American Book Awards
2 appearances
-
Edition 5 (1984) Winner
-
Edition 31 (2010) Winner
Amiri Baraka
アミリ・バラカ
Amiri Baraka
Aliases:
LeRoi Jones / Imamu Amear Baraka / Everett Leroy Jones / Everett L. Jones
Pen Names:
LeRoi Jones（Early pen name used for poetry and plays in the 1950s–1960s.）,
Imamu Amear Baraka（Name adopted during his Black cultural nationalist period; includes an honorific suggesting a spiritual/cultural leader.）
Profile
- Gender
- Male
- Born
- 1934-10-07 （Newark, New Jersey, U.S.）
- Died
- 2014-01-09 （Newark, New Jersey, U.S. (Beth Israel Medical Center)） age 79
- Nationality
- United States
- Languages
- English
- Residence History
- Newark, New Jersey (birthplace and later life residence) → Greenwich Village, New York City (1950s) → Harlem (1960s, Black Arts Movement period) → Stony Brook, New York (teaching appointment, from 1979)
Career
- Occupations
- poet, playwright, fiction writer, critic, music critic, editor, teacher, activist, theatre director
- Active Years
- 1961-2014
- Influenced By
- Beat poets (e.g. Allen Ginsberg), jazz musicians (e.g. Miles Davis), thinkers and activists of Black cultural and civil rights movements
- Influenced
- writers of the Black Arts Movement (Larry Neal, Sonia Sanchez, etc.), subsequent generations of African American poets and dramatists, hip-hop artists (collaborations with groups like The Roots)
Education
| Institution | Faculty | Department | Degree | Period | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rutgers University | — | — | — | 1951–1952（奨学金で入学、1952年に転校） | United States |
| Howard University | studied philosophy and religious studies | — | — | 1952–1954（在籍） | United States |
| Columbia University | — | — | — | 在籍（年不明） | United States |
| The New School | — | — | — | 在籍（年不明） | United States |
Rutgers University
Period:
1951–1952（奨学金で入学、1952年に転校）
Country:
United States
Entered on scholarship; transferred to Howard University in 1952.
Howard University
studied philosophy and religious studies
Period:
1952–1954（在籍）
Country:
United States
Studied while building intellectual foundation; no record of degree completion.
Columbia University
Period:
在籍（年不明）
Country:
United States
Attended courses; no recorded degree.
The New School
Period:
在籍（年不明）
Country:
United States
Attended courses; no recorded degree.
Awards
| Year | Award | Work | Category | Organization | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | Obie Award (Best American Play) | Dutchman (play) | — | Off-Broadway Association (Obie Awards) | 受賞 |
| 2008 | PEN/Beyond Margins Award | Tales of the Out and the Gone | — | PEN America | 受賞 |
| 1989 | American Book Award | for his body of work | — | Before Columbus Foundation | 受賞 |
| 1989 | Langston Hughes Award | — | — | City College of New York | 受賞 |
| — | Guggenheim Fellowship | — | — | John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation | 受賞 |
| — | National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship | — | — | National Endowment for the Arts | 受賞 |
| — | Rockefeller Foundation Award for Drama | — | — | Rockefeller Foundation | 受賞 |
| — | Induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters | — | — | American Academy of Arts and Letters | 会員 |
| — | Before Columbus Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award | — | — | Before Columbus Foundation | 受賞 |
Obie Award (Best American Play)
1964
Work:
Dutchman (play)
Organization:
Off-Broadway Association (Obie Awards)
Result:
受賞
PEN/Beyond Margins Award
2008
Work:
Tales of the Out and the Gone
Organization:
PEN America
Result:
受賞
American Book Award
1989
Work:
for his body of work
Organization:
Before Columbus Foundation
Result:
受賞
Langston Hughes Award
1989
Organization:
City College of New York
Result:
受賞
Guggenheim Fellowship
Organization:
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result:
受賞
National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
Organization:
National Endowment for the Arts
Result:
受賞
Rockefeller Foundation Award for Drama
Organization:
Rockefeller Foundation
Result:
受賞
Induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters
Organization:
American Academy of Arts and Letters
Result:
会員
Before Columbus Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award
Organization:
Before Columbus Foundation
Result:
受賞
Awards & Nominations
Works
Major Works
Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note
1961 PoetryEarly collection of poems reflecting urban life, jazz influence, and strong political feeling.
urban lifejazzrace and discriminationpersonal and political anger
Blues People: Negro Music in White America
1963 music criticism / social historyA study of the development of African American music from blues to jazz and its reflection of Black experience in America.
music historycultural representationrace and the arts
Dutchman
1964 Drama (play)A short, one-act play set on the New York subway where an encounter between a black man and a white woman escalates into a violent confrontation, sharply examining race and power.
raceviolenceurban society
Adaptations
- [Film] Dutchman (film) / Anthony Harvey (1967)
The Music: Reflections on Jazz and Blues
1987 criticism / essaysA collection of essays on jazz and blues exploring the relationship between music and society.
jazzcultural criticismhistory
Tales of the Out and the Gone
2006 short fiction collectionA late-career short story collection dealing with urban life, race issues, and personal alienation.
urban liferacealienation
The Book of Monk
2005 PoetryA poetry collection exploring the connection between music and verse, with many references to jazz musicians such as Thelonious Monk.
musicpoetic experimentationmemory
Bibliography
- Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note (1961)
- Blues People (1963)
- Dutchman (1964)
- The System of Dante's Hell (1965)
- Black Music (1968)
- The Autobiography of LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka (1984)
- Tales of the Out and the Gone (2006)
- The Book of Monk (2005)
Adaptations
- Film adaptation of Dutchman (1967, dir. Anthony Harvey)
- Various stage revivals and filmed recordings of plays and poetry readings
Style & Themes
- Literary Style
- experimental, colloquial poetry influenced by jazz and improvisationpolitical and radical rhetoricdramatic and fragmentary narration
- Recurring Motifs
- jazz and bluesBlack identity and liberationurban violence and alienationcalls for revolutionary action
Health
-
diabetes晩年（長期にわたる闘病）Long struggle with diabetes affected his health in later years; complications were reported in connection with his hospitalization and death.
Legacy
Amiri Baraka was a central figure in the Black Arts Movement whose poetry, plays, and criticism deeply influenced African American culture. His work was often controversial but remains central to understanding late-20th-century Black literature and political expression.
Museums
Academic Societies
- American Academy of Arts and Letters (inductee)
Archives
- Columbia University Rare Book & Manuscript Library (Amiri Baraka papers)
- New York Public Library Schomburg Center (collections of playscripts and unpublished poetry)
In Popular Culture
- Influence on hip-hop and contemporary musicians (collaborations with The Roots, cited by artists)
- Musical works inspired by Blues People (e.g., Russell Gunn suite)
Quotes
-
"We want poems that kill."
Source: Poem "Black Art" (1965) (1965) -
"The music was the score, the actually expressed creative orchestration, reflection of Afro-American life."
Source: Blues People (Introduction) (1963)
Trivia
- Served in the U.S. Air Force (1954–1957) and was later reported to have received a dishonorable discharge.
- Named Poet Laureate of New Jersey in 2002; controversy over his poem about 9/11 led to public outcry and eventual abolition of the state poet laureate position.
- Co-founded Totem Press and the quarterly magazine Yugen with his first wife Hettie Jones.
- Co-founder of the Black Arts Movement, significantly shaping 1960s Black cultural production.
- His work and statements provoked both acclaim and severe criticism, including accusations of antisemitism, misogyny, and homophobia.