Hettie Jones, nee Cohen, was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1934 to a middle-class Jewish family. After completing her B.A. in drama from Mary Washington College, Jones returned to New York and became part of the burgeoning Beat Movement as well as the Black Arts Movement. Married to LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka) in 1958, with whom she has two daughters, they were divorced in 1966 due in part to the pressure of being a biracial couple during the 1960s. LeRoi’s political and artistic leanings beginning to sway toward the radical Black Art Movement, as well as his infidelity (including with Diane di Prima, another female Beat poet of the period) also contributed to the divorce. With LeRoi, Jones produced and published
Yugen, a literary magazine from 1957 until 1963. Acting as typesetter and…
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Citation: Anderson, Jill E.. "Hettie Jones". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 September 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12977, accessed 31 October 2024.]
