Tom Dent played a central role in cultivating African American literary circles in New Orleans during the Black Power Era. As the Black Arts movement gained momentum in New Orleans, particularly through the activities of Tom Dent, music served as an initial model and spur; Dent was instrumental in the rise of The Free Southern Theater in the city, too, just as his leadership of writing workshops attracted visits from Toni Morrison and James Baldwin, to name a few. His reputation spread, moreover, through his role in the literary magazine, Nkombo, and finally with the emergence of his most famous work, Ritual Murder, which addresses the pervasive problem violence within the African American community. Given Dent’s singular importance to African American New Orleans and the worldwide significance of the latter to the twentieth century, the essay appeals for a renewed interest in Dent’s career.