother)[1] |
Charles Dillibe Ejiofor Onyeama (6 January 1951 – 10 November 2022) was a Nigerian author and publisher.[2][3][4] In 1969, he became the first black person to finish his studies at Eton College in England.[5] He wrote a book about his experiences of racism at Eton, Nigger at Eton, which resulted in his being banned from visiting the school by then-headmaster Michael McCrum.[6]
Dillibe Charles Onyeama was born in Enugu, Nigeria, in 1951,[7] the second son of Charles Onyeama, a Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and Judge at the International Court of Justice who was himself the son of Onyeama of Eke, a ruling chief in the Nigerian chieftaincy system.[6][8] On the day of his birth, he became the first black boy to be registered to attend Eton College.[2] He attended preparatory school at Grove Park in Sussex,[9] before becoming a pupil at Eton in 1965, and leaving in 1969. Onyeama wrote a book while still a teenager about his experiences of racist discrimination and bullying at the elite British boarding school:[10] Nigger at Eton, published in 1972 by Leslie Frewin Limited,[11] which was republished by Penguin in 2022 with the title A Black Boy at Eton.[12]
In 2020 the school's present headmaster, Simon Henderson, offered Onyeama an apology for the treatment he had received.[13] Onyeama said he would return to Eton to accept the apology as long as the costs of his trip were covered.[9]
Onyeama obtained a diploma from the Premier School of Journalism, incorporating the Writers School of Great Britain before returning to Nigeria In 1981, and establishing the publishing company Delta Publications, based in Enugu.[2][4]
Onyeama died from a heart attack on 10 November 2022, at the age of 71.[14][15][16]
