Amiri Baraka facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Amiri Baraka
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Baraka in 2013
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| Born | Everett Leroy Jones October 7, 1934 Newark, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | January 9, 2014 (aged 79) Newark, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Pen name | LeRoi Jones, Imamu Amear Baraka |
| Occupation |
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| Period | 1961–2014 |
| Genre | Poetry and drama |
| Spouses |
Hettie Cohen
(m. 1958; div. 1964) |
| Children | Kellie Jones Lisa Jones Dominique di Prima Maria Jones Shani Baraka Obalaji Baraka Ras J. Baraka Ahi Baraka Amiri Baraka Jr. |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Service/ |
 United States Air Force |
| Years of service | 1954–57 |
Amiri Baraka (born Everett Leroy Jones; October 7, 1934 – January 9, 2014) was an American writer. He was also known as LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amear Baraka. He wrote poetry, plays, stories, essays, and music reviews. Baraka wrote many books of poetry and taught at universities like the University at Buffalo. In 2008, he won the PEN/Beyond Margins Award. Scholars say his writings are very important for understanding African-American culture.
Baraka's career lasted almost 52 years. His work explored themes like Black freedom and racism. Some of his famous poems include "The Music: Reflection on Jazz and Blues" and "The Book of Monk". These poems often talked about society, music, and literature.
Baraka's writing received both great praise and strong criticism. Many in the African-American community saw him as one of the most respected Black writers of his time. However, some people felt his work promoted violence or negative views. His time as Poet Laureate of New Jersey (2002–2003) caused controversy. This was due to a poem he read called "Somebody Blew Up America?".
Contents
About Amiri Baraka's Life
Early Years (1934–1965)
Amiri Baraka was born in Newark, New Jersey. He went to Barringer High School there. His father, Coyt Leroy Jones, worked for the postal service. His mother, Anna Lois, was a social worker. Baraka loved jazz music from a young age. He admired musicians like Miles Davis. He once said he wanted to look and play like Davis. Jazz music greatly influenced his writing later in life.
He earned a scholarship to Rutgers University in 1951. In 1952, he moved to Howard University. His studies in philosophy and religious studies helped shape his future writings. He also studied at Columbia University and The New School, but he did not get a degree.
In 1954, Baraka joined the United States Air Force. He was a gunner and became a sergeant. He later regretted this decision. He felt he was treated unfairly because he was Black. He said the military was "racist, degrading, and intellectually paralyzing." While in Puerto Rico, he worked in the base library. This gave him time to read and start writing poetry. He was inspired by Beat poets in the U.S.
After leaving the Air Force, he moved to Greenwich Village in New York City. He first worked in a music records warehouse. His love for jazz grew during this time. He also met other poets like the Black Mountain poets. In 1958, he married Hettie Cohen. They had two daughters, Kellie Jones and Lisa Jones.
Amiri and Hettie started Totem Press. This company published works by Beat poets such as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. They also created a literary magazine called Yugen. It was published eight times from 1958 to 1962. Baraka also worked as an editor for Kulchur magazine. With Diane di Prima, he edited The Floating Bear magazine.
In 1960, Baraka visited Cuba. He wrote about his trip in an essay called "Cuba Libre." This visit changed his views. He met artists who told him he should focus more on helping people facing unfair treatment. This experience made him strongly support Black nationalism.
In 1961, Baraka helped write a "Declaration of Conscience" to support Fidel Castro. He also joined the Umbra Poets Workshop. This group was for new Black Nationalist writers.
Baraka's 1962 article, "The Myth of a 'Negro Literature'," said that Black literature should truly show the Black experience in America. He believed that Black writers often tried too hard to be accepted by the middle class. This stopped them from speaking their minds freely.
In 1963, Baraka published Blues People: Negro Music in White America. This book explored how Black music developed from slavery to jazz. He wanted to show that music reflected the history of African-American life. He argued that the blues could only exist because African captives became American captives.
Baraka wrote a famous play called Dutchman. It premiered in 1964 and won the Obie Award. A movie based on the play was released in 1967.
After Malcolm X was killed in 1965, Baraka changed his name from LeRoi Jones to Amiri Baraka. He also moved to Harlem and started the Black Arts Repertory/Theater School (BARTS). This school was part of the Black Arts Movement. BARTS closed in less than a year. However, it inspired many other Black artists to create similar places across the U.S. In December 1965, Baraka moved back to Newark.
Baraka became a leader in the Black Arts Movement. He moved away from the mostly white Beat poets. He also criticized the peaceful Civil Rights Movement. His poetry became more revolutionary. For example, his poem "Black Art" (1965) showed his desire for a "Black World." He used sounds like "rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr" to express this. He believed poetry should be a "weapon of action" for justice.
In April 1965, Baraka's "A Poem for Black Hearts" was published. It was a direct response to Malcolm X's death. It showed his anger against unfair treatment.
Baraka also saw theater as a way to prepare for a "real revolution." He believed art could show the future. In "The Revolutionary Theatre," he wrote that they would "scream and cry" to move people's souls. Unlike Martin Luther King Jr.'s peaceful protests, Baraka thought a physical uprising was needed.
Later Years (1966–2014)
In 1966, Baraka married his second wife, Sylvia Robinson. She later changed her name to Amina Baraka. They opened a place in Newark called Spirit House. It was a theater and a home for artists. In 1967, he taught at San Francisco State University. The next year, he was arrested in Newark during the 1967 Newark riots. He was accused of carrying a weapon and resisting arrest. He was sentenced to three years in prison, but an appeals court later reversed the decision.
Around this time, he released his second book about jazz, Black Music. He also started a record label called Jihad. It released three albums in 1968.
In 1967, Baraka met Maulana Karenga and learned about his Kawaida philosophy. This philosophy focused on African names and culture. It was then that he took the name Imamu Amear Baraka. Imamu means "spiritual leader" in Swahili. Amear means "Prince." He later dropped Imamu and changed Amear to Amiri. Baraka means "blessing."
In 1970, he strongly supported Kenneth A. Gibson for mayor of Newark. Gibson became the city's first African-American mayor.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Baraka wrote some poems and articles that caused controversy. For example, in his poem Black Arts, he used harsh language about different groups. He later admitted he had a specific dislike for Jewish people at that time. He said he had written one poem with anti-Jewish parts and had since rejected it.
By the mid-1970s, Baraka started to move away from Black nationalism. He felt it was too limiting. He began to support Marxism-Leninism, which focuses on class struggle rather than just race.
In 1979, he became a lecturer at Stony Brook University. He later became a tenured professor there.
In June 1979, Baraka was arrested in Manhattan. He and his wife, Amina, were arguing in their car. Police said he hit his wife and then attacked them. Amina said the police were lying. A jury found Baraka guilty of resisting arrest. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail, but he served his time on weekends in a halfway house. During this time, he wrote The Autobiography.
In 1980, Baraka published an essay called Confessions of a Former Anti-Semite. He said a Village Voice editor gave it that title. In the essay, he talked about his marriage to Hettie Cohen, who was Jewish. He said after Malcolm X's death, he felt distant from her. He later divorced Hettie. He also said that Jewish support for Black civil rights groups was sometimes for their own benefit. He stated that "Zionism is a form of racism." He ended the essay by saying that anti-Jewish ideas are as bad as white racism. He also said his own anti-Jewish feelings were brief and not fully real.
From 1982 to 1983, Baraka was a visiting professor at Columbia University. He taught a course on Black women writers. In 1988, he taught at Rutgers University. He wanted a permanent job there, but he did not get enough votes from the faculty.
In 1987, he spoke at a ceremony for James Baldwin. In 1989, Baraka won an American Book Award and a Langston Hughes Award. In 1990, he helped write the autobiography of Quincy Jones. In 1998, he acted in the movie Bulworth.
In July 2002, Governor Jim McGreevey named Baraka Poet Laureate of New Jersey. This job was for two years and came with money. Baraka held the position for one year. He faced a lot of criticism and public anger. This was because of his poem "Somebody Blew Up America?" about the September 11 attacks. People said it was anti-Jewish. Since there was no way to remove him, the state ended the position of poet laureate.
Baraka worked with the hip-hop group The Roots on their 2002 album Phrenology. In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante included Amiri Baraka in his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.
In 2003, Baraka's daughter Shani and her partner were killed. His son, Ras J. Baraka, is a politician in Newark. He became Mayor of Newark in 2014.
Death and Legacy
Amiri Baraka passed away on January 9, 2014, in Newark, New Jersey. He had been in the hospital for a month and had struggled with diabetes. He died from problems after a surgery. His funeral was held on January 18, 2014.
Awards and Recognition
Baraka was the second Poet Laureate of New Jersey from July 2002 until the position was ended in July 2003. After attempts to remove him, a board named him the poet laureate of the Newark Public Schools in December 2002.
Baraka received many honors. These include awards from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. He also received the Langston Hughes Award and the Rockefeller Foundation Award for Drama. He was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He also received the Before Columbus Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award.
A short part of Amiri Baraka's poetry is carved in marble at Pennsylvania Station in New York City. It is part of an art installation that includes works by several New Jersey poets.
I have seen many suns
use
the endless succession of hours
piled upon each other
Influence and Impact
Amiri Baraka's writing had a huge impact, even with the controversies. He helped start the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s. This movement promoted a unique Black nationalist viewpoint. It influenced a whole generation of writers. Some critics say Baraka's legacy is about "saying the unsayable." This might have hurt his own literary fame. For example, he was not included in a 2013 collection of African American poetry.
Richard Oyama criticized Baraka's strong style. He felt Baraka's career showed the bad parts of the 1960s, like extreme ideas and separation. Oyama believed Baraka cared more about his political ideas than his art.
Baraka worked in many different art forms and was a social activist. This gave him a wide influence. He once joked that for his epitaph, he would write, "We don't know if he ever died." This shows how important his legacy was to him. NPR said that "the Black Arts Movement never stopped" because of him. Baraka also helped open doors for African American writers to be published by white companies.
Works by Amiri Baraka
Poetry Books
- 1964: The Dead Lecturer: Poems
- 1969: Black Magic
- 1970: It's Nation Time
- 1980: New Music, New Poetry (India Navigation)
- 1995: Transbluesency: The Selected Poems of Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones
- 1995: Wise, Why's Y's
- 1996: Funk Lore: New Poems
- 2003: Somebody Blew Up America & Other Poems
- 2005: The Book of Monk
Plays
- 1964: Dutchman
- 1964: The Slave
- 1967: The Baptism and The Toilet
- 1966: A Black Mass
- 1968: Home on the Range and Police
- 1969: Four Black Revolutionary Plays
- 1970: Slave Ship
- 1978: The Motion of History and Other Plays
- 1979: The Sidney Poet Heroical
- 1989: Song
- 2013: Most Dangerous Man in America (W. E. B. Du Bois)
Fiction Books
- 1965: The System of Dante's Hell
- 1967: Tales
- 2004: Un Poco Low Coup (graphic novel)
- 2006: Tales of the Out & the Gone
Non-fiction Books
- 1963: Blues People
- 1965: Home: Social Essays
- 1965: The Revolutionary Theatre
- 1968: Black Music
- 1971: Raise Race Rays Raze: Essays Since 1965
- 1972: Kawaida Studies: The New Nationalism
- 1979: Poetry for the Advanced
- 1981: reggae or not!
- 1984: Daggers and Javelins: Essays 1974–1979
- 1984: The Autobiography of LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka
- 1987: The Music: Reflections on Jazz and Blues
- 2003: The Essence of Reparations
Edited Works
- 1968: Black Fire: An Anthology of Afro-American Writing (co-editor, with Larry Neal)
- 1969: Four Black Revolutionary Plays
- 1983: Confirmation: An Anthology of African American Women (edited with Amina Baraka)
- 1999: The LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka Reader
- 2000: The Fiction of LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka
- 2008: Billy Harper: Blueprints of Jazz, Volume 2 (Audio CD)
Film Appearances
- The New Ark (1968)
- One P.M. (1972)
- Fried Shoes Cooked Diamonds (1978) ... Himself
- Black Theatre: The Making of a Movement (1978) ... Himself
- Poetry in Motion (1982)
- Furious Flower: A Video Anthology of African American Poetry 1960–95, Volume II: Warriors (1998) ... Himself
- Through Many Dangers: The Story of Gospel Music (1996)
- Bulworth (1998) ... Rastaman
- Piñero (2001) ... Himself
- Strange Fruit (2002) ... Himself
- Ralph Ellison: An American Journey (2002) ... Himself
- Chisholm '72: Unbought & Unbossed (2004) ... Himself
- Keeping Time: The Life, Music & Photography of Milt Hinton (2004) ... Himself
- Hubert Selby Jr: It/ll Be Better Tomorrow (2005) ... Himself
- 500 Years Later (2005) (voice) ... Himself
- The Ballad of Greenwich Village (2005) ... Himself
- The Pact (2006) ... Himself
- Retour à Gorée (2007) ... Himself
- Polis Is This: Charles Olson and the Persistence of Place (2007)
- Revolution '67 (2007) ... Himself
- Turn Me On (2007) (TV) ... Himself
- Oscene (2007) ... Himself
- Corso: The Last Beat (2008)
- The Black Candle (2008)
- Ferlinghetti: A City Light (2008) ... Himself
- W.A.R. Stories: Walter Anthony Rodney (2009) ... Himself
- Motherland (2010)
Music Albums
- It's Nation Time (Black Forum/Motown, 1972)
- New Music - New Poetry (India Navigation, 1982) with David Murray and Steve McCall
- Real Song (Enja, 1995)
With Billy Harper
- Blueprints of Jazz Vol. 2 (Talking House Records, 2008)
With the New York Art Quartet
- New York Art Quartet (ESP-Disk, 1965)
With Malachi Thompson
- Freebop Now! (Delmark, 1998)
with David Murray
- Fo Deuk Revue (Justin Time, 1997), "Evidence"
with William Parker
- I Plan to Stay a Believer (AUM Fidelity, 2010)
Images for kids
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Baraka addressing the Malcolm X Festival from the Black Dot Stage in San Antonio Park, Oakland, California, while performing with Marcel Diallo and his Electric Church Band
See also
In Spanish: Amiri Baraka para niños
