AMIRI BARAKA
Amiri Baraka is an African American writer who has allowed different social and political movements to influence what he has written about society throughout the fifties, sixties, and seventies. As he got older and civil rights became more prevalent, his writing began to reflect the struggles of African American people. Later, he became more concerned with the freedom of third-world countries.
Biography
- Born on October 7, 1934 in Newark, New Jersey
- Originally named Everett LeRoi Jones
- Earned English degree at Howard University in 1954
- Joined Air Force in 1954
- Was part of the Beat movement in Greenwich Valley
- Wrote a play in 1964 called The Dutchman, talked about racial tensions and African Americans' held in anger towards Caucasians
- After Malcolm X was killed, Baraka changed his name to Imamu (spiritual leader) Amiri Baraka and left the Beat movement
- Moved to Harlem and became a Black Nationalist in the middle of the 1960s
- Became a Muslim in 1968
- Had a African American Muslim organization called Kawaida
- From 1968-1975, he was head of the Committee for United Newark
- Was founder and leader of the Congress of African People
- Was a Co-chief organizerof the National Black Political Convention
- Abadoned Black Nationalism to become a Marxist in the 1970s
- Founded the Black Arts Repertory Theatre and School (BARTS)
- Founded the Spirit House Players
- Has written more than fifty books
- Was an Africana Studies professor at Stony Brook University
Awards
- The PEN/Faulkner Award
- the Rockefeller Foundation Award for Drama
- The Before Columbus Foundation lifetime achievement award
- The Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship
- The National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
- The City College of New York Langston Hughes Award
- Was New Jersey's poet laureate but lost the title because his poem "Somebody Blew up America," caused a lot of controversy.
"A man is either free or he is not. There cannot be any apprenticeship for freedom."--Amiri Baraka