Amiri Baraka, a seminal Beat poet, angry playwright, revolutionary activist and scrappy indie publisher from Newark, New Jersey has died. The Allen Ginsberg Project blog has the scoop. Here’s a Litkicks article about Amiri Baraka by Jamelah Earle from 2003.
Please feel free to share your memories or personal encounters … Read the rest
… Read the restWith all this acting experience behind me, Shelton thought I was ready for a crack at the movies. Not Hollywood, just Astoria, Long Island. He got me a part out there playing mob scenes in a picture with Paul Robeson. From that I got a real part in a short
As Black History Month winds to a close, I thought I’d focus my attention on some of the work I’m familiar with that’s either by African American writers, or in some way has to do with civil rights.
— The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: or, Gustavus … Read the rest
Poet Gwendolyn Brooks (1917-2000) was born on June 7th in Topeka, Kansas. Brooks’ family moved to Chicago when she was very young and she remained there for much of her life, later becoming a frequent contributor to local and regional publications and programs. She was chosen as the Illinois Poet … Read the rest
“Hang yourself, poet, in your own words.
Otherwise, you are dead.”
Langston Hughes was one of the major voices of the Harlem Renaissance. He blended the literary freedom of American writers such as Walt Whitman and Carl Sandburg with the rhythms of blues and jazz, and spoke honestly … Read the rest
Amiri Baraka was born Everett LeRoy Jones on October 7, 1934 in Newark, New Jersey to Coyette (“Coyt”) LeRoy Jones and Anna Lois Jones. He graduated from high school with honors in 1951 and began attending Rutgers University, only to transfer to Howard University in 1952. It was also in … Read the rest
“It was a time for sitting on porches beside the road … Mules and other brutes had occupied their skins … the sun and the bossman were gone, so the sins felt powerful and human.” This was the first generation of blacks born free, free from the bonds of slavery … Read the rest
Writing about Zora Neale Hurston is a bit of a challenge. She began publishing her short stories in periodicals during the Harlem Renaissance, but didn’t publish her major novels until the 1930’s. Her age varied according to what she felt like saying at the time. She was bold and … Read the rest
Richard Wright’s ‘Native Son’ is classic protest literature. It ranks alongside great works like ‘Grapes of Wrath’ by John Steinbeck. It is a book with an agenda, but it expresses a deep sympathy for humanity. It is Richard Wright’s most celebrated work (though his autobiography ‘Black Boy’ has also won … Read the rest