Amiri Baraka (born October 7, 1934), formerly known as LeRoi Jones, is an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism. An often controversial figure, he is the author of numerous books of poetry and has taught at a number of universities, including the State University of New York at Buffalo and the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

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Early Life more less

1934 ... 1965 more less

Baraka studied philosophy and religion at Rutgers University, Columbia University and Howard University without obtaining a degree. In 1954 he joined the US Air Force, reaching the rank of sergeant.

After an anonymous letter to his commanding officer accusing him of being a communist led to the discovery of Soviet writings, Baraka was put on gardening duty and given a dishonorable discharge for violation of his oath of duty.

The same year, he moved to Greenwich Village working initially in a warehouse for music records. His interest in jazz began in this period. At the same time he came into contact with the incipient movement of Beat Poets that would later have a powerful influence on his early poetry. In 1958, Jones founded Totem Press, which published such Beat icons as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. The same year, he married Hettie Cohen (who later changed her name to Hettie Jones) and together they founded the literary magazine Yugen, which ran for 8 issues until 1962. Baraka also edited the magazine the Floating Bear during his period with the Beat writers.

He also worked as a clerk at the Gotham Book Mart, where he undoubtedly came into contact with many other well-known authors and poets.

In 1960 he went to Cuba, a visit that initiated his transformation into a politically active artist. In 1961 Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note was published, followed in 1963 by Blues People: Negro Music in White America ... to this day one of the most influential volumes of jazz criticism, especially in regard to the then beginning Free Jazz movement. His acclaimed controversial play Dutchman premiered in 1964 and received an Obie Award the same year.

After the assassination of Malcolm X, Baraka broke free from the Beat Poets. He left his wife and their two children and moved to Harlem, considering himself at that time a black cultural nationalist. He broke away from the Beat movement because he felt it did not reflect his political ideas. The Beat poets did not embrace capitalism, but they were not radical enough regarding their critique of capitalism. As Baraka became more expressive of his feelings toward the progress of the Civil Rights movement and capitalism, his poetry became more controversial His poem “Black Art” (1969) according to Werner Sollors, expresses his need to commit the violence required to “establish a Black World.” Rather than use poetry as an escapist mechanism, Baraka used poetry as a weapon of action. His poetry committed violence against those he felt were responsible for the aspects of society he felt were unjust. Baraka used placement of real objects in his poetry as a way to make his African American readers identify with his works. By providing something familiar in his works, he hoped to inspire them to fight and revolt against society.