Nikki Giovanni
Nikki Giovanni is an influential African American poet, writer, and educator, recognized for her significant contributions to literature and social activism. Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, she was profoundly influenced by her grandparents and her experiences at Fisk University, where she began to shape her literary voice and activism during the civil rights movement. Giovanni emerged as a notable figure in the Black Arts movement of the 1960s, publishing her first poetry collection, "Black Feeling, Black Talk," which established her as a powerful voice addressing issues of black identity and empowerment.
Her extensive body of work spans poetry, prose, and children's literature, with notable collections including "Love Poems" and "A Good Cry." Giovanni has received multiple awards, including NAACP Image Awards and honorary degrees from various institutions. In addition to her writing, she has served as a professor at Virginia Tech, where she has continued to inspire students and audiences with her insights into African American culture and history. Her poetry not only reflects the struggles and joys of Black life but also resonates with a wider audience, making her a vital figure in contemporary literature and activism. Giovanni remains a prominent advocate for education and social justice, committed to holding America accountable to its ideals.
Nikki Giovanni
Poet
- Born: June 7, 1943
- Birthplace: Knoxville, Tennessee
Giovanni is a key figure of the Black Arts movement and a well-known social and political activist. Her work deals with themes of revolution, civil rights, equality, love, and survival. Her canon, stretching back to the 1960s, reflects the sentiments and experiences of Black life, thought, and struggle.
Early Life
Nikki Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her parents, Yolande and Jones “Gus” Giovanni, were social workers. Her grandparents Louvenia and John Brown Watson were enduring influences on Giovanni from her childhood until maturity.
Giovanni writes fondly about her time spent with her grandparents on 400 Mulvaney Street in Knoxville and began her book Gemini (1971), an autobiographical account of her first twenty-five years, by describing the house, the neighborhood, and her relationship with Tennessee. She also attended her grandfather’s alma mater, Fisk University. Her activism and her writing began to take shape during her studies at the historically black college. There, Giovanni published her first article, participated in writing workshops, and graduated magna cum laude in 1967 with a bachelor’s degree in history.
Giovanni also studied at the University of Pennsylvania and the School of Fine Arts at Columbia University, although she did not complete either program. During those years, in the late 1960s, she became active in the civil rights movement. She organized the first Cincinnati Black Arts Festival and helped restore the Fisk chapter of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. At twenty-six, Giovanni published her first book of poetry, Black Feeling, Black Talk (1968), which confronted issues of black identity and established Giovanni as a Black-power revolutionary.
In 1969, Giovanni published her second book, Black Judgment. In August of that year, she gave birth to her son, Thomas Watson Giovanni. Giovanni’s poetry at this time evinces a softer, less militant tone, in part because of motherhood and maturity. One of her most famous poems, “Nikki-Rosa,” is a part of this collection.
Life’s Work
In a career that has spanned approximately half a century, Giovanni’s achievements are varied and vast. As a key figure in the Black Arts movement of the 1960s, her work reflects the spirit of that era and the Black American struggle for equality. In 1995, she was treated for lung cancer but survived to add to her body of work. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) nominated Giovanni for an NAACP Image Award in 1996 for her book The Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni. She won NAACP Image Awards for Love Poems (1997), Blues: For All the Changes (1999), Acolytes (2007), and Hip-Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat (2008).
Giovanni began teaching at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in 1987. She has held the posts of English professor, University Distinguished Professor, Commonwealth Visiting Professor, and Gloria D. Smith Professor of Black Studies. She holds honorary doctorates in the humanities, literature, and humane letters from several academic institutions, including Fisk University, Smith College, and Indiana University. Although she is better known for her poetry, Giovanni also has written prose, essays, and children’s books, and she has edited several anthologies.
Bicycles: Love Poems, published in 2009, was intended as a companion work to Love Poems. The poems in Bicycles deal with loss of loved ones and with the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre. In 2013 Giovanni published Chasing Utopia: A Hybrid, a combination of prose and poetry dealing with food and family relationships, particularly Giovanni's memories of her grandmother, mother, and sister. By the end of the 2010s, she had added a new volume of poetry, A Good Cry: What We Learn from Tears and Laughter (2017), and a children's book, I Am Loved (2018), to her canon. The year 2020 saw her continuing to produce original writing with the publication of the poetry and prose collection Make Me Rain.
Giovanni also performs her writing. By 2010, she had made ten audio recordings, including Stealing Home: For Jackie Robinson (1997) and Legacies (1976). Her album The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection (2002), which includes poems about key figures of the civil rights movement, received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Spoken Word Album. Giovanni has received numerous awards and honors, including being named Woman of the Year by Ladies Home Journal, Ebony, and Mademoiselle magazines. In 2005, Oprah Winfrey honored her as a “living legend.” In 2017 the African Americans on the Move Book Club presented her with its Maya Angelou Lifetime Achievement Award.
Significance
Throughout her career, Giovanni has been a keen observer of Black issues and aspirations. Her work is filled with themes of Black love, Black history, and Black thought, yet it also speaks to a broad audiences beyond Black Americans. Her work is a testament to and a reflection of the tumultuous era in which her career began, and its gradual softening is in line with the changes that have occurred in American society. Committed to education and activism, Giovanni has vowed to hold America to its ideals.
Bibliography
Banks, Sandy. "The Poet Nikki Giovanni Talks about Sea Turtles and Space Travel." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 16 Mar. 2015. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.
Cress, Caitlin. "Nikki Giovanni Talks Space Travel, Hip-Hop and 'Selma.'" Flatland. Public Television 19, 21 Jan. 2015. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.
Giovanni, Nikki. Interview by Tom Lutz. Los Angeles Review of Books. Los Angeles Review of Books, 18 May 2015. Web. 23 Sept. 2015.
Giovanni, Nikki. The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1998. Introduction by Virginia C. Fowler. New York: Morrow, 2003. Print.
Giovanni, Nikki. Gemini: An Extended Autobiographical Statement on My First Twenty-five Years of Being a Black Poet. New York: Penguin, 1971. Print.
Giovanni, Nikki, and Margaret Walker. A Poetic Equation: Conversations Between Nikki Giovanni and Margaret Walker. Washington, DC: Howard UP, 1974. Print.
Harris, Elizabeth A. "Nikki Giovanni, Finding the Song in the Darkest Days." The New York Times, 16 Dec. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/12/16/books/nikki-giovanni-make-me-rain.html. Accessed 20 July 2021.
Perry, Patsy B. “Nikki Giovanni.” Contemporary Poets, Dramatists, Essayists, and Novelists of the South: A Bio-Bibliographical Sourcebook. Ed. Robert Bain and Joseph M. Flora. Westport: Greenwood, 1994. Print.