Amiri Baraka, one of the country’s preeminent African American poets, playwrights and activists died Thursday at Newark’s Beth Israel Hospital after a brief illness. He was 79.  For more than 60 years, he and his wife Amina Baraka were at the center of African American culture, political thought and activism. Spanning such diverse movements as … Continue reading Amiri Baraka, preeminent poet and activist, dies at age 79