Amiri Baraka

Amiri Baraka was born in America, the state of New Jersey, in 1934. He is known as the parson who active in many areas. For example, a writer, a thinker, a music critic, a poet. He is also known as Everett Leroi Jones, his other name. He died at 79 years old on January 9 in 2014. When he was a college student, he won a scholarship to Rutgers University in 1951. In 1952, he moved to Howard University and majored in philosophy and religion. In 1954, he took part in US Air Force as a gunner. The same year, he came to like jazz and moved to Greenwich Village for recording music. In 1958 he married Hettei Cohen and published Beat icons. He edited the first 25 issues “Floating Bear” between 1961 and 1963. In 1961, a first book of poem “Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Notes” was published. A volume of jazz criticism “Blues People ; Negro Music in White America” inspired free jazz movement. In 1964, his controversial play “Dutchman” was evaluated highly and he received an Obie Award. In 1984, he became a full professor at Rutgers University. In 1996, he contributed to the AIDS benefit album Offbeat.