Amiri Baraka

Amiri Baraka (born Everett Leroy Jones; October 7, 1934 – January 9, 2014), previously known as LeRoi Jones, was an American writer. He has written poetry, drama, essays and music criticism. He is also the father of Newark city mayor Ras Baraka.

Baraka has been called "one of the most influential and prolific African American writers of the twentieth century."

Baraka's poetry and other writing have been both praised and hated. In the African-American community, some compare Baraka to James Baldwin. They see him as one of the most respected and most widely published black writers of his time. Others have said that his work shows much violence, misogyny, and homophobia.

Racism
Baraka's writings have made controversy over the years, mostly because of his advocacy of rape and violence towards (at many times) women, gay people, white people, and Jews. Critics of his work have said such words are examples of racism, sexism, homophobia, and anti-Semitism in his work.David L. Smith . Amiri Baraka and the Black Arts of Black Art . boundary 2. Vol. 15, No. 1/2 (Autumn, 1986), pp. 235-254.Charles H. Rowell. An Interview With Henry Louis Gates, Jr.  Callaloo. Vol. 14, No. 2 (Spring, 1991), pp. 444-463.Marlon B. Ross. Camping the Dirty Dozens: The Queer Resources of Black Nationalist Invective. Callaloo. Vol. 23, No. 1, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender: Literature and Culture (Winter, 2000), pp. 290-312.

The following is from a 1965 essay:

Most American white men are trained to be fags. For this reason it is no wonder their faces are weak and blank. ... The average ofay [white person] thinks of the black man as potentially raping every white lady in sight. Which is true, in the sense that the black man should want to rob the white man of everything he has. But for most whites the guilt of the robbery is the guilt of rape. That is, they know in their deepest hearts that they should be robbed, and the white woman understands that only in the rape sequence is she likely to get cleanly, viciously popped.Jerry Gafio Watts. Amiri Baraka: The Politics and Art of a Black Intellectual. NYU Press, 2001. pg 332

Death
Baraka died January 9, 2014 in Newark, New Jersey after being hospitalized in the facility's intensive care unit for one month prior to his death. He was 79 years old. The cause of death was complications of surgery. Baraka had diabetes.Giambusso, David. "Amiri Baraka, former N.J. poet laureate and prolific author, dead at 79", The Star-Ledger, 9 January 2014. Retrieved 9 January 2014.

Works
Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note, poems, 1961
Blues Peple: Negro Music in White America, 1963
Dutchman and The Slave, drama, 1964
The System of Dante's Hell, novel, 1965
Home: Social Essays, 1965
Tales, 1967
Black Magic, poems, 1969
Four Black Revolutionary Plays, 1969
It's Nation Time, poems, 1970
Raise Race Rays Raize: Essays Since 1965, 1971
Hard Facts, poems, 1975
The Motion of History and Other Plays, 1978
Poetry for the Advanced, 1979
reggae or not!, 1981
Daggers and Javelins: Essays 1974-1979, 1984
The Autobiography of LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka, 1984
The Music: Reflections on Jazz and Blues, 1987
Transbluesency: The Selected Poems of Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones, 1995Wise, Why’s Y’s, essays, 1995Funk Lore: New Poems, 1996Somebody Blew Up America'', 2001

 Related pages 
List of poets from North America

 References 

 Other websites 

homepage of Amiri Baraka 
Modern American Poetry Page: Amiri Baraka 
Amiri Baraka at PennSound

Category:African-American writers
Category:American activists
Category:American Muslims
Category:American playwrights
Category:American poets
Category:American communists
Category:Deaths from surgical complications
Category:Writers from Newark, New Jersey
Category:1934 births
Category:2014 deaths