Baraka, Amiri (1934–)

Writer, intellectual, and activist Amiri Baraka, alternately associated with the Beat movement, black nationalism, and socialism, was born Everett LeRoi Jones in 1934 in Newark, New Jersey. The son of a postal worker, Baraka attended Rutgers University and Howard University before joining the air force.

Upon discharge in 1957, Baraka, then known as LeRoi Jones, took up residence in Greenwich Village, soon after marrying Hettie Cohen. Together, they edited a literary magazine, Yugen, and became associated with the bohemian scene, in particular with the up-and-coming writers of the Beat movement. He soon founded Totem Press, which would be the first to publish Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. Baraka's own first published work appeared in 1958, a play titled A Good Girl Is Hard to Find.

In 1961, Baraka's first volume of poetry, Preface to a Twenty-Volume Suicide Note, was published. From 1961 to 1963, he coedited The Floating Bear with Beat writer Diane Di Prima. During this time, he was also teaching at the New School for Social Research in New [Page 220]York. In 1963, he published his first book of music criticism, Blues People: Negro Music in White America.

Baraka became more widely known in 1964 with the production of another play, Dutchman, which won an Obie. It was later made into a film. Soon after the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, Baraka aligned himself with the black nationalists. He left his wife, moved to Harlem, and founded the Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School, which influenced black theaters nationally but was short-lived.

In 1967, Baraka moved back to Newark, married poet Sylvia Robinson, and founded another company of actors, the Spirit House Players. A black nationalist volume of poetry, Black Magic, was published.

He adopted the Muslim name Imamu Amiri Baraka in 1968 (later dropping Imamu), and his wife adopted the name Amina Baraka. He became involved in Kawaida, a Black Muslim organization; he was also chairman of the Congress of African People, and led the organization of the National Black Political Convention.

By 1974, Baraka had rejected the black nationalist viewpoint and instead declared himself a socialist. From that point on, he produced several socialist works, including essays, plays, and poetry collections. He guest lectured at several universities before working in the Africana Studies Department at SUNYStonybrook. He became a full professor in 1984 and remained at SUNY until his retirement in 1999.

Baraka has since remained active in his artistic and political pursuits. He has continued to publish and, in 2002, became poet laureate of the state of New Jersey. A year later, after controversy surrounding his poem about the events of 9/11, “Somebody Blew Up America,” state lawmakers voted to eliminate the poet laureate post. Baraka insisted that the poem had been misinterpreted.