Amiri Baraka

African American writers have made a huge impact on the country’s literary landscape. One of those people is Newark native Amiri Baraka. His writing career spans over 50 years, consisting of numerous literary works ranging from poetry, essays, dramas, and music critiques. The themes of his works encompass the idea of black liberation and the impact of racism. Born LeRoi Jones, he developed a love for jazz from a young age and grew up listening to artists like Miles Davis, being mesmerized by their sound. After high school, he went on to Rutgers University. However, he ended up transferring to Howard University. After leaving the military, Baraka moved to Greenwich Village, where he would rub shoulders with other artists in the creative space and immerse himself in the social scene while pursuing his writing career working as an editor and critic for the literary and arts journal Kulchur between 1960-1965. He became a local advocate within his community and beyond, supporting young writers as a member of the Umbra Poets Workshop for emerging Black National writers. He even wrote about his experience traveling to Cuba, later co-authoring a ‘Declaration of Conscience’ in support of Fidel Castro. Baraka’s first book of poems, Preface to a Twenty-Volume Suicide Note, was published in 1961, and later his study, ‘Blues People: Negro Music in White America,’ in 1963. He would later change his legal name to Amiri Baraka after the assassination of Malcolm X. The Newark native has received numerous awards and accolades over this career. Baraka served as the state’s Poet Laureate between 2002- 2003. He has also taught at universities around the country, including Stony Brook and the University of Buffalo. He received one of the highest accomplishments for any writer, receiving the PEN/Beyond Margins Award in 2008 for ‘Tales of the Out and the Gone.’ Today, Baraka’s legacy continues to influence the next generation of writers. His son, Ras Baraka, is the current mayor of the city.