1942-
Amina Baraka is an American poet, actress, author, community organizer, singer, dancer, and activist. She is the mother of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka.
Born Sylvia Robinson, Amina grew up in Newark and attended Arts High School, class of Jan 1961. In 1960, she married Walter Wilson.
In 1963, she was one of the founding members of the Newark Jazz Arts Society. She was a dancer and actress. The Newark News wrote about her performing jazz dance in 1965 at the Newark Museum and in 1966 had a part in a play by LeRoi Jones, her future husband. She was involved in art life at The Loft on Shipman St.
In 1967, she married Jones and they also had their first child. In 1968, they changed their names to Amiri and Amina Baraka, and in the 1960s they created Spirit House at 33 Stirling St.
Amina started the African Free School in Spirit House in 1967, with an African-inspired curriculum. In 1970, they started an experimental program inspired by the school within Robert Treat School, with Amina as principal, with the backing of the Committee for a Unified Newark, founded by Amiri. Amina also founded the Women’s Committee for a Unified Newark. The African Free School added a preschool program by 1972.
In Newark, she was active in the community, for example protesting against school cuts in 1979 and reading her poetry at the Newark Library in the 1980s.
Amina played an active role in the Congress of African People and helped organize their 1974 conference at Rutgers-Newark. Later she joined the Communist Party. In 1992, she founded Kimako’s Blues People with Amiri, a club for music, arts and culture, in the South Ward. In 1995 she organized the first meeting of the Black Women’s United Front.
Amina’s poetry has been published in various collections and she published Songs for the Masses in 1978 and Blues in All Hues in 2014. She also co-edited two books with her husband in 1983, 1987 and 1992. She also released a jazz and blues album in 2017.
Bibliography
“Amina Baraka – Queer Newark”. queer.newark.rutgers.edu.
Barbara J Kukla Papers
Newark Library Digital Collections 1 2
“Amina Baraka”. Rise Up Newark
Phipps, Janice “Kimako’s Blues People” Star Ledger Feb 17, 1989
“Museum Garden to Feature Jazz” Newark News Jul 27, 1965
“Art in the Basement” Newark News Jun 24, 1966
“Veterans Hospital..” Newark News Feb 7, 1965
https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/amina-baraka
“Poet on Trial” New York Amsterdam News Nov 4, 1967
Terrell, Stanley “Newark Classroom…” Star Ledger Sept 20, 1970
“African Free School” New York Amsterdam News Oct 10, 1970
“The Women Take Over Black Journal” New York Amsterdam News Dec 26, 1970
Ancestry.com: Census records and 1959 Arts High yearbook, NJ Marriage Index
Woody, Kenneth “30 Rally…” Star Ledger Mar 17, 1979
“African Free School Sets Preschool” New York Amsterdam News Mar 25, 1972
“Poetry readings” Star Ledger Apr 28, 1983
Bullock, Marilyn “Afrikan women to meet…” Star Ledger Jun 30, 1974