BARAKA, AMIRI

born Oct. 7, 1934, Newark, N.J., U.S. Baraka also called Imamu Amiri Baraka, original name (until 1968) (Everett) LeRoi Jones playwright, poet, novelist, and essayist who wrote of the experiences and anger of black Americans with an affirmation of black life. A graduate of Howard University (1953), Baraka published his first major collection of poetry, Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note, in 1961. The poems in The Dead Lecturer (1964) are notable for their strong imagery and lyrical treatment of violence. This was followed by Black Art (1966), Black Magic (1969), and many subsequent verse collections. Some of Baraka's poems reflect his interest in blues and jazz, which he wrote about in Blues People: Negro Music in White America (1963) and Black Music (1967). In 1964 Baraka's play Dutchman appeared off-Broadway and won critical acclaim. In Dutchman, an encounter between a white woman and a black intellectual exposes the suppressed anger and hostility of American blacks toward the dominant white culture. Later that year Baraka's plays The Slave and The Toilet were also produced. He wrote many other plays and published an autobiographical novel, The System of Dante's Hell (1965); a collection of short stories, Tales (1967); several collections of essays, including Home: Social Essays (1966); and The Autobiography of LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka (1984). Baraka founded the Black Arts Repertory Theatre in Harlem in 1965. In 1968 he founded the Black Community Development and Defense Organization, a Muslim group committed to affirming black culture and to gaining political power for blacks. Baraka taught at several American universities.