LeRoi Jones adopted the name Amiri Baraka in 1968 after becoming associated with Black nationalism.
Jones had been an important figure in the Beat and avant-garde literary worlds, editing the journal Yugen and participating in New York’s downtown poetry scene. His early work was connected to Beat writers, but his politics and artistic priorities changed sharply after the assassination of Malcolm X in 1965.
In 1968, he adopted the name Imamu Amiri Baraka; he later dropped “Imamu” and became widely known as Amiri Baraka. The name change marked a broader transformation in his writing, political activism, and involvement in Black Arts Movement institutions.
Readers sometimes treat “LeRoi Jones” and “Amiri Baraka” as separate writers. They are names used by the same person at different stages of his career. His later work focused strongly on Black identity, liberation, cultural institutions, and revolutionary politics.