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Amiri Baraka was born Everett Leroy Jones in Newark, New Jersey. His father was a postal supervisor and his mother was a social worker. He went to Barringer High School, before winning a scholarship to attend Rutgers University. However, after one year he transferred to Harvard University and changed his name to LeRoi in homage to the African-American journalist Roi Ottley. LeRoi met his first wife, fellow poet Hetti Jones, while living in Greenwich Village. Hetti’s family initially disapproved of her marrying a black man and refused to support their interracial marriage in 1958. LeRoi and Hetti had two daughters, Kellie and Lisa. While still married to Hetti, LeRoi had a child with another fellow poet, Diane DiPrima. LeRoi and Hetti divorced shortly after and LeRoi moved away from Greenwich Village.

LeRoi married his second wife, Sylvia Robinson (later known as Amina Baraka), in 1966. The following year he converted to Islam and adopted the Bantuized Arabic name Imamu (“spiritual leader�) Ameer (“prince�) Baraka (“blessed�), which he would later amend to become Amiri Baraka. Baraka lost his sister in 1984, after she was stabbed to death in her New York apartment, and his daughter, Shani Baraka, who was killed alongside her partner in 2003. Baraka died in 2014 at the age of 79.

Key Dates & Events

• 1958 - Baraka (named LeRoi at the time) marries fellow poet, Hetti Jones.
• 1960 - Baraka becomes politically radicalized following a trip to Cuba.
• 1965 - Malcolm X is assassinated.
• 1966 - Baraka marries his second wife, Sylvia Robinson (Amina Baraka).
• 1967 - Baraka writes the screenplay for the film adaptation of Dutchman.
• 1982 - Baraka becomes a visiting professor at Columbia University.
• 1984 - Baraka’s sister is killed in New York City.
• 2002 - Baraka is appointed New Jersey’s Poet Laureate, but is later asked to stand down.