about positive change for our people. We stress the
development of our bodies, minds, souls, and con-
sciousness. Our commitment is to self-determina-
tion, self-defense, and self-respect for our race.”
From 1970 to 1978 Madhubuti was a writer-in-
residence at Howard University. There he produced
We Walk the Way of the New World (1970) and Di-
rectionscore (1971); in 1971 he sold more books of
poetry than any black poet who came before him.
He actively invested his efforts and influence into
the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
(SNCC), the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE),
and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
(SCLC). During this formative period, in 1973, he
renamed himself and began writing as Madhubuti,
Swahili for “justice, awakening, strong.” His 1973
collection, Book of Life, bears this new name
(Mwalimu Haki R. Madhubuti).
Madhubuti is hailed as one of the leading Black
Nation builders. His political, field, and academic
work mingles him with many profound artists
and authors, including LARRY NEAL, with whom
he created a forum for book reviews for the work
of African-American writers. This effort produced
The Black Books Bulletin, published quarterly for
eight years as an important resource for reviews
on Black Arts authors. Madhubuti published Book
of Life (1973), followed by Earthquakes and Sun-
rise Missions (1984), and Killing Memory, Seeking
Ancestors (1987). In the interim, he continued to
publish political essays and received an M.F.A.
from the University of Iowa. Madhubuti returned
to Chicago in 1984 to become a faculty member
at Chicago State University, where he is a profes-
sor of English and director of the Gwendolyn
Brooks Center.
In the record of Madhubuti’s life, one sees the
drive behind his poetry. Brooks described his
work as “a razor; it’s sharp and will cut deep, not
out to wound but to kill the inactive Black mind”
(“Haki Madhubuti”). Liz Gant observed, “his lines
rumble like a street gang on the page,... his star-
tling metaphor, variations of refrain, unexpected
turns-of-phrases, wordplay, and staccato repeti-
tions combine to produce an impact that keeps
audiences spellbound” (“Haki Madhubuti”). Per-
haps best known for his poem “But He Was Cool
or: he even stopped for green lights” (from Don’t
Cry, Scream), Madhubuti is ever concerned with
the evolution of black souls, especially those of
black men. His recent Tough Notes: A Healing Call
(2002) responds, he says, “to the hundreds of let-
ters, notes and telephone calls I have received over
the years from prisoners and students—mainly
young black men (many without caring or existing
fathers), seeking guidance and a kind word” (pref-
ace). Tough Notes responds intimately to the read-
ership he addresses with paternal admonition and
sensitive scolding in Black Men: Obsolete, Single,
Dangerous? (1990). These widely read books (Black
Men has sold in excess of 750,000 copies) attempt,
says one critic, “to give all Blacks a sense of unity,
purpose, and direction, so that they may finally
finish their ‘history’ on a successful note” (“Haki
Madhubuti”). His street-style vernacular, staccato
rhythms, and rough truth demand attention and
speak to whiteness, while charting an evolution for
black Americans into more conscious, self-deter-
mined activity.
As an independent black publisher, Madhubuti
addresses the constant problems of access afforded
to white privilege in America, especially in busi-
ness, and sends a call to the African-American
community to increase support.
Madhubuti has received the Distinguished
Writers Award from the Middle Atlantic Writers
Association in 1984 and the Paul Robeson Award
from the African-American Arts Alliance. He has
received fellowships from both the National En-
dowment for the Arts and the National Endow-
ment for the Humanities.BIBLIOGRAPHY
Gladney, Marvin J. “The Black Arts Movement and
Hip-Hop.” African-American Review 29, no. 2
(1995): 291–301.
Golden, Lizzie Thomas. “Change and Duality: Black
Poetry and the 1960s.” Journal of Black Studies 12,
no. 1 (1981): 91–106.
“Haki Madhubuti.” Available online. URL: http://www.
coas.howard.edu/english/legends=Madhubuti.
html. Accessed February 14, 2007.326 Madhubuti, Haki