Nikki Giovanni, one of the most famous and recognizable Black poets, has passed away at the age of 81. Giovanni died on Monday, Dec. 9, following her third cancer diagnosis, according to a statement from friend and author Renée Watson. “We will forever be grateful for the unconditional time she gave to us, to all her literary children across the writerly world,” said poet Kwame Alexander in the statement.
Giovanni has been published in many poetry anthologies, released several poetry recordings, nonfiction essays, children’s books, and several essays analyzing race, class, sexism, and other social issues. She has been awarded an unprecedented seven NAACP Image Awards, and has been nominated for a Grammy. She has also been a finalist for the National Book Award, and authored three New York Times and Los Angeles Times Best Sellers.
Born Yolanda Cornelia Giovanni, Jr., on June 7, 1943, in Knoxville, Tennessee, Giovanni published her first poetry collection, Black Feeling Black Talk, in 1968. It established her as an emerging figure out of the Black Arts Movement. In it, Giovanni writes about the intersections of love, politics, loneliness and race. Her language is sometimes spare and longing, other times dense and righteous. The final lines in “Word Poem” read, “let’s build / what we become /when we dream.”
Though she grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and its surrounding suburbs, she returned to Nashville to attend Fisk University for college. There, she met other writers who’d become leading Black literary figures – Dudley Randall, Margaret Walker, Amiri Baraka and more. While at Fisk, she also re-established the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
As her writing career took off, Giovanni became a regular guest on Soul!, a Black arts and culture talk show on WNET. Her conversation with the acclaimed writer James Baldwin came on the heels of being named “Woman of the Year” by both Ebony magazine and Mademoiselle.
Giovanni eventually found her way to Virginia Tech, teaching English for more than three decades. There, she expressed concerns about one of her students. He’d go on to murder 32 people in the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007. Speaking about the shooting, Giovanni told NPR, “Killing is a lack of creation. It’s a lack of imagination. It’s a lack of understanding who you are and your place in the world. Life is an interesting and a good idea.”
Nikki Giovanni’s Famous Poems
In her poem “You Came, Too” Nikki Giovanni crafts a poem about finding companionship and friendship in a crowd. Beginning each stanza with the line, ” I came to the crowd” she carefully articulates a tale of an individual who came to the crowd seeking friends, seeking love, and seeking solace. She concludes each stanza with a single line that articulates the writer’s relief at finding companionship.
Her most famous poem “Nikki-Rosa”, was first published in Giovanni’s 1968 collection, Black Feeling, Black Talk/Black Judgement. The poem explores the speaker’s memories of growing up in a predominantly Black suburb of Cincinnati, taking care to emphasize happy moments with family and the strong sense of community that the speaker felt. At the same time, the poem examines the ways in which white society tends to misrepresent Black Americans’ experiences, focusing only on stereotypical narratives of hardship and poverty. The speaker rejects these shallow narratives and instead asserts the enduring power of love, connection, and Black identity within her own experience.
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In her poem “Dreams”, Giovanni uses a sarcastic, almost satirical tone in the phrase ‘before I learned black people aren’t supposed to dream,’ to add a touch of frank honesty to her words. This phrase acts almost like an adjunct to the rest of the poem, and leaves a bitter-sweet taste in the reader’s mouth, as they reflect on Giovanni’s ‘younger years,’ and her youthful ambition, whilst being aware of the struggles for the black community. The alliteration of ‘younger years’ emphasizes her innocence in light of prejudice.
Nikki Giovanni Accomplishments
- Delta Sigma Theta Sorority (Honorary Member)
- Seven NAACP Image Awards: for Love Poems; Blues: For All the Changes; Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea; Acolytes; Hip Hop Speaks to Children;
- 100 Best African American Poems; Bicycles
- 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
- The Rosa Parks Women of Courage Award, first recipient
- 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
- The Gwendolyn Brooks Award
- The Gwendolyn Brooks/John O. Killens Award
- The Langston Hughes 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
- National Association of Radio and Television Announcers Award for Best Spoken Word Album
Giovanni left us some incredible gems including one of her best pieces:
Balances by Nikki Giovanni
In life
one is always
balancing
like we juggle our mothers
against our fathers
or one teacher
against another
(only to balance our grade average)
3 grains of salt
to one ounce truth
our sweet black essence
or the funky honkies down the street
and lately i’ve begun wondering
if you’re trying to tell me something
we used to talk all night
and do things alone together
and i’ve begun
(as a reaction to a feeling)
to balance
the pleasure of loneliness
against the pain
of loving you
She kept working until her final days. After dozens of poetry collections under her belt, she was working on getting her last book of poetry out when she died. It’s still set to come out next year, titled THE LAST BOOK.
