Amiri Baraka was born and raised in Newark New Jersey. He was raised in an environment of black culture in a period where racism was very rampant in America. As he grew up, he got to notice the different practices that the two races were engaged in. for instance the difference in their faith expression in the church from that of the white people. After high school, he went to Howard University which was one of the main institutions where black people could study. He however realized that the studying that was there was not entirely as he thought it would be. Black people were not allowed to act as they normally would but were expected to behave in ways that were only acceptable to the white people both in the school and the society. He however only saw the reality of racism when he joined the army. Here it was emphasized just how inferior black people were. He therefore took into reading during most of his time which then became a habit he could not break from .
Amiri Baraka was greatly shocked by the status of his race in the environment that he had grown up in. He therefore became very interested in trying to educate people and change the way of living and how the black people viewed their own race. In so doing, he became greatly involved in the positively publicizing the black culture. He is mainly known for the poetic display he achieved that led to the success of the black arts movement that greatly influenced the perception of blacks towards themselves compared to the white race. The main goal and objective of founding the movement and doing all his exemplary writing a midst the highest possible resistance by the white people was because he saw the need to change the position the black people were in. he considered it oppression and actively aimed at issues like racism, national oppression colonialism and also issues of self esteem and self worth by advocating for human liberation.
After being discharged from the army, Amiri Baraka moved to the village where he was greatly acquainted with black music which mainly consisted of jazz. Amiri Baraka had attained quite a good exposure to jazz when he was growing up. He had also increased his exposure at Howard University and now in the village. The village was rich with unique and original talent that made it easier for him to study jazz. Like all other fields of the black American culture, there was discrimination even in the music industry. According to Jerry Gafio Watts, no matter how talented a black man would have been, they barely made a decent living while less talented white musicians were very successful. Music was therefore a factor that affected the growth of Amiri Baraka in his career and perceptions. This interested him to write reviews about music and eventually led him to write essays about jazz. One of these is “The Jazz Avant-Garde” in this essay he acknowledged that it was possible for black jazz music to be influenced by European music because the factors that led to the development of the music were in many cases similar. He therefore was in the opinion that jazz music should not have a standard identification according to the European standards but that it should be identified using the specific sub cultural group responsible for the creation of that particular music.
Having witnessed the deep depression that black people were experiencing in the navy and everywhere he looked, he tried to portray the feeling that these people went through when they were convinced of their worthlessness by their oppressors. He tries to show and explain the feeling of utter hopelessness that black people endured. This he did in his poem “Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note”. In this poem he speaks like a person who has resigned to his fate and not trying to run from it. He shows such devastating loneliness and solitude that could lead one to madness. In this poem he refers to the earth opening up and swallowing him meaning he was not afraid to die but was rather waiting and longing to die. This resignation and depression could be attributed to lack of means and ways to change a situation that affects one adversely. He speaks like a person losing a war or a person with no friends, family or even anyone to turn to. He spoke as a person losing a battle against the entire world alone. This poem illustrates just how much black people were bullied in believing that they were actually inferior and also just how much the white people believed in their superiority. This created a situation where Amiri was bound to feel hopeless as it was a situation that may have seemed universal at the time. The poem can therefore be interpreted to depict the situation of the oppressed black American population or the hopelessness that Amiri Baraka may have felt while trying to change a perception in the entire country. It must have felt like he was alone against the world.
This however was not the only approach of this legendary poet. On the contrary he was more concerned with being an activist and influencing all sectors of the society including the government to embrace equality and even hoped to influence the entire world with his work. This can be elaborated by using some of his more compelling, positive and uplifting poems like “A poem For Black Hearts”. Though this poem was inspired by the unfortunate death of Malcolm X, it displays a great will to fight for the rights of black people. Amiri Baraka emphasized on the great loss that the black community had suffered by losing a man who was so intent on fighting for their rights. In this poem he bids the black people to stand up and fight for their rights. He encouraged them to stop their stuttering and pick on where Malcolm had left off when he died. His feelings on this subject were so strong that he bid them to swear vengeance for Malcolm’s death. He bid them to never rest until this was done and resigned to be forever oppressed, looked down upon, and insulted by the whites if this did not come to pass. It is in this piece that we see the true passion that Amiri Baraka had to free the black American population. It also helps to view what his beliefs really were. What rights he believed belonged to the black American population and what he believed would be justice after the unfortunate things that had taken place in the country.
Around that period of Malcolm’s death, Leroi Jones changed his name to Amiri Baraka as he is now famously known. Perhaps this was to signify a new beginning for a more active movement which he now aspired to take to greater heights and eventually lead to the influence of the entire world and obtain justice for all the vices that were being inflicted on the black race. It was in his opinion that having experienced so much on this world, both good and bad, it is impossible for a human being to remain the same over the years. It can therefore be perceived that his change of name definitely represented the changes he had undergone throughout his entire life and also to act as a reminder of the path he was taking his movement in order to attain the goals they had set.
Though in the black movement poetry was the main way that radicals used to publicize their intentions and inspire action from the black people, this was not the only way that was used. According to writers Lisa Gail Collins and Margo Crawford, photography was one of the most neglected genres of the black arts movement. However, this does not mean that it was never used. Amiri Baraka was very much interested in photography which was greatly influential in publicizing their mission especially in Chicago. After befriending Fundi Aberthany found a way to fuse their special attributes together. This alliance led to the production of “In Our Terribleness” which was an “image text”. This meant that it was a perfect fusion of photographs and images to facilitate the communication of a message to the audience. This proved to be a great success. Amiri Baraka therefore continued to do more of these even with other photographers like Roy DeCarava. The use of photographs greatly spread both the identity of the photographer and Amiri Baraka, but also promoted a sense of unity and pride among the black people. These photographs were used to give faces to the people for whom the rights were being fought for. It made the claims appear more substantial especially to the white community.
Amiri Baraka was and always will be a hero to the revolution of the societal standards that have changed so dramatically today. He diversified from poems and image texts to novels and plays. Amiri Baraka is committed to social justice and humanity. He has also used his skills to pass knowledge to subsequent generations through teaching in universities like Yale, Columbia among others. This is one of the most important actions he may have done for the country yet. Propagation of knowledge and history by a person who has lived the history itself is very rare and also very important. He and his work have become major topics in documentaries and other media story lines over the years. He has been honored with many awards for his legendary work that has led to the America we see today. It is therefore safe to conclude that his works have more than achieved their intended purpose and not only changed America but also the rest of the world.
Works Cited
Collins, L. G., Crawford, M. New Thoughts on The Black Arts Movement. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2006.
Lee, M. A. The Aesthetics of LeRoi Jones/ Amiri Baraka: The Rebel Poet. Valencia: Universitat de Valencia, 2011.
Parini, J. The Wadsworth Anthology of Poetry. Stamford, Conneticut: Cengage Learning, 2005.
Poet Playwright Activist. Amiri Baraka. 2012. November 27 2012
Watts, J. G. Amiri Baraka: The Politics and Art of a Black Intellectual. New York: NYU Press, 2001.
