Amiri Baraka Term Paper

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Le ROI Jones was the original name for the activist who became Amiri Baraka. He came from the Beat Movement to activism after the assassination of Malcolm X, taking his new name. As a writer, he was able to contribute a literate voice to the civil rights and Black Power movements. This paper will outline those contributions that he made to both of these movements, including founding the Black Arts Movement.

Early Life

Jones was born and raised in Newark and took an interest in both music and writing at an early age. After graduating Howard University with a degree in English in 1954, he joined the Air Force. He was dishonorably discharged and then relocated to Manhattan. He attended Columbia University and became an artist in Greenwich Village, before becoming affiliated with the Beat Movement (Biography, 2014). He married Hettie Cohen and the two started a literary magazine together, and a family. This part of his life came to a close quickly, however, with the assassination of Malcolm X (Als, 2014).

Black Arts Movement

Jones' response to the assassination was to disavow his prior life, move to Harlem, change his name to Amiri Baraka and started the Black Arts Movement.

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This movement was the artistic counterpoint to the Black Panther Party in particular, a vehicle for espousing ideas about black separatism and civil rights (Ibid). Baraka's works, mostly plays and poems, project a tone that has been called "incendiary" for its controversial nature, particularly with regards to issues of race and power.

Activism

The Black Arts Movement was short-lived, and before long Baraka found himself back in Newark, where he continued to contribute to political activism. He converted to Islam, and later styled himself as a Marxist as well -- he had visited Cuba shortly after the revolution there to learn about the doctrine, and brought it back to incorporate it into his views on race and black power. His writings "explored the anger of African-Americans and…" was a "weapon against racism" (AmiriBaraka.com, 2014).

His work was an expression of sentiments that were a part of the Civil Rights Movement, and Black Power Movement. Baraka was able to be an idea leader, and his works were highly influential among the leaders of these movements. He sought to create with his work a black aesthetic and identity, an artistic expression of black separatism, and it is from these ideals that….....

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