Amiri Baraka Amiri Baraka, also known as LeRoi Jones and Imamu Amiri Baraka, is one of the main leaders and inspirations of the Black Arts Repertory. Born in Newark, NJ, in 1934 to a middle-class family, Baraka attended Rutgers University then transferred to receive his degree from Howard University. Baraka served in the military for three years before settling in Greenwich Village in New York, at the heart of the Beat scene. Baraka began writing seriously and with first wife, Hettie Cohen, founded the influential Beat literary journal, Yugen. Baraka then grew in notority when he won the Obie, awarded by the Village Voice newspaper, an off-Broadway award, for his p