The Civil Rights History Project: Survey of Collections and Repositories

Komozi Woodard Amiri Baraka collection

Repository: Auburn Avenue Research Library on African-American Culture and History

Collection Description (Extant): Dr. Komozi Woodard was born July 7, 1949 in Newark, NJ. He is the son Theodore and Helen Collier Woodard. His father was a meatpacker and his mother a school teacher. He began his college work at Dickinson College where her received his B.A. in 1971 He continued at Rutgers University (1984-86). Woodard also attended the University of Pennsylvania where he received his M.A., and Ph.D. Dr Woodard's dissertation which is entitled "The Making of the NewArk: Imamu Amiri Baraka (Leroi Jones) The Newark Congress of African People, and The Modern Black Convention Movement: A History of the Black Revolt and The New Nationalism, 1966-1976" exemplifies Dr. Woodard's tremendous interest in African American history, politics, and culture. He places an emphasis on ghetto formation and anti-colonial movements. Woodard is professor of American history at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York and the author of A Nation Within: Baraka and Black Power Politics. During the Black Power Movement, Woodard served as head of economic development for the Temple of Kawaida in Newark, New Jersey, as editor of Unity and Struggle, the organ of the Congress of African People; and ultimately as the leading academic scholar of Baraka's political career.

This collection of Amiri Baraka materials was made available by Dr. Komozi Woodard. The collection consists of rare works of poetry, organizational records, print publications, over one hundred articles, poems, plays, and speeches by Baraka, a small amount of personal correspondence, and oral histories. The collection has been arranged into eighteen series. These series are: (1) Black Arts Movement; (2) Black Nationalism; (3) Correspondence; (4) Newark (New Jersey); (5) Congress of African People; (6) National Black Conferences and National Black Assembly; (7) Black Women's United Front; (8) Student Organization for Black Unity; (9) African Liberation Support Committee; (10) Revolutionary Communist League; (11) African Socialism; (12) Black Marxists; (13) National Black United Front; (14) Miscellaneous Materials, 1978-1988; (15) Serial Publications; (16) Oral Histories; (17) Woodard's Office Files; and (18) Audio Visual. Dr. Woodard collected these documents during his career as an activist in Newark, New Jersey.

Date(s): 1913-1998

Existing IDs: aarl01-001

Finding Aid URL: http://dbs.galib.uga.edu/aafa/html/aafa_aarl01-001.html

Language: English

Interviewees: Amiri Baraka, Eugene Campbell, John Henrik Clarke, Vicki Garvin, Larry Hamm (Adhimu Chunga), Wilnora Holman, Maulana Ron Karenga, Baba Mshauri (Russell Bingham), Paul Sanders Nakawa, Saidi Nguvu, Bill Reynolds, Salimu (Nettle Rogers), Taalamu (Tim Holliday), Donald Tucker, Honey Ward, Richard Wesley

Rights (CRHP): Contact the repository which holds the collection for information on rights

Subjects:

African American political activists
African Americans--New Jersey
Baraka, Imamu Amiri, 1934-
Black nationalism
Black power

Genres:

Interviews
Transcripts