Good Morning POU! We continue our guilty pleasure look at the black character storylines in the Soaps. First a little background on this set of interesting long running characters from Days of Our Lives:
Mayor Abraham ‘Abe’ Washington Carver (Lawd, they really named this black character Abraham Washington Carver?!?!)
Played by: James Reynolds
A Days mainstay since 1981, Abe is the longest-running black character in soap opera history. A cop who has been involved in several of Salem’s major investigations — including white slavery and murder, to name a few — Carver was shot and killed by a serial killer. But instead of actually dying, he reappeared on a remote island. When he escaped, he returned to his family a changed man (impotent, blind). But after a handy retina transplant, he hopped back into his old life of crime fighting.
Dr. Alexandra ‘Lexie’ Brooks DiMera Carver
Played by: Sheila Wills, Cyndi James Gosette, Angelique Francis, Shellye Broughton and Renée Jones
Known as Lexie, this doctor is married to Abe Carver and plagued by scandals involving her parentage. Raised to believe that her aunt and uncle were her parents, she would find out as an adult that her father was none other than “international crime lord” Stefano DiMera; her mother, a mystical woman named Celeste Perrault.
Celeste Perrault
Played by: Tanya Boyd
The Creole lover of crime lord Stefano DiMera, Celeste is also the mom of Lexie Carver, who grew up thinking that the New Orleans woman was her aunt. A character steeped in mysticism (duh, she’s Creole), she got in touch with her spiritual side during a visit to Tibet and offers her psychic abilities to Salem’s residents.
The Saga of Abe and Lexi
Abe grows up in Salem with his brothers, Theo and Jonah. His passion for justice starts young, but amplifies after Theo is killed by a crooked police officer. Abe joins the Salem Police Department determined to rid the city of filth, including international crime lord, Stefano DiMera.
Abe is the police officer who investigates Anna Brady‘s claim that she was sold into white slavery. She reports the existence of her secret Swiss bank account to her husband, Roman Brady.
He has a relationship with a woman named Nikki Wade, but this is cut short after he stands her up at a débutante ball in favor of heading up a drug bust. He was also in two short-lived relationships with Dr. Valerie Grant and singer Tamara Price, with whom he fathered a daughter Lani Price. Before Abe’s promotion to police chief, he meets and marries Alexandra (Lexie) Brooks. Just after their marriage, Lexie searches through Aremid’s files for her adoption records. She finds out that her aunt Frankie Brooks (Celeste Perrault) is actually her mother and that her father is Stefano DiMera.
Lexie was at first a police officer but is kicked off the force for aiding her vigilante brother-in-law Jonah Carver. Lexie also becomes good friends with John Black (who was then believed to be Roman Brady)’s fiancée, Diana Colville. Later in 1990, she goes through medical school and becomes a doctor. Abe and Lexie are married in July 1991. In September 1992, Lexie is believed to be pregnant, but however it is a believed that the test were false, devastating her and Abe.
Lexie, while not a villain, frequently engages in unethical behavior. She also tends to stick up for her father’s family, the DiMeras. Both her father Stefano and her cousin André have helped her with her problems (often using illegal means). Fearing Lexie can’t bear children, Stefano arranges for her to raise Isaac (Zack), the son of Bo Brady and Hope Brady, as her biological son after a surrogate’s baby is switched with Zack in the hospital. Lexie did not know this at the time, but later chooses to keep quiet about it once she finds out, even though Hope is her best friend. Abe is later appalled to learn that Lexie knew of the switch, but hides the truth from him. Abe files for divorce but after Lexie helps Hope, Brady and her son Zack, Lexie and Abe reconcile.
Later, Abe is caught up in the investigation of Tony DiMera‘s murder. Abe and Lexi go to Paris to find Marlena Evans when Stefano kidnapped her. They end up finding and saving Marlena and catching Stefano but are unable to prosecute him, because only Stefano has a drug that can save Roman’s life. Abe, Lexi, and John Black help break Stefano out of jail and later he is pardoned for his crimes after returning to Salem with the drug Roman needed.
Shortly after, Brandon Walker comes to Salem with a deep hatred of Abe. Lexie sleeps with Brandon in a weak moment and becomes pregnant, unsure if Abe or Brandon is the father. Its revealed Abe is the father and Lexie and Abe reconcile for good. Brandon’s presence causes issues for Abe until it is revealed that Brandon is Abe’s illlegitimate son with Fay Walker. After some time, Abe and Brandon embrace each other as family, and have since had a good relationship.
Abe is shot dead on the day of baby Theo’s christening. He is the first victim of the 2003 Salem serial killer. Months later he turns up on a remote tropical island, (melaswen/newsalem) which is a complete replica of Salem. Although his “ghost” started appearing to Celeste and Lexie while he was supposedly dead, (this was not explained). He works together with Roman and the others and got off the island. Abe is reunited with Lexie and Theo but goes blind and learns he is impotent. His anger shines through and he becomes paranoid that Lexie is cheating. Eventually Abe’s eyesight is restored but an anonymous note leads him to a motel where he finds Lexie having sex with his protege Salem Police officer Tek Kramer. Their marriage is in turmoil for a while until Abe uses Lexie in the investigation of her half-brother EJ DiMera, then Abe falls back in love with her. They stay together until Lexie disappeared on December 29, 2006.
His eyesight starts deteriorate again and he recently undergoes a second retina transplant. At the same time, Lexie is found in the tunnels under Doug’s Place and the DiMera mansion, where Andre DiMera has kept her all these months against her will. The transplant successful, Abe returns to work as the Commissioner of the Salem Police Department. In fall of 2010 Abe returned full-time to the screen. He began investigating the murders of the people of Salem, because he didn’t want anyone going through what he already had.
Lexie is once kidnapped by her cousin André DiMera because she claims she witnessed her half-brother EJ DiMera shooting John Black. Tek Kramer is the real witness of the crime, but they cover it up because Lexie did not want her husband to find out that she is with Tek again. Shortly afterwards, Lexie and Tek are run off the road. No bodies are recovered. Lexie is later discovered in the underground tunnels of Salem during a Bo and Hope investigation into the long running Brady-DiMera feud.
Upon her return, Lexie reunites with her husband and is reinstated by the Salem University Hospital board and eventually becomes Chief of Staff. Her new position keeps her very busy which causes marital problems. She is currently dealing with the news that Theo is autistic. In order to spend more time with her son, Lexie resigns from her position, but remains at the hospital as a doctor. She also supports Abe’s campaign for mayor. In November 2008, Lexie becomes Salem’s First Lady. Lexie later returns to the position of Chief of Staff after Kayla, who took over the role, decides to leave Salem.
In 2010, it is believed that Dr. Carly Manning would take on the position of Chief of Staff when Lexie and Abe consider leaving Salem, however they decide to stay in Salem, Lexie decides to keep her position at the Hospital.
In 2012, Lexie’s mother Celeste returned to town with her brother, Cameron Davis. Before her arrival, Lexie began feeling weak and faint. After initial tests run by Daniel Jonas, it’s discovered she has brain tumors – as a result of being held captive in the toxic fume-filled tunnels under the DiMera mansion when Andre had kidnapped her a few years prior. Following further tests, it’s discovered that the tumors have grown and are fatal, giving her a matter of weeks to live. Her family gathers around her, helping her with her bucket list, which included going to Paris. Unable to fly, Abe, with the help of EJ and Cameron, turn the Horton Town Square into a Paris-like setting. In late June, a fragile Lexie went on a picnic in the backyard with Abe, where she peacefully passed on in his arms. A ghostly Lexie visits her loved ones, and assures Theo that while she may not always be there in her physical presence, she will always be there for him.