•
B -It the
mu lc of t ing Cole, Little
E ter, Larry Darnell and the old
blue vocali t th t ir t co ed
the ord out of Amiri B r k .
The rhythmic, emotion-p ed
lyric danced through hi mind
t odd hour of the d y.
But a he tried hi own hand
t wri ti ng, he di covered th t
word had power beyond creat-
ing oul- oothing en ation.
Word helped uncover the
meaning of being black. And
they could be u ed to expo e
oppre ive force in ociety.
B raka rna tered the u e of
the pen me n of oci I
critici m in way that few
writer had ever done before.
Hi work,' which have
profoundly influenced contem­
porary black literature and
philo ophy, include an
autobiography, five book of es-
y , 24 play four nthotogles,
a novel, everal book of short
torie and two books on jazz.
Bar ka received an Obie, the
off-Broadway award for the
play "Dutchman," and second
prize t the International Art
Festival for "the Slave," written
in 1964. But the impor nee of
Amlrl Baraka
his work stems not from it
critical acclaim but from its ex­
pression of the struggle of
Black America.
BARAKA WAS BORN in
1934 in Newark, N.J. and was
baptized Everett LeRoi Jones,
al though it was not a name he
would keep. .
After attending Rutgers
University in New Jersey for a
year; he transferred in 1952 to
Howard University in
WaShington, D.C., to study
English-literature.
Bored with chool.ihe joined
the U.S. Air Force and spent his
free time reading, studying jazz
and writing poetry. After his
discharge in 1957, Bar aka
moved to New York City's east
side and joined a network of
young, i nnova ti ve artis ts and
writers. Whi e scraping by
financially on menial jobs"
Ba,raka became known among
his contemporarie as the editor
of a small but respected offbeat
literary magazine.
His early works were in­
fluenced by classic poets. But,
he realized, by imitating others
he was expressing their
thoughts, not his. Soon he
learned to write the way he
spoke, rather than the way he
thought a poem Should read.
Baraka was influencing and in­
fluenced by the.be t poets, rno t
of whom were white.
When Malcolm X died in
1965 and riots broke out in the
Watts section of Los Angeles,
Baraka began to question his
work and hi, lifestyle. He
traveled wi lh other writers to
Cuba, where he wa criticized
for not using his writing kills
to help the oppressed .•
MORE AND MORE, he felt
out of place in the hite arti tic
cui ture of GreenWich Village.
Vo
h
opl
Se rchi n for hi TOOt nd Committee for United ew Ark
identity, he moved to H rlem, nd directed the Congre of
where h founded the Black Afri n People. In 1970, he
Art Repertory The ter n d rote "It' N lion Time,"
School. • book of poem urging black
H rlem ch n ed LeRoi people to t ke their newly c-
Jone ,nd Roi Jone ch nged quired view of art nd life and
hi n me to miri Bar k to turn it into ction.
reflect hi ne per on'. He loA Americ n ocie ty moved
dded the title "Imamu, tI me n- through tid I uphe val ,B raka
ing piritu 1 prle t. Politic be- rode the ere 1. By the mid­
came more important to him and 1970, he viewed social strug­
hi pen bec me a tool for octal gle in economic r .ther than
ch nge. racial term. In 1984, he wrote,
In 1967 he moved to "Autobiography of Le Ro i
where he embraced t piritual Jones," which ketche a
a pects of 11m. He began the J�rtrait of hi fir t 48 year.
Bar k' h taught t Colum-
bi Univer ity nd Y le Univer­
ity and Yale Univer ity nd
currently re che African
tudie at the St te Univer ity
of New York at Stoneybroo .
(Amiri Baraka is one of 12
people selected /OF "Gallery 0/
Greats: Black Authors ... A
Voice lor the People," a collec­
tion 0/ portraits commissioned
by the Milter Brewing Company.
The collection, which honors all
black authors, is on a national
tour 0/ museums, art galleries
and u n iv er s it ie throughout
1990.)
SEEKING ALUMNI-Comm roe CI
A union. CI of 1950, 51, 52 & 53,
P.O. So 20826, Fernd ,MI4�22O,
Send ell nounoem ta and Inform Ion
0: p, O. Box 03560, 12541 Second St.,
Hlghl nd Park, MI 48203 or oall .
(313) 869-0033.
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