Amiri Baraka formerly known as LeRoi Jones was a renowned figure in African American History. He was a poet, playwright, and civil rights activist. He wrote in a controversial style that drew the attention of his audience while confronting the political injustice and discrimination that blacks faced. He was born to Coyt Leroy Jones and Anna Lois on October 7, 1934. He studied at the Barringer High School and got a scholarship in 1951 to attend Rutgers University. Baraka later switched to Howard University in 1952 and took lectures on Philosophy and religious studies which laid the basis for his career.
He joined the United States Air Force in 1954 and was assigned to work in the library in Puerto Rico allowing him to read widely which gave him the inspiration to start writing his poetry. Baraka later left after some accusations that led to his dismissal from the army and wished he never served in the military. He said he experienced what it felt like to work with those who hated blacks. After he left the army, he moved to Greenwich Village where he associated with different Beat poets like Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac.
The artist’s role is to raise the consciousness of the people. To make them understand life, the world and themselves more completely. That’s how I see it. Otherwise, I don’t know why you do it.
Amiri Baraka
Baraka got married in 1958 to Hettie Cohen who was also a poet and they had two daughters. The couple founded the Totem Press which printed books by Amiri Baraka who wrote his books with the name LeRoy Jones and other writers such as Diane di Prima, Michael McClure, and many others. He also worked on Kulchur, a journal for literature and arts, as an editor and a critic and in 1961 released his debut poem collection, Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note.
In 1964, he premiered the play “Dutchman” which featured a white woman who dealt aggressively with a black man in the New York City Subway. That year, the Obie Award named the play as the best American Play of the year.
There is no depth to education without art.
Amiri Baraka
Baraka became a Civil Rights activist after the assassination of Malcolm X, an African Muslim human rights activist. He changed his name from LeRoy Jones to Amiri Baraka and established the Black Arts Repertory Theatre School (BARTS).
He dissociated from the Beats made up of mostly whites and began writing controversial poems such as “Black Art” which expressed his agitation and demand for racial equality and justice. Baraka became the second Poet Laureate of New Jersey in 2002 and was a recipient of several honors from notable institutions one of which was the “Before Columbus Lifetime Award”. He died at 79 on January 9, 2014, in New Jersey.