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Poet, essayist, and entrepreneur Haki Madhubuti embodies the true spirit of a renaissance man as he moves seamlessly through the worlds of literature, business and education. Born in Detroit, Michigan and moving to Chicago after his mother's death, Madhubuti would sow the seeds that later led to his success. After graduation from high school, Madhubuti (known then as Don Lee) was drafted into military service, where he used books as his escape. After his tour of duty, he returned to Chicago and immersed himself in the black arts world.

Madhubuti became apprentice and curator at the DuSable Museum of African History in 1963 and worked closely with Margaret Burroughs, a scholar of pan-African history. During the four years he spent at the museum with Burroughs, Madhubuti met some of the most prominent forces in the African American arts community, including Gwendolyn Brooks, who encouraged him to publish a collection of his poetry. The result,Think Black, appeared in 1966 and was entirely self-published and distributed. After selling several hundred copies ofThink Blackwithin a week, Madhubuti realized that the dream of independent publishing -- free from established corporate interests -- could be attained. The following year, Madhubuti and two partners launched the Third World Press in the basement of his Chicago apartment with $400 and a mimeograph machine. In this humble setting, an institution was born.

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