Amiri Baraka (born Everett LeRoi Jones) is a well known African-American writer of fiction, drama, poetry, and music. Along with being a writer, Mr. Baraka is also a political activist and teacher who has given lectures throughout Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States. He was also, for a short time, a member of the United States Air Force. He has appeared in several films as well, usually playing himself.

Born in 1934, in Newark, New Jersey, Mr.Baraka was the son of a lift operator and a social worker. He attended Howard University but left without obtaining a degree and joined the USAF as a gunner. He achieved the rank of Sergeant before in 1957, after only three years of service, he was anonymously accused of being a communist. After an investigation, soviet writings were discovered and Mr. Baraka was promptly discharged from the military. Later that same year, Mr. Baraka got a job in a warehouse for music records which lead to his interest in Jazz. In the late fifties, he and his first wife, Hettie, founded Totem Press, which published Beat icons such as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsburg.

In the early sixties, Mr. Baraka began his writing career with essays and poetry. In 1965, after the assassination of Malcolm X, he left his family and moved to Harlem. At this point he considered himself a “black cultural nationalist” and broke away from the Beats who were predominately white. In 1967, during the time when african names were emphasized, he changed his name to Imamu Amear Baraka. This roughly meant “Prince who is a spiritual leader and a blessing.” He eventually distanced himself from black nationalism and became a Marxist. In 1980, he declared himself an anti-Zionist.

For the rest of his life, he traveled around lecturing at different venues and wrote many works. These were generally perceived as controversial. Many of his works called for acts of violence to be carried out against those who were responsible for the unjust society. They were racist, homophobic, sexist, and violent. He was very open about his hatred of certain people groups, but nevertheless he was an inspiration to many and was placed on a list of the 100 greatest African-Americans. He served as Poet Laureate of New Jersey, contributed to AIDS research, and he received multiple honors during his life including an induction into the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Amiri Baraka died January 9th, 2014 after complications caused by a surgery he had recently had.

(Sources):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amiri_Baraka

http://www.amiribaraka.com/

Kate Chopin was born Katherine O’Flaherty, and was of Irish and French descent. While her tombstone reads that she was born in 1851, Kate Chopin’s baptismal certificate states that she was born February 8^th, 1850. The Library of Congress did not accept the corrected date until September, 2009. Her father died when she was only 5, and she was raised by her mother, her grandmother, and her great-grandmother. She grew up bilingual and had an interest in music as well as literature. She married Oscar Chopin in 1870 and they had 6 children. Unfortunately, Oscar Chopin died just 12 years later of malaria, leaving Kate to raise the 6 children and run his general store. In 1885, her mother died. Due to the lost of her husband and mother, Chopin fell into a depression, and it was recommended by her obstetrician that she take up writing as it was considered therapeutic. In 1889, she began publishing short stories, and her first novel, The Fault, was published privately in 1890. What is now considered her greatest work, The Awakening, was published in 1899 and most critics gave it negative reviews. In 1904, Chopin was attending the St. Louis World’s Fair and suffered from a brain hemorrhage. She died two days later on August 22, 1904. In 1990, Kate Chopin was posthumously awarded with a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame, and she received a bronze bust at the Writer’s Corner in St. Louis, in 2012.