Eulogies

Amiri Baraka

For two centuries, the eulogy has been a vital, though rarely studied, form of African-American expression. Whether written by literary artists or delivered by clergymen or community leaders, the eulogy not only recalls and pays tribute to an individual life, it is a commentary on the social context in which that life was lived.

Amiri Baraka, a major African-American writer and poet, has collected in this volume many of the eulogies that he has written and delivered over the last thirty years. The solemnity of his subject matter leads Baraka to meditate on matters both political and spiritual, to examine the status of African-Americans in American society, and ultimately to reflect on the nature of life and death.

Those eulogized by Baraka include political figures (Malcolm X), musicians (John Coltrane, Bob Marley, Miles Davis, and Dizzy Gillespie), writers (James Baldwin), as well as some of Baraka’s own family and relatives. More than just testimonies to important individuals, the commemorations contained in this volume are an affirmation of the contributions and achievements of African-Americans and the community at large.

Amiri Baraka (born Leroy Jones and later changed to LeRoi) grew up in Newark, New Jersey, and moved to New York’s Greenwich Village in the 1950s. He became a seminal figure in the Beat movement, editing the avant-garde literary journals Yugen and Floating Bear, and publishing his first collection of poems, Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note. Since 1965, in the wake of the assassination of Malcolm X, he recommitted his life and work to the African-American community through the Black Arts Repertory Theater School and other cultural and political activities. Baraka has published many books of poetry and prose, and his book Digging, which collects many of his meditations on jazz musicians, is forthcoming from Agincourt Press.