• October 7, 1934 — Amiri Baraka, author of poetry, plays, music criticism, essays and novels, was born Everett LeRoi Jones in Newark, New Jersey. Jones studied philosophy and religious studies in college but did not obtain a degree. In 1954, he joined the United States Air Force, reaching the rank of sergeant before he was accused of being a communist and dishonorably discharged. In 1963, Jones published “Blues People: Negro Music in White America” which is considered one of the most influential volumes of jazz criticism and in 1964 his play “Dutchman” premiered and went on to win the off-Broadway Theater Award for Best American Play. In 1967, Jones adopted the name Imamu Amear Baraka which he later changed to Amiri Baraka. In 1979, Baraka became a lecturer at the State University of New York and in 1984 a full professor at Rutgers University. Other works by Baraka include “The System of Dante’s Hell” (1965), “The Motion of History and Other Plays” (1978), and “Tales of the Out & the Gone” (2006). He published his autobiography, “The Autobiography of LeRoi Jones/Amiri Baraka,” in 1984. In 1989, he won an American Book Award and a Langston Hughes Award for his works. In 1999, he was named Poet Laureate of New Jersey. Baraka has received honors from a number of foundations, including fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation Award for Drama, induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Before Columbus Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award.
>via: http://thewright.org/explore/blog/entry/today-in-black-history-1072012
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AMIRI BARAKA