LeRoi Jones / Amiri Baraka, one of the prime movers of the revolutionary black theatre and the contemporary black arts movement in general, came to the forefront of the American literary scene in the 1960s as a playwright, poet, and essayist. He was born on 7 October 1934 in Newark, New Jersey, to Coyette LeRoi Jones, a postal supervisor, and Anna Lois Russ Jones, a social worker. Jones early in life dreamed of becoming a minister because at that time ministers were the most respected leaders of the black community. Graduating from Barringer High School in 1950 at the age of fifteen, Jones attended the Newark campus of Rutgers University on a science scholarship. After one year, however, he transferred to Howard University, where he received a B.A. degree in English in 1954.

After leaving Howard, Jones served in the Strategic Air Command of the U.S. Air Force (1954-1957). Although stationed...