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Amiri Baraka (born Everett Leroy Jones; October 7, 1934 – January 9, 2014), previously known as LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amear Baraka, was an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays and music criticism. He was the author of numerous books of poetry and taught at several universities, including the University at Buffalo and
Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public research university in Stony Brook, New York. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is one of the State University of New York system' ...
. He received the
PEN/Beyond Margins Award PEN/Open Book (known as the Beyond Margins Award through 2009) is a program intended to foster racial and ethnic diversity within the literary and publishing communities, and works to establish access for diverse literary groups to the publishing i ...
in 2008 for ''Tales of the Out and the Gone''. Baraka's plays, poetry, and essays have been described by scholars as constituting defining texts for African-American culture. Baraka's career spanned nearly 52 years, and his themes range from black liberation to white racism. His notable poems include "The Music: Reflection on Jazz and Blues", "The Book of Monk", and "New Music, New Poetry", works that draw on topics from the worlds of society, music, and literature. Baraka's poetry and writing have attracted both high praise and condemnation. In the African-American community, some compare Baraka to
James Baldwin James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer. He garnered acclaim across various media, including essays, novels, plays, and poems. His first novel, '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'', was published in 1953; ...
and recognize him as one of the most respected and most widely published black writers of his generation,Salaam, Kaluma
"Historical Overviews of the Black Arts Movement"
in ''The Oxford Companion to African-American Literature''. Oxford University Press, 1997; see also Nelson, Cary (ed.) (2002). ''Modern American Poetry: An Online Journal and Multimedia Companion to Anthology of Modern American Poetry''. Champaign: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
though some have said his work is an expression of violence, misogyny, and homophobia.Watts, Jerry Gafio (2001). ''Amiri Baraka: The Politics and Art of a Black Intellectual''. New York: New York University Press. Baraka's brief tenure as Poet Laureate of New Jersey (in 2002 and 2003) involved controversy over a public reading of his poem "Somebody Blew Up America?", which resulted in accusations of
antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
and negative attention from critics and politicians.


Biographical information


Early life (1934–1965)

Baraka was born in
Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat, seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and the second largest city within the New Yo ...
, where he attended
Barringer High School Barringer Academy of the Arts & Humanities (formerly Barringer High School and Newark High School), is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades in Newark, in Essex County, New Jersey, U ...
. His father Coyt Leroy Jones worked as a postal supervisor and lift operator. His mother Anna Lois (
née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Russ) was a social worker. Jazz was something Baraka became interested in as a kid. He wanted to be just like
Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...
. "I wanted to look like that too — that green shirt and rolled up sleeves on '' Milestones''...always wanted to look like that. And be able to play " On Green Dolphin Street" or " Autumn Leaves" ... That gorgeous chilling sweet sound. That's the music you wanted playing when you was coming into a joint, or just looking up at the sky with your baby by your side, that mixture of America and them changes, them blue African magic chants." The influence of jazz can be seen throughout his work later in life. He won a scholarship to
Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...
in 1951 but transferred in 1952 to Howard University. His classes in
philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...
and religious studies helped lay a foundation for his later writings. He subsequently studied at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
and
The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...
without taking a degree. In 1954, he joined the
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Si ...
as a gunner, reaching the rank of
sergeant Sergeant ( abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other ...
. This was a decision he would come to regret. He once explained: "I found out what it was like to be under the direct jurisdiction of people who hated black people. I had never known that directly." This experience was yet another that influenced Baraka's later work. His commanding officer received an anonymous letter accusing Baraka of being a
communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
. This led to the discovery of
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
writings in Baraka's possession, his reassignment to gardening duty, and subsequently a dishonorable discharge for violation of his oath of duty. He later described his experience in the military as "racist, degrading, and intellectually paralyzing". While he was stationed in
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
, he worked at the base library, which allowed him ample reading time, and it was here that, inspired by
Beat poets Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ...
back in the mainland US, he began to write poetry. The same year, he moved to
Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...
, working initially in a warehouse of music records. His interest in
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
evolved during this period. It was also during this time that he came in contact with the avant-garde Black Mountain poets and New York School poets. In 1958 he married Hettie Cohen, with whom he had two daughters,
Kellie Jones Kellie Jones (born 1959) is an American art historian and curator. She is a Professor in Art History and Archaeology in African American Studies at Columbia University. She won a MacArthur Fellowship in 2016. Biography Jones is the daughter of ...
(b. 1959) and
Lisa Jones Lisa Victoria Chapman Jones (born August 15, 1961)Ellis, Trey (1988). ''Platitudes & "The new black aesthetic"''. Northeastern University Press, Ann Arbor. is an American playwright, essayist, journalist, and memoirist. Personal life and educa ...
(b.1961). He and Hettie founded Totem Press, which published such Beat poets as Jack Kerouac and
Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...
. In cooperation with Corinth, Totem published books by LeRoi Jones and Diane di Prima, Ron Loewinsohn, Michael McClure, Charles Olson, Paul Blackburn,
Frank O'Hara Francis Russell "Frank" O'Hara (March 27, 1926 – July 25, 1966) was an American writer, poet, and art critic. A curator at the Museum of Modern Art, O'Hara became prominent in New York City's art world. O'Hara is regarded as a leading figure i ...
,
Gary Snyder Gary Snyder (born May 8, 1930) is an American poet, essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. His early poetry has been associated with the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance and he has been described as the "poet laureate of ...
, Philip Whalen,
Ed Dorn Edward Merton Dorn (April 2, 1929 – December 10, 1999, aged 70) was an American poet and teacher often associated with the Black Mountain poets. His most famous work is '' ''Gunslinger'. Overview Dorn was born in Villa Grove, Illinois. ...
, Joel Oppenheimer and
Gilbert Sorrentino Gilbert Sorrentino (April 27, 1929 – May 18, 2006) was an American novelist, short story writer, poet, literary critic, professor, and editor. In over twenty-five works of fiction and poetry, Sorrentino explored the comic and formal possibili ...
and an anthology of four young female poets, Carol Berge, Barbara Moraff, Rochelle Owens, and Diane Wakoski. They also jointly founded a quarterly literary magazine, ''Yugen'', which ran for eight issues (1958–62). Through a party that Baraka organized, Ginsberg was introduced to
Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, H ...
while
Ornette Coleman Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Jazz: A Coll ...
played saxophone. Baraka also worked as editor and critic for the literary and arts journal ''
Kulchur Dr. Lita Romola Rothbard Hornick (1927–2000) was an American literary researcher, editor, publisher, patron of poets, and art collector, best known for the beatnik magazine ''Kulchur'' that she turned into the Kulchur Foundation. Life and career ...
'' (1960–65). With Diane di Prima he edited the first twenty-five issues (1961–63) of their small magazine ''The Floating Bear''. In October 1961, the U.S. Postal Service seized ''The Floating Bear #9''; the FBI charged them for obscenity over William Burroughs' piece "Roosevelt after the Inauguration". In the autumn of 1961 he co-founded the New York Poets Theatre with di Prima, the choreographers Fred Herko and James Waring, and the actor Alan S. Marlowe. He had an extramarital affair with di Prima for several years; their daughter, Dominique di Prima, was born in June 1962. Baraka visited Cuba in July 1960 with a Fair Play for Cuba Committee delegation and reported his impressions in his essay "Cuba Libre". There he encountered openly rebellious artists who declared him to be a "cowardly bourgeois individualist" more focused on building his reputation than trying to help those who were enduring oppression. This encounter led to a dramatic change in his writing and goals, causing him to become emphatic about supporting black nationalism. In 1961 Baraka co-authored a "Declaration of Conscience" in support of
Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 20 ...
's regime. Baraka also was a member of the Umbra Poets Workshop of emerging Black Nationalist writers (
Ishmael Reed Ishmael Scott Reed (born February 22, 1938) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, songwriter, composer, playwright, editor and publisher known for his satirical works challenging American political culture. Perhaps his best-known work is '' M ...
and Lorenzo Thomas, among others) on the Lower East Side (1962–65). His first book of poems, ''Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note,'' was published in 1961. Baraka's article "The Myth of a 'Negro Literature'" (1962) stated that "a Negro literature, to be a legitimate product of the Negro experience in America, must get at that experience in exactly the terms America has proposed for it in its most ruthless identity". He also stated in the same work that as an element of American culture, the Negro was entirely misunderstood by Americans. The reason for this misunderstanding and for the lack of black literature of merit was, according to Jones: As long as black writers were obsessed with being an accepted middle class, Baraka wrote, they would never be able to speak their mind, and that would always lead to failure. Baraka felt that America only made room for white obfuscators, not black ones.Martin, Reginald (1995). "Historical Overviews of The Black Arts Movement", in ''The Oxford Companion to Women's Writing in the United States''. New York: Oxford University Press. In 1963 Baraka (under the name LeRoi Jones) published '' Blues People: Negro Music in White America'', his account of the development of black music from slavery to contemporary jazz. When the work was re-issued in 1999, Baraka wrote in the Introduction that he wished to show that "The music was the score, the actually expressed creative orchestration, reflection of Afro-American life ... That the music was explaining the history as the history was explaining the music. And that both were expressions of and reflections of the people." He argued that though the slaves had brought their musical traditions from Africa, the blues were an expression of what black people became in America: "The way I have come to think about it, blues could not exist if the African captives had not become American captives." Baraka (under the name LeRoi Jones) wrote an acclaimed, controversial play titled '' Dutchman'', in which a white woman accosts a black man on the
New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October ...
. The play premiered in 1964 and received the
Obie Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the ...
for Best American Play in the same year. A film of the play, directed by
Anthony Harvey Anthony Harvey (3 June 1930 – 23 November 2017) was an English filmmaker who began his career as a teenage actor, was a film editor in the 1950s and moved into directing in the mid-1960s. Harvey had fifteen film credits as an editor, and he ...
, was released in 1967. The play has been revived several times, including a 2013 production staged in the Russian and Turkish Bathhouse in the East Village, Manhattan. After the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, Baraka changed his name from LeRoi Jones to Amiri Baraka. At this time, he also left his wife and their two children and moved to
Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...
, where he founded the Black Arts Repertory/Theater School (BARTS) since the
Black Arts Movement The Black Arts Movement (BAM) was an African American-led art movement that was active during the 1960s and 1970s. Through activism and art, BAM created new cultural institutions and conveyed a message of black pride. The movement expanded from ...
created a new visual representation of art. However, the Black Arts Repertory Theater School remained open for less than a year. In its short time BARTS attracted many well-known artists, including Sonia Sanchez, Sun Ra and Albert Ayler. The Black Arts Repertory Theater School's closure prompted conversation with many other black artists who wanted to create similar institutions. Consequently, there was a surge in the establishment of these institutions in many places across the United States. In December 1965 Baraka moved back to Newark after allegations surfaced that he was using federal antipoverty welfare funds for his theater. Baraka became a leading advocate and theorist for the burgeoning black art during this time. Now a "black cultural nationalist", he broke away from the predominantly white Beats and became critical of the pacifist and integrationist
Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...
. His revolutionary poetry became more controversial. A poem such as "Black Art" (1965), according to
Werner Sollors Werner Max Sollors (born June 6, 1943) is Henry B. and Anne M. Cabot Professor of English and of African American Studies at Harvard University. He is also Global Professor of Literature at New York University Abu Dhabi. Background Sollors rec ...
of
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
, expressed Baraka's need to commit the violence required to "establish a Black World". Baraka even uses
onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia is the process of creating a word that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Such a word itself is also called an onomatopoeia. Common onomatopoeias include animal noises such as ''oink'', ''m ...
in "Black Art" to express that need for violence: "rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr ... tuhtuhtuhtuhtuhtuht..." More specifically, lines in "Black Art" such as "Let there be no love poems written / until love can exist freely and cleanly", juxtaposed with "We want a black poem. / And a Black World", demonstrate Baraka's cry for political justice during a time when racial injustice was rampant, despite the
Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...
. "Black Art" quickly became the major poetic manifesto of the Black Arts Literary Movement, and in it, Jones declaimed, "we want poems that kill", which coincided with the rise of armed self-defense and slogans such as "Arm yourself or harm yourself" that promoted confrontation with the white power structure. Rather than use poetry as an escapist mechanism, Baraka saw poetry as a weapon of action.Harris, William J. (1985). ''The Poetry and Poetics of Amiri Baraka: The Jazz Aesthetic''. University of Missouri Press. In April 1965, Baraka's "A Poem for Black Hearts" was published as a direct response to Malcolm X's assassination, and it further exemplifies the poet's uses of poetry to generate anger and endorse rage against oppression. Like many of his poems, it showed no remorse in its use of raw emotion to convey its message. It was published in the September issue of '' Negro Digest'' and was one of the first responses to Malcolm's death to be exposed to the public. The poem is directed particularly at black men, and it scoldingly labels them "faggots" in order to challenge them to act and continue the fallen activist's fight against the white establishment. Baraka also promoted theatre as a training for the "real revolution" yet to come, with the arts being a way to forecast the future as he saw it. In "The Revolutionary Theatre", Baraka wrote, "We will scream and cry, murder, run through the streets in agony, if it means some soul will be moved." In opposition to the peaceful protests inspired by Martin Luther King Jr., Baraka believed that a physical uprising must follow the literary one. Baraka's decision to leave Greenwich Village in 1965 was an outgrowth of his response to the debate about the future of black liberation.


1966–1980

In 1966, Baraka married his second wife, Sylvia Robinson, who later adopted the name Amina Baraka. The two would open a facility in Newark known as Spirit House, a combination playhouse and artists' residence. In 1967, he lectured at
San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different ...
. The year after, he was arrested in Newark for having allegedly carried an illegal weapon and resisting arrest during the 1967 Newark riots. He was subsequently sentenced to three years in prison. His poem "Black People", published in the ''
Evergreen Review ''The Evergreen Review'' is a U.S.-based literary magazine. Its publisher is John Oakes and its editor-in-chief is Dale Peck. The ''Evergreen Review'' was founded by Barney Rosset, publisher of Grove Press. It existed in print from 1957 until ...
'' in December 1967, was read by the judge in court, including the memorable phrase: ''"All the stores will open if you say the magic words. The magic words are: "Up against the wall motherfucker this is a stick up!"'' Shortly afterward an appeals court reversed the sentence based on his defense by attorney Raymond A. Brown. He later joked that he was charged with holding "two revolvers and two poems". Not long after the 1967 riots, Baraka generated controversy when he went on the radio with a Newark police captain and Anthony Imperiale, a politician and private business owner, and the three of them blamed the riots on "white-led, so-called radical groups" and "Communists and the Trotskyite persons". That same year his second book of jazz criticism, ''Black Music'', came out. It was a collection of previously published
music journalism Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...
, including the seminal ''Apple Cores'' columns from '' Down Beat'' magazine. Around this time he also formed a record label called Jihad, which produced and issued only three LPs, all released in 1968: ''
Sonny's Time Now ''Sonny's Time Now'' is an album by American free jazz drummer Sunny Murray, his first as a leader. It was recorded in New York City on November 17, 1965 and first released on LeRoi Jones' Jihad label. It was later reissued on the DIW and Skoki ...
'' with Sunny Murray, Albert Ayler, Don Cherry,
Lewis Worrell Lewis Worrell (born November 7, 1934) is a jazz double bassist best known for his work during the 1960s with Albert Ayler, the New York Art Quartet, Roswell Rudd, and Archie Shepp. Biography Worrell was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, and ...
, Henry Grimes, and Baraka; ''
A Black Mass ''A Black Mass'' is a play written by Amiri Baraka and performed at Proctor's Theatre in Newark, New Jersey in 1966. Baraka also recorded a version of the play with Sun Ra's Myth-Science Orchestra in 1968. The play is based on the religious do ...
'', featuring Sun Ra; and ''Black & Beautiful – Soul & Madness'' by the Spirit House Movers, on which Baraka reads his poetry. In 1967, Baraka (still LeRoi Jones) visited Maulana Karenga in Los Angeles and became an advocate of his philosophy of
Kawaida Africana philosophy is the work of philosophers of African descent and others whose work deals with the subject matter of the African diaspora. The name does not refer to a particular philosophy, philosophical system, method, or tradition. Rather ...
, a multifaceted, categorized activist philosophy that produced the "Nguzo Saba", Kwanzaa, and an emphasis on African names. It was at this time that he adopted the name ''Imamu Amear Baraka''. ''Imamu'' is a Swahili title for "spiritual leader", derived from the Arabic word ''
Imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, serve ...
'' (إمام). According to Shaw, he dropped the honorific ''Imamu'' and eventually changed ''Amear'' (which means "Prince") to ''Amiri''. ''
Baraka Baraka or Barakah may refer to: * Berakhah or Baraka, in Judaism, a blessing usually recited during a ceremony * Barakah or Baraka, in Islam, the beneficent force from God that flows through the physical and spiritual spheres * Baraka, full ''ḥa ...
'' means "blessing, in the sense of divine favor". In 1970 he strongly supported
Kenneth A. Gibson Kenneth Allen Gibson (May 15, 1932 – March 29, 2019) was an American Democratic Party politician who served as the 36th mayor of Newark, New Jersey, from 1970 to 1986. He was the first African American elected mayor of any major city in the ...
's candidacy for mayor of Newark; Gibson was elected as the city's first African-American mayor. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Baraka courted controversy by penning some strongly anti-Jewish poems and articles with a stance similar to the stance at that time of the Nation of Islam. Historian Melani McAlister points to an example of this writing: "In the case of Baraka, and in many of the pronouncements of the NOI ation of Islam there is a profound difference, both qualitative and quantitative, in the ways that white ethnicities were targeted. For example, in one well-known poem, ''Black Arts'' riginally published in ''The Liberator'' January 1966 Baraka made offhand remarks about several groups, commenting in the violent rhetoric that was often typical of him, that ideal poems would 'knockoff ... dope selling wops' and suggesting that cops should be killed and have their 'tongues pulled out and sent to Ireland.' But as Baraka himself later admitted n his piece ''I was an AntiSemite'' published by ''The Village Voice'' on December 20, 1980, vol. 1], he held a specific animosity for Jews, as was apparent in the different intensity and viciousness of his call in the same poem for 'dagger poems' to stab the 'slimy bellies of the ownerjews' and for poems that crack 'steel knuckles in a jewlady's mouth.'" Prior to this time, Baraka prided himself on being a forceful advocate of black cultural nationalism; however, by the mid-1970s, he began finding its racial individuality confining. Baraka's separation from the Black Arts Movement began because he saw certain black writers – capitulationists, as he called them – countering the Black Arts Movement that he created. He believed that the groundbreakers in the Black Arts Movement were doing something that was new, needed, useful, and black, and those who did not want to see a promotion of black expression were "appointed" to the scene to damage the movement. In 1974, Baraka distanced himself from Black nationalism, embracing Marxism-Leninism in the context of Maoist third-world liberation movements. In 1979, he became a lecturer in the State University of New York at Stony Brook's Africana Studies Department in the College of Arts and Sciences at the behest of faculty member Leslie Owens. Articles about Baraka appeared in the University's print media from ''Stony Brook Press'', ''Blackworld'', and other student campus publications. These articles included a page-one exposé of his positions in the inaugural issue of ''Stony Brook Press'' on October 25, 1979, discussing his protests "against what he perceived as racism in the Africana Studies Department, as evidenced by a dearth of tenured professors". Shortly thereafter, Baraka took a tenure-track assistant professorship at Stony Brook in 1980 to assist "the struggling Africana Studies Department"; in 1983, he was promoted to
associate professor Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the ''Commonwealth system''. Overview In the '' North American system'', used in the United States and many other countries, it is ...
and earned tenure. In June 1979 Baraka was arrested and jailed at Eighth Street and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. Different accounts emerged around the arrest, yet all sides agree that Baraka and his wife, Amina, were in their car arguing over the cost of their children's shoes. The police version of events holds that they were called to the scene after a report of an assault in progress. They maintain that Baraka was striking his wife, and when they moved to intervene, he attacked them as well, whereupon they used the necessary force to subdue him. Amina's account contrasted with that of the police; she held a news conference the day after the arrest accusing the police of lying. A grand jury dismissed the assault charge, but the resisting arrest charge moved forward. In November 1979 after a seven-day trial, a criminal court jury found Baraka guilty of resisting arrest. A month later he was sentenced to 90 days at Rikers Island (the maximum he could have been sentenced to was one year). Amina declared that her husband was "a political prisoner". Baraka was released after a day in custody pending his appeal. At the time it was noted that if he was kept in prison, "he would be unable to attend a reception at the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
in honor of American poets." Baraka's appeal continued up to the State Supreme Court. During the process his lawyer William M. Kunstler told the press Baraka "feels it's the responsibility of the writers of America to support him across the board". Backing for his attempts to have the sentence cancelled or reduced came from "letters of support from elected officials, artists and teachers around the country". Amina Baraka continued to advocate for her husband and at one press conference stated, "Fascism is coming and soon the secret police will shoot our children down in the streets." In December 1981 Judge Benrard Fried ruled against Baraka and ordered him to report to Rikers Island to serve his sentence on weekends occurring between January 9, 1982, and November 6, 1982. The judge noted that having Baraka serve his 90 days on weekends would allow him to continue his teaching obligations at Stony Brook. Rather than serve his sentence at the prison, Baraka was allowed to serve his 48 consecutive weekends in a Harlem halfway house. While serving his sentence he wrote ''The Autobiography'', tracing his life from birth to his conversion to socialism.


1980–2014

In 1980 Baraka published an essay in the ''
Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...
'' that was titled ''Confessions of a Former Anti-Semite''. Baraka insisted that a ''Village Voice'' editor titled it and not himself. In the essay Baraka went over his life history, including his marriage to Hettie Cohen, who was Jewish. He stated that after the assassination of Malcolm X he found himself thinking, "As a Black man married to a white woman, I began to feel estranged from her ... How could someone be married to the enemy?" He eventually divorced Hettie and left her with their two bi-racial daughters. In the essay Baraka went on to say
We also know that much of the vaunted Jewish support of Black civil rights organizations was in order to use them. Jews, finally, are white, and suffer from the same kind of white chauvinism that separates a great many whites from Black struggle. ... these Jewish intellectuals have been able to pass over into the Promised Land of American privilege.
In the essay he also defended his position against Israel, saying, "Zionism is a form of racism." Near the end of the essay Baraka stated the following:
Anti-Semitism is as ugly an idea and as deadly as white racism and Zionism ...As for my personal trek through the wasteland of anti-Semitism, it was momentary and never completely real. ... I have written only one poem that has definite aspects of anti-Semitism...and I have repudiated it as thoroughly as I can.
The poem Baraka referenced was "For Tom Postell, Dead Black Poet", which contained lines including
...Smile jew. Dance, jew. Tell me you love me, jew. I got something for you ... I got the extermination blues, jewboys. I got the
hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
syndrome figured ... So come for the rent, jewboys ... one day, jewboys, we all, even my wig wearing mother gonna put it on you all at once.
During the 1982–83 academic year, Baraka returned to Columbia University as a visiting professor, teaching a course entitled "Black Women and Their Fictions". After becoming a full professor of African Studies at Stony Brook in 1985, Baraka took an indefinite visiting appointment in Rutgers University's English department in 1988; over the next two years, he taught a number of courses in African American literature and music. Although Baraka sought a permanent, tenured appointment at the rank of full professor in early 1990 (in part due to the proximity between the University's campus in
New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city in and the seat of government of Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight school ...
Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 19 ...
" while also characterizing the senior faculty as "powerful
Klansmen The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and C ...
", leading to a condemnation from department chair Barry Qualls. Thereafter, Baraka was nominally affiliated with Stony Brook as
professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
of Africana Studies until his death. In 1987, together with
Maya Angelou Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, popular poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and ...
and
Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist. Her first novel, '' The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed '' S ...
, he was a speaker at the commemoration ceremony for
James Baldwin James Arthur Baldwin (August 2, 1924 – December 1, 1987) was an American writer. He garnered acclaim across various media, including essays, novels, plays, and poems. His first novel, '' Go Tell It on the Mountain'', was published in 1953; ...
. In 1989 Baraka won an
American Book Award The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...
for his works as well as a Langston Hughes Award. In 1990 he co-authored the autobiography of Quincy Jones, and in 1998 he was a supporting actor in
Warren Beatty Henry Warren Beatty (né Beaty; born March 30, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker, whose career spans over six decades. He was nominated for 15 Academy Awards, including four for Best Actor, four for Best Picture, two for Best Director, ...
's film '' Bulworth''. In 1996, Baraka contributed to the
AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...
benefit album '' Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip'' produced by the Red Hot Organization. In July 2002, Baraka was named Poet Laureate of New Jersey by Governor Jim McGreevey. The position was to be for two years and came with a $10,000 stipend. Baraka held the post for a year, during which time he was mired in controversy, including substantial political pressure and public outrage demanding his resignation. During the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in Stanhope, New Jersey, Baraka read his 2001 poem on the
September 11th attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
"Somebody Blew Up America?", which was criticized for anti-Semitism and attacks on public figures. Because there was no mechanism in the law to remove Baraka from the post, and he refused to step down, the position of state poet laureate was officially abolished by the State Legislature and Governor McGreevey. Baraka collaborated with hip-hop group The Roots on the song "Something in the Way of Things (In Town)" on their 2002 album ''
Phrenology Phrenology () is a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits.Wihe, J. V. (2002). "Science and Pseudoscience: A Primer in Critical Thinking." In ''Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience'', pp. 195–203. C ...
''. In 2002, scholar
Molefi Kete Asante Molefi Kete Asante ( ; born Arthur Lee Smith Jr.; August 14, 1942) is an American professor and philosopher. He is a leading figure in the fields of African-American studies, African studies, and communication studies. He is currently professor ...
included Amiri Baraka on his list of ''
100 Greatest African Americans ''100 Greatest African Americans'' is a biographical dictionary of one hundred historically great Black Americans (in alphabetical order; that is, they are not ranked), as assessed by Temple University professor Molefi Kete Asante in 2002. A s ...
''. In 2003, Baraka's daughter Shani, aged 31, and her lesbian partner, Rayshon Homes, were murdered in the home of Shani's sister, Wanda Wilson Pasha, by Pasha's ex-husband, James Coleman. Prosecutors argued that Coleman shot Shani because she had helped her sister separate from her husband. A New Jersey jury found Coleman (also known as Ibn El-Amin Pasha) guilty of murdering Shani Baraka and Rayshon Holmes, and he was sentenced to 168 years in prison for the 2003 shooting. His son, Ras J. Baraka (born 1970), is a politician and activist in Newark, who served as principal of Newark's Central High School, as an elected member of the Municipal Council of Newark (2002–06, 2010–present) representing the South Ward. Ras J. Baraka became Mayor of Newark on July 1, 2014. (See
2014 Newark mayoral election The 2014 Newark mayoral election took place in Newark, the most populous city in New Jersey, on May 13, 2014. The race was characterized as a contest between two candidates, Ras Baraka and Shavar Jeffries, both from Newark's South Ward. Elect ...
.)


Death

Amiri Baraka died on January 9, 2014, at Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark, New Jersey, after being hospitalized in the facility's
intensive care unit 220px, Intensive care unit An intensive care unit (ICU), also known as an intensive therapy unit or intensive treatment unit (ITU) or critical care unit (CCU), is a special department of a hospital or health care facility that provides intensi ...
for one month before his death. The cause of death was not reported initially, but it is mentioned that Baraka had a long struggle with diabetes. Later reports indicated that he died from complications after a recent surgery. Baraka's funeral was held at
Newark Symphony Hall Newark Symphony Hall is a performing arts center located at 1020 Broad Street in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey. Built in 1925, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. It was known for many years as The Mosque Theat ...
on January 18, 2014.


Controversies


White people

The following is from a 1965 essay:
Most American white men are trained to be fags. For this reason it is no wonder their faces are weak and blank ... The average
ofay The following is a list of ethnic slurs or ethnophaulisms or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnicity or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or oth ...
hite personthinks of the black man as potentially raping every white lady in sight. Which is true, in the sense that the black man should want to rob the white man of everything he has. But for most whites the guilt of the robbery is the guilt of rape. That is, they know in their deepest hearts that they should be robbed, and the white woman understands that only in the rape sequence is she likely to get cleanly, viciously popped.
In 2009, he was again asked about the quote, and placed it in a personal and political perspective:
Those quotes are from the essays in ''Home'', a book written almost fifty years ago. The anger was part of the mindset created by, first, the
assassination of John Kennedy John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, at 12:30 p.m. CST in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. Kennedy was in the vehicle wit ...
, followed by the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, followed by the assassination of Malcolm X amidst the lynching, and national oppression. A few years later, the
assassination of Martin Luther King Martin Luther King Jr., an African-American clergyman and civil rights leader, was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 p.m. Central Time Zone, CST. He was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital ( ...
and
Robert Kennedy Robert Francis Kennedy (November 20, 1925June 6, 1968), also known by his initials RFK and by the nickname Bobby, was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 64th United States Attorney General from January 1961 to September 1964, a ...
. What changed my mind was that I became a Marxist, after recognizing classes within the Black community and the class struggle even after we had worked and struggled to elect the first Black Mayor of Newark, Kenneth Gibson.


September 11 attacks

In July 2002, ten months after the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
on the World Trade Center, Baraka wrote a poem entitled "Somebody Blew Up America?" that was accused of antisemitism and met with harsh criticism. The poem is highly critical of
racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagoni ...
in America, and includes humorous depictions of public figures such as Trent Lott,
Clarence Thomas Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George H. W. Bush to succeed Thurgood Marshall and has served since 1 ...
, and
Condoleezza Rice Condoleezza Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist who is the current director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 66th Un ...
. It also contains lines claiming Israel's knowledge of the World Trade Center attacks: Baraka said that he believed Israelis and President George W. Bush had advance knowledge of the September 11 attacks, citing what he described as information that had been reported in the American and Israeli press and on Jordanian television. Baraka himself denied that the poem is antisemitic due to the use of word Israeli rather than Jewish. However, antisemitism watchdog organizations such as the
Anti-Defamation League The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. It was founded in late Septe ...
(ADL) denounced the poem as antisemitic. The ADL noted that the "4000 workers" conspiracy theory had initially referred to Jews writ large and that Baraka was using a common antisemitic tactic of replacing references to Jews writ large with references to Israel and then claiming a comment is merely anti-Zionist. After the poem's publication, then-governor Jim McGreevey tried to remove Baraka from the post of Poet Laureate of New Jersey, to which he had been appointed following
Gerald Stern Gerald Daniel Stern (February 22, 1925 – October 27, 2022) was an American poet, essayist, and educator. The author of twenty collections of poetry and four books of essays, he taught literature and creative writing at Temple University, Indi ...
in July 2002. McGreevey learned that there was no legal way, according to the law authorizing and defining the position, to remove Baraka. On October 17, 2002, legislation to abolish the post was introduced in the State Senate and subsequently signed by Governor McGreevey, becoming effective July 2, 2003. Baraka ceased being poet laureate when the law became effective. In response to legal action filed by Baraka, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled that state officials were immune from such suits, and in November 2007 the
Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. Federal tribunals in the United States, federal court cases, and over Stat ...
refused to hear an appeal of the case.


Honors and awards

Baraka served as the second Poet Laureate of New Jersey from July 2002 until the position was abolished on July 2, 2003. In response to the attempts to remove Baraka as the state's Poet Laureate, a nine-member advisory board named him the poet laureate of the Newark Public Schools in December 2002. Baraka received honors from a number of prestigious foundations, including the following: fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the
National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
, the
Langston Hughes James Mercer Langston Hughes (February 1, 1901 – May 22, 1967) was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the literary art form called jazz poetry, H ...
Award from the
City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...
, the Rockefeller Foundation Award for Drama, an induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Before Columbus Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. A short excerpt from Amiri Baraka's poetry was selected to be used for a permanent installation by artist Larry Kirkland in New York City's Pennsylvania Station.New Jersey Transit
"Commissioner Fox Unveils New 7th Avenue Concourse at Penn Station N.Y.: Built For Today's Crowds and Tomorrow's Capacity Needs"
(news release) (September 18, 2002). Retrieved July 6, 2013.
Carved in marble, this installation features excerpts from the works of several New Jersey poets (from
Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among ...
, William Carlos Williams, to contemporary poets Robert Pinsky and Renée Ashley) and was part of the renovation and reconstruction of the New Jersey Transit section of the station completed in 2002.


Legacy and influence

Despite numerous controversies and polarizing content of his work, Baraka's literary influence is undeniable. His co-founding of the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s promoted a uniquely black nationalist perspective and influenced an entire literary generation. Critic Naila Keleta-Mae argues that Baraka's legacy is one of "saying the unsayable", a course that likely damaged his own literary reputation and canonization. For example, Baraka was left out of the 2013 anthology ''Angles of Ascent'', a collection of contemporary African American poetry published by Norton. In a review of the anthology, Baraka, himself, criticized editor Charles H. Rowell's hostility towards the Black Arts Movement, calling Rowell's "attempt to analyze and even compartmentalize" contemporary African American poetry as "flawed". Indeed, Rowell's introduction to ''Angles of Ascent'' references the "fetters of narrow political and social demands that have nothing to do with the production of artistic texts", evincing a political/apolitical dichotomy where the editor considers overly political works of lesser artistic value. Critic Emily Ruth Rutter recognizes the contribution to African American literary studies of ''Angles of Ascent'' yet also proposes adding Baraka and others to ensure students do not "unknowingly accept" the notion that Baraka and writers like him were somehow absent from influencing twenty-first century poetry. In '' Rain Taxi'', Richard Oyama criticized Baraka's militant aesthetic, writing that Baraka's "career came to represent a cautionary tale of the worst 'tendencies' of the 1960s—the alienating rejections, the fanatical self-righteousness, the impulse toward separatism and Stalinist repression versus multi-racial/class coalition-building ... In the end, Baraka's work suffered because he preferred ideology over art, forgetting the latter outlasts us all." Baraka's participation in a diverse array of artistic genres combined with his own social activism allowed him to have a wide range of influence. When discussing his influence in an interview with NPR, Baraka stressed that he had influenced numerous people. When asked what he would write for his own epitaph, he quipped, "We don't know if he ever died", evincing the personal importance of his own legacy to him. NPR's obituary for Baraka describes the depths of his influence simply: "...throughout his life – the Black Arts Movement never stopped". Baraka's influence also extends to the publishing world, where some writers credit him with opening doors to white publishing houses which African American writers previously had been unable to access.


Works


Poetry

* 1961: ''Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note'' * 1964: ''The Dead Lecturer: Poems'' * 1969: ''Black Magic'' * 1970: ''It's Nation Time'' * 1980: ''New Music, New Poetry'' (
India Navigation India Navigation was an American record company and independent record label that specialized in avant-garde jazz in the 1970s and 1980s. It was founded by Bob Cummins, a corporate lawyer who helped jazz musicians with legal matters. Its catalogu ...
) * 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''


Drama

* 1964: '' Dutchman'' * 1964: ''The Slave'' * 1967: ''The Baptism'' and ''The Toilet'' * 1966: ''
A Black Mass ''A Black Mass'' is a play written by Amiri Baraka and performed at Proctor's Theatre in Newark, New Jersey in 1966. Baraka also recorded a version of the play with Sun Ra's Myth-Science Orchestra in 1968. The play is based on the religious do ...
'' * 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'', (published by I. Reed Books, 1979) * 1989: ''Song'' * 2013: ''Most Dangerous Man in America (W. E. B. Du Bois)''


Fiction

* 1965: '' The System of Dante's Hell'' * 1967: ''Tales'' * 2004: ''Un Poco Low Coup'', (graphic novel published by Ishmael Reed Publishing) * 2006: ''Tales of the Out & the Gone''


Non-fiction

* 1963: ''
Blues People ''Blues People: Negro Music in White America'' is a seminal study of Afro-American music (and culture generally) by Amiri Baraka, who published it as LeRoi Jones in 1963. In ''Blues People'' Baraka explores the possibility that the history of bla ...
'' * 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 Larry Neal or Lawrence Neal (September 5, 1937 – January 6, 1981) was a scholar of African-American theatre. He is well known for his contributions to the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. He was a major influence in pushing for black ...
) * 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)


Filmography

* '' The New Ark'' (1968)Whitty, Stephen
"Amiri Baraka's lost Newark film, found and coming home"
in ''NJ.com'', April 18, 2014. Retrieved April 19, 2014.
* ''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 Ralph Waldo Ellison (March 1, 1913 – April 16, 1994) was an American writer, literary critic, and scholar best known for his novel ''Invisible Man'', which won the National Book Award in 1953. He also wrote '' Shadow and Act'' (1964), a collec ...
: 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 ''The Black Candle'' is a documentary film about Kwanzaa directed by M. K. Asante and narrated by Maya Angelou. The film premiered on cable television on Starz on November, 2012. Synopsis ''The Black Candle'' uses Kwanzaa as a vehicle to explo ...
'' (2008) * ''Ferlinghetti: A City Light'' (2008) ... Himself * ''W.A.R. Stories: Walter Anthony Rodney'' (2009) ... Himself * '' Motherland'' (2010)


Discography

*''It's Nation Time'' (Black Forum/Motown, 1972) *''New Music - New Poetry'' (India Navigation, 1982) with David Murray and
Steve McCall Stephen Harold McCall (born 15 October 1960) is an English retired footballer who now works as a Scout for Carlisle United. A defensive midfielder during his playing days, McCall built a reputation as a cultured midfield player, with immacul ...
*''Real Song'' (Enja, 1995) With
Billy Harper Billy Harper (born January 17, 1943) is an American jazz saxophonist, "one of a generation of Coltrane-influenced tenor saxophonists" with a distinctively stern, hard-as-nails sound on his instrument.Chris KelseyBilly Harper Biography '' AllMus ...
*'' Blueprints of Jazz Vol. 2'' (
Talking House Records Talking may refer to: * Speech, the product of the action of ''to talk'' * Communication by spoken words; conversation or discussion Other uses * "Talking" (The Rifles song), 2007 * "Talking" (A Flock of Seagulls song), 1983 * "Talking", a son ...
, 2008) With the
New York Art Quartet The New York Art Quartet was a free jazz ensemble, originally made up of saxophonist John Tchicai, trombonist Roswell Rudd, drummer Milford Graves and bassist Lewis Worrell, that came into existence in 1964 in New York City. Worrell was later replac ...
*''New York Art Quartet'' (ESP-Disk, 1965) With Malachi Thompson *'' Freebop Now!'' (Delmark, 1998) with David Murray *''
Fo Deuk Revue ''Fo Deuk Revue'' is an album by David Murray released on the Canadian Justin Time label. Recorded in 1996 and released in 1997, the album features performances by Murray with Darryl Burgee, Ousseynou Diop, Assane Diop, Craig Harris, Robert Irv ...
'' ( Justin Time, 1997), "Evidence" with William Parker *''
I Plan to Stay a Believer ''I Plan to Stay a Believer'' (subtitled ''The Inside Songs of Curtis Mayfield'') is a double live album by American jazz bassist William Parker, which was recorded between 2001 and 2008 and released on the AUM Fidelity label. Reception In his ...
'' (AUM Fidelity, 2010)


References


External links

* * *
Amiri Baraka page
at Modern American Poetry

''Pulse Magazine'' Berlin
Site dedicated to Amiri BarakaAmiri Baraka Discography Project
* *
Margalit Fox Margalit Fox (born 1961) is an American writer. She began her career in publishing in the 1980s, before switching to journalism in the 1990s. She joined the obituary department of '' The New York Times'' in 2004, and authored over 1,400 obituari ...

"Amiri Baraka, Polarizing Poet and Playwright, Dies at 79"
''The New York Times'', January 9, 2014

in The Independent by Marcus Williamson
Amiri Baraka interview with J. K. Fowler on The MantleDemocracy Now January 10, 2014 Amiri Baraka (1934-2014): Poet-Playwright-Activist Who Shaped Revolutionary Politics, Black CultureFBI files on Amiri Baraka
at the
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

FBI Docs
Amiri Baraka (Partial) FBI File * Maria Popova
"Answers in Progress: Amiri Baraka’s Lyrical Manifesto for Life"
* * Audio recording of Amiri Baraka poetry reading, September 14, 1992, from Maryland Institute College of Art's Decker Library,
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Finding aid to Amiri Baraka papers
a


Finding aid to Beat poets and poetry collection, including Baraka’s The Systems of Dante’s Hell manuscript, at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.Amiri Baraka collection of playscripts
at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library
Amiri Baraka collection of unpublished poetry
at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York Public Library
Amiri Interviewed in New Jersey
Pulse Berlin {{DEFAULTSORT:Baraka, Amiri Culture of Newark, New Jersey 1934 births 2014 deaths 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American poets 20th-century American essayists 20th-century short story writers African-American dramatists and playwrights African-American poets African-American short story writers American short story writers American civil rights activists African-American communists American Marxists American music critics Barringer High School alumni Beat Generation writers Columbia University alumni Howard University alumni India Navigation artists Jazz writers American Marxist poets Motown artists National Endowment for the Arts Fellows Poets from New Jersey Poets Laureate of New Jersey Reparations for slavery Rutgers University alumni Stony Brook University faculty The New School alumni University at Buffalo faculty Writers from Newark, New Jersey American Book Award winners Black Arts Movement writers 9/11 conspiracy theorists American conspiracy theorists People from Greenwich Village People from Harlem Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters