Baraka, Amiri
1934-2014 · Contribution: 1961-2014
Poetry, drama, fiction, and jazz/blues criticism; the play 'Dutchman' (1964), poetry collections 'Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note' (1961) and 'The Dead Lecturer' (1964), and the music history 'Blues People' (1963)
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Impact on the world
A founder and leading figure of the Black Arts Movement; his Obie Award-winning 'Dutchman' and incendiary, jazz-influenced verse shaped Black nationalist aesthetics and influenced generations of writers. A provocative and at times controversial public figure.
Life & background
African-American writer born Everett LeRoi Jones on Oct 7, 1934 in Newark, NJ. Attended Rutgers and Howard; founded the Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School in Harlem (1965). Poet Laureate of New Jersey (2002-2003). Died Jan 9, 2014.
Sources
- Encyclopædia Britannica; Poetry Foundation
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