Amiri Baraka

CTL-E-6210 · Person · writer · 1934–2014

VERIFIED evidence grade — master store (canonical CSV)

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-03358 · provenance: canonical master store (CSV), record CTL-P-1288 + build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6210. Master record source: CTL seed 2026-10-16 — UNVERIFIED, verify before public citation.

Amiri Baraka, born Everett LeRoi Jones in Newark, New Jersey, on October 7, 1934, was a poet, playwright, and critic whose work presented the experiences and anger of Black Americans in a white-dominated society. After study at Rutgers and Howard and service in the U.S. Air Force, he settled in New York's Beat literary scene, founded the poetry magazine Yugen in 1958, and published his first major poetry collection in 1961. His play Dutchman, produced in 1964, won the Obie Award for best Off-Broadway American play. After the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965, he moved to Harlem, founded the Black Arts Repertory Theatre, and became a leading voice of the Black Arts Movement; he adopted the name Amiri Baraka in 1968. His books include Blues People in 1963 and Black Magic in 1969. He later taught at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, served as New Jersey's poet laureate in 2002, and died in Newark on January 9, 2014.

The record

• Also known as: LeRoi Jones, Everett LeRoi Jones, Imamu Amiri Baraka
• Role(s): author

Notes

Staged 2026-10-16 under CTL-GOV-006 (Scan Tail Wave 6 — 747 Program, Wave 13; sixth Scan Tail packet at the founder’s 40-record size). Gate A (2026-10-16): Gate A CLEAR (script + hand-checked 2026-10-16): no Amiri Baraka entity, alias, or variant in the live graph (3,910 entities). ID CTL-E-6210 free at staging. Supply: 747 Supply Ledger — scan string #2344 (corpus-gap-candidates-2026-10-15.json), banked in the Scan Tail Wave 5 reserve (Appendix E), re-screened CLEAR against the live graph at 3,910 entities by this wave. The supply supplied the name only; every fact is sourced under CTL-GOV-004. SCOPE GATE: Founder-figure of the Black Arts Movement, the cultural arm of Black Power, whose Blues People is a foundational text for CTL's Black music writing; in scope as a literary and movement architect. Vital status: DECEASED — born October 7, 1934, in Newark, New Jersey; died January 9, 2014, in Newark, per Britannica, corroborated by the Watts Times obituary column (died January 9, aged 79). STATISTICS — Dutchman won the 1964 Obie Award for best Off-Broadway American play (both opened sources). Founded Black Arts Repertory Theatre in Harlem in 1965 (Britannica); the Watts Times column describes him as co-founding the Black Arts Movement in Harlem in 1965 — a wording difference (theatre vs. movement), shown here, not blended. New Jersey poet laureate 2002 (both sources); post later abolished after the 2001 poem controversy (Britannica). More than 50 books claimed in a search-result biography was not opened and is not asserted. MEDIA: photo HELD (A 1960s photograph of Baraka at the Black Arts Repertory Theatre in Harlem is a plausible candidate; no license is claimed and a file-level PHOTO-001 record is required.); chart FILLED (charts/chart-ctl-e-6210-amiri-baraka.svg); video HELD (no matching-entity CTL Short found; near-miss: none titled for Baraka.); audio HELD (no rights-cleared matching-entity audio staged); map N/A. MEDIA LAYER (staged 2026-10-16; full per-asset PHOTO-001 records + embed specs in the packet's staged JSON, Drive packet folder): map = N/A (Person records carry no map slot; maps attach to places and institutions.) | visual_assets = HELD: | chart = FILLED (CTL-created chart (black / deep red / gold) built only from this record’s sourced statistics and timeline fact) | video = HELD (no matching-entity CTL Short found; near-miss: none titled for Baraka.) | audio = HELD (HELD: No CTL-owned or rights-cleared matching-entity audio exists at staging.)

Relationships

• Black Arts Movement — related to
  Baraka was a leading figure of the Black Arts Movement and founded its Harlem repertory theatre in 1965.
• Harlem — based in
  Baraka moved to Harlem in 1965 and founded the Black Arts Repertory Theatre there.

Referenced by

• The Dutchman — authored by → this record

Sources

• Encyclopaedia Britannica — Amiri Baraka (accessed 2026-10-16) — Birth and death dates and places in Newark, education and Air Force service, Yugen founding 1958, 1961 poetry collection, Dutchman and its 1964 Obie Award, 1965 move to Harlem and Black Arts Repertory Theatre founding, 1968 name adoption, major works, Stony Brook teaching, and the abolished New Jersey poet laureate post. — https://www.britannica.com/biography/Amiri-Baraka (primary source · build store)
• Los Angeles Watts Times (NNPA column by Marc H. Morial, National Urban League) — The life and legacy of Amiri Baraka (accessed 2026-10-16) — Death on January 9, 2014, at 79; Blues People (1963) as a classroom classic; name change in 1968; Dutchman Obie Award 1964; co-founding role in the Black Arts Movement in Harlem in 1965; New Jersey poet laureate in 2002; American Academy of Arts and Letters induction in 1995; funeral attendance over 3,000. — https://mail.lawattstimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2116:to-be-equal-the-life-and-legacy-of-amiri-baraka&catid=25&Itemid=121&tmpl=component&print=1&layout=default&page= (build store)
• https://poets.org/poet/amiri-baraka (verification source · master store)

Evidence note (master store)

Amiri Baraka (born Everett LeRoi Jones in Newark, New Jersey, on October 7, 1934; died January 9, 2014, in Newark) was a poet and playwright, author of Blues People: Negro Music in White America (1963); his play Dutchman (1964) won an Obie Award for best off-Broadway play (Academy of American Poets).

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Record CTL-E-6210 · Combined Graph record U-03358 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 3 sources · 3 mapped relationships.
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