In Memoriam

Amiri Baraka, former poet laureate and author, dead at 79

The controversial writer, activist, and former poet laureate of New Jersey has died.

Published

11 years ago

January 9, 2014

Amiri Baraka (Photo by David Sasaki from San Diego, USA, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons | https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Amiri_Baraka.jpg)

Amiri Baraka, a controversial writer, activist, and former poet laureate of New Jersey has died.

Most known as a poet, Baraka was also a music critic and a dynamic playwright. His play, “Dutchman,” premiered in 1964 and received an Obie Award. Baraka was born Everett LeRio Jones in 1934 in Newark, NJ.

He attended Rutgers University and Howard University, spent three years in the U.S. Air Force, and returned to New York City to attend Columbia University and the New School for Social Research. He was also a professor at several universities.

He was hospitalized in December for an unknown condition.

Amiri Baraka was 79.

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Unheard Voices is an award-winning news magazine that started in 2004 as a newsletter in the Asbury Park, Neptune, and Long Branch, NJ areas to broadening into a recognized Black online media outlet. The company is one of the few outlets dedicated to covering social justice issues. They are the recipient of the NAACP Unsung Hero Award and CV Magazine's Innovator Award for Best Social Justice Communications Company.