Amiri Baraka a.k.a. LeRoi Jones, is one of the most influential artists of our time. His brand of ethnic and politically charged literature has made a profound impact on American culture and on fellow contemporary American artists. Baraka is praised for works such as, The Dead Lecturer (1964), and for co-editing the magazines, Yugen (1958-1962), and The Floating Bear (1961-1963), but his public debut with the production of his play Dutchman flung him into the spotlight. Baraka is known for imitating his life in his works, and Dutchman is a great example of how he expressed his thoughts of white society through a play. Baraka's beatnik-bohemian lifestyle from 1957-1964 had a direct influence on the characters in Dutchman.
             The term "Beatnik" was coined by Herb Caen of the San Francisco Chronicle on April 2, 1958 as a derogatory term; a reference to the Russian satellite Sputnik. This term stuck and became the popular label associated with a new stereotype of men with goatees and berets playing bongos while women wearing black leotards dance. The term "Bohemian" is defined in The American College Dictionary as "a person with artistic or intellectual tendencies, who lives and acts with no regard for conventional rules of behavior." Being both a beatnik and a bohemian, Baraka dared to be different. He pushed the envelope on racial and political issues, and sometimes caught a lot of hell for it.
             In Dutchman, the protagonist, Clay, represents the black revolutionary spirit that Baraka possessed when he wrote the play. Like Baraka, at the time, Clay was a young black man living in the big city. Clay was associated with the black revolution but he had not yet learned to tame the wild spirit that pumped through his veins. He was a mild mannered, sophisticated young man, much like Baraka.
             The antagonist, Lula, represents white society as a whole. She is a beautiful woman with long red hair
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