One of the world’s most well-known African American poets. Yolande Cornelia “Nikki” Giovanni Jr. was born on June 7th, 1943. She grew up in both Knoxville, Tennessee and Cincinnati Ohio. As a child she frequently had colds, sniffles and allergies. Often missing school to read books from the family library.
In 1960, Giovanni enrolled at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, as an early entrant. Intelligent and ambitious to enroll in college before finishing high school. She graduated with a degree in history.
The Civil Rights and Black Arts movement inspired her early poetry. Black Feeling, Black Talk and Black Judgements. All three of these early works aided in establishing Giovanni as a new voice for African Americans. There are some who say if Nikki Giovanni didn’t say it perhaps it didn’t need to be said.
Her poetry includes themes of social issues, race, human relationships, and hip hop.
During the 1970s, she began writing children’s literature, and co-founded a publishing company, NikTom Ltd, to provide an outlet for other African American women writers.
Giovanni has taught at many universities, including Rutgers, Ohio State, and Queens College. She was an Emerita Professor in the Department of English at Virginia Tech since 1987. In 2022 she stepped down to pursue other ventures. The HBO documentary Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project further explores her life.
Throughout her career she was awarded 7 NAACP Image Awards, The Ohio Women’s Hall of fame, and many more honors.
This is real slick .
Nikki would have enjoyed this.
RIP black Goddess!