Le ROI Jones was the original name for the activist who became Amiri Baraka. He came from the Beat Movement to activism after the assassination of Malcolm X, taking his new name. As a writer, he was able to contribute a literate voice to the civil rights and Black Power movements. This paper will outline those contributions that he made to both of these movements, including founding the Black Arts Movement.

Early Life

Jones was born and raised in Newark and took an interest in both music and writing at an early age. After graduating Howard University with a degree in English in 1954, he joined the Air Force. He was dishonorably discharged and then relocated to Manhattan. He attended Columbia University and became an artist in Greenwich Village, before becoming affiliated with the Beat Movement (Biography, 2014). He married Hettie Cohen and the two started a literary magazine together,...
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