Madhubuti, Haki R.

Haki R. Madhubuti, original name Don Luther Lee, (born February 23, 1942, Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.), African American author, publisher, and teacher who was perhaps best known for his poetry.

Don Luther Lee attended several colleges in Chicago and graduate school at the University of Iowa (M.F.A., 1984); he also served in the U.S. Army (1960–63). He taught at various colleges and universities, in 1984 becoming a faculty member at Chicago State University. His poetry, written in Black dialect and slang, began to appear in the 1960s. His work is characterized both by anger at social and economic injustice and by rejoicing in African American culture. The verse collection Don’t Cry, Scream (1969) includes an introduction by poet Gwendolyn Brooks. Lee’s poetry readings were extremely popular during that time.

In 1967 Lee founded, with Carolyn M. Rodgers and Jewel C. Latimore (later known as Johari Amini), an African American publishing outlet called Third World Press, and in 1969 he established the Institute of Positive Education, a community resource in Chicago that eventually oversaw two schools for Black children. Among his poetry collections published under the Swahili name Haki R. Madhubuti are Book of Life (1973), Killing Memory, Seeking Ancestors (1987), and GroundWork (1996). He also wrote several nonfiction works about African American social issues, including From Plan to Planet—Life Studies: The Need for Afrikan Minds and Institutions (1973), Black Men: Obsolete, Single, Dangerous?: Afrikan American Families in Transition: Essays in Discovery, Solution, and Hope (1990), and Tough Notes: A Healing Call for Creating Exceptional Black Men: Affirmations, Meditations, Readings, and Strategies (2002). The memoir YellowBlack: The First Twenty-One Years of a Poet’s Life was published in 2005.