Dr. Komozi Woodard was born on July 7, 1949, in Newark, NJ. He is the son of Theodore and Helen Collier Woodard. His father was a meatpacker, and his mother was a school teacher. He began his college studies at Dickinson College, where he received his B.A. in 1971. He continued his education at Rutgers University (1984–86) and later attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned his M.A. and Ph.D. Dr. Woodard's dissertation, entitled The Making of Newark: Imamu Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), The Newark Congress of African People, and The Modern Black Convention Movement: A History of the Black Revolt and The New Nationalism, 1966-1976, exemplifies his deep interest in African American history, politics, and culture. His work emphasizes ghetto formation and anti-colonial movements.

Woodard is a professor of American history at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, and the author of A Nation Within: Baraka and Black Power Politics. During the Black Power Movement, Woodard served as head of economic development for the Temple of Kawaida in Newark, New Jersey. He was also the editor of Unity and Struggle, the organ of the Congress of African People, and became the leading academic scholar of Baraka's political career.