“Writing is what I do to justify the air I breathe,” a lucid statement from the exceptionally clever and widely read poet, speaker, author, and educator known as Nikki Giovanni. This living legend first rose to prominence in the 1970s, after the self-publication of her book debut, Black Feeling, Black Talk. Hailed as the “Princess of Black Poetry,” Nikki provided a voice for the black experience. She has been named “Women of the Year” by Ebony Magazine, Mademoiselle Magazine, and Ladies Home Journal . She is a five-time bestselling author, whose resume of 27 books continues to shape conversations among diverse audiences. In essence, Nikki Giovanni holds a wide range of honors and awards which include The Rosa Parks Women of Courage Award, seven NAACP Image Awards and twenty-seven honorary degrees.
Born on June 7, 1943 to Knoxville College graduates Gus and Yolanda Giovanni at Old Knoxille General Hospital, she was the younger of two daughters in a close-knit family. Her name at birth was Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, Jr, however, during the first three years of her life, her older sister (Gary Ann Giovanni) began calling her “Nikki.”
During Nikki’s childhood, the family would make frequent visits to their grandparents’ home in Knoxville. It was during this period she gained an intense appreciation for black culture and heritage from her grandmother. This early exposure to the power of spoken language influenced Nikki’s career as a poet and engendered her sophisticated use of vernacular speech.
In 1947 at the age of four, she moved with her parents from Knoxville to a predominantly black suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio. In spite of the distance, she remained close to her grandmother. During her formative years, academics presented no problem to her, therefore she swiftly excelled. By the time she reached high school, both her French and English teachers persuaded her to apply for early college admission. In 1960, she enrolled in the early entrance program at Fisk University, her grandfather’s Alma Mater.
By early fall, a young, freethinking Nikki matriculated to Fisk University. Wholly unaware of the staunch conservatism embedded in this small HBCU, nearly at the outset of campus life, she found conflict with the Dean of Women, Ann Cheatam. The Dean’s ideas about the behavior and attitudes appropriate to a Fisk woman were diametrically opposed to Nikki’s ideas about the intellectual seriousness and political awareness appropriate to a college student. Unfortunately, the perpetual discord lead to Nikki’s expulsion. On February 1, 1961, Nikki was expelled from Fisk after attending one semester.
After a few years precede by, Nikki decided to visit the University again for possible re-enrollment. During this time, the former Dean Cheatam had a new replacement Blanche McConnell Cowan, whose personality was opposite of her predecessor’s. Dean Cowan purged the file in which Dean Cheatam gathered on Nikki and encourages her to come back to Fisk. In the fall of 1964, Nikki returned to campus, majoring in history. With much support from Dean Cowan, Nikki strived academically and became a leader on campus. She re-established the campus chapter of SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee). In addition, she attended writing workshops, and published various essays in Negro Digest on gender questions in the Movement.
In 1967, after graduating with honors from Fisk University , she returned to Cincinnati and established the city’s first Black Arts Festival. During this period, she began writing poems that are included in her first self-published volume, Black Feeling, Black Talk (1968). The following year she moved to New York.
In 1969, she found work as a teacher at Queens College. As a way to promote her second book Black Judgement, she hosted a highly successful Book-party at Birdland (the New York City jazz club) where she gave her first public reading. The event attracted hundreds of people and made the next day’s publication of The New York Times. As a result of the article, Nikki began receiving widespread attention from the media and multiple invitations to read and speak. In April of the same year, The New York Times featured her in an article entitled “Renaissance in Black Poetry Expresses Anger.” The Amsterdam News named her one of the ten “most admired black women.”
By the mid-1970s, she established herself as one of the leading poetic voices and has become one of America’s most widely read poets. Her autobiography Gemini was a finalist for the National Book Award, and several of her books have received NAACP Image Awards. Oprah Winfrey named her as one of her twenty-five “Living Legends.” She has received about twenty-five honorary degrees, in addition to being named Woman of the Year by Mademoiselle Magazine, The Ladies Home Journal and Ebony. She was the first recipient of the Rosa L. Parks Woman of Courage Award, and has been awarded the Langston Hughes Medal for poetry.
Nikki Giovanni is one of the world’s most well-known black poets. She presently resides in Christiansburg, Virginia. She is a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech in Blackburg, Virginia where she English.
Books & Poems:
For a comprehensive list of Nikki Giovanni’s published works, please visit: nikki-giovanni.com
Poems: Dreams, Mothers, Nikki-Rosa, Ego Tripping, BLK History Month, Legacies
Awards & Honors:
The Rosa Parks Women of Courage Award (first recipient)
Seven NAACP Image Awards
Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word Album
National Book Award nomination for Gemini
Parents’ Choice Award for The Sun Is So Quiet
The New York Times Best Seller’s List – 3 times
Legends and Legacies Award
The Langston Hughes Award
The Gwendolyn Brooks Award
Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech
Presidential Medal of Honor, Dillard University
Keys to more than two dozen American cities, including New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and New Orleans
Life Membership & Scroll, The National Council of Negro Women
Named one of Oprah Winfrey’s 25 Living Legends
Phi Beta Kappa
State Historical markers in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Lincoln Heights, Ohio
The Tennessee Governor’s Award in the Arts
Tennessee Governor’s Award In the Humanities
Virginia Governor’s Award for the Arts
Woman of the Year, Ebony Magazine
Woman of the Year, Ladies Home Journal
Woman of the Year, Mademoiselle Magazine
American Book Award
Caldecott Honor Book Award
Carl Sandburg Literary Award
Moonbeam Children’s Book Award
Tennessee Writer’s Award, The Nashville Banner
The Appalachian Medallion Award
The East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame Award
ALC Lifetime Achievement Award
Art Sanctuary’s Lifetime Achievement Award
Artist-in-Residence. The Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts
Distinguished Visiting Professor, Johnson & Wales University
Duncanson Artist in Residence, The Taft Museum
Poet-In-Residence, Walt Whitman Birthplace Association
The Cecil H. and Ida Green Honors Chair, Texas Christian University
The Hill Visiting Professor, University of Minnesota
Sankofa Freedom Award
The Legacy Award, National Alumni Council United Negro College Fund
The Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame
2000 Council of Ideas, The Gihon Foundation
A species of bat named in her honor (Micronycteris giovanniae)
Affrilachian Award
American Library Association’s Black Caucus Award for Non-fiction
Ann Fralin Award
Child Magazine Best Children’s Book of the Year
Cincinnati Bi-Centennial Honoree
Excellence in Leadership Award from Dominion Power
The SHero Award for Lifetime Achievement
United States Senate Certificate of Commendation
Woman of the Year, Cincinnati YWCA
Women of Power Legacy Award
Quotes:
“If you don’t understand yourself you don’t understand anybody else.”
“We love because it’s the only true adventure.”
“Black love is black wealth”
“I come from a long line of storytellers”
“Nothing is easy to the unwilling.”
“I want to be clear about this. If you wrote from experience, you’d get maybe one book, maybe three poems. Writers write from empathy.”
“Mistakes are a fact of life: It is the response to the error that counts.”
“A lot of people refuse to do things because they don’t want to go naked, don’t want to go without guarantee. But that’s what’s got to happen. You go naked until you die”
“You must be unintimidated by your own thoughts because if you write with someone looking over you shoulder, you’ll never write.”
Sources:
Nikki Giovanni
https://www.nikki-giovanni.com/
Poetry Foundation
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/nikki-giovanni
Biography
https://www.biography.com/writer/nikki-giovanni
Macmillan Publishers
New Haven Register
https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Princess-of-Black-Poetry-Nikki-Giovanni-speaks-11553009.php
Credits:
ReCreate Model: Angela Howze
ReCreated Photographer: Jasmine Y. Williams nka Jasmine Y. Mallory
Photo Edits: Jasmine Y. Mallory and Ciara Kelley
