Many Black authors and poets used the written word to protest racism and discrimination.
The literary world lost a giant on Dec. 9 when poet Nikki Giovanni, 81, passed away.
Although a cause of death has not been released, the Cincinnati native had three previous cancer diagnoses.
The creative giant also worked as a professor at Virginia Tech University for 35 years in the Department of English.
Giovanni held the title Emerita Professor for Virginia Tech’s English department.
Fellow poet Kwame Alexander said, “We will forever be grateful for the unconditional time she gave to us, to all her literary children across the writerly world.”
Although Giovanni had a gift of writing that set her apart from many of her peers, it was her dedication to her community that endeared her to so many.
According to The African American Encyclopedia, “Giovanni was graduated from Fisk University with honors in 1967. She helped establish the school’s chapter of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. During the 1960’s, she sometimes was grouped with Sonia Sanchez, Haki Madhubuti (Don L. Lee), and Etheridge Knight, whose work was also published by Dudley Randall’s Broadside Press. These ‘Broadside poets’ believed poetry to be a means of political and social revolution…
“Her means of communicating her revolutionary spirit in poetry include an assertive personal voice, direct statement, blunt language and forceful rhythms, often created by intense use of parallel structure. These techniques catapulted her to the forefront of public attention.”
In Gemini: An Extended Autobiographical Statement on My First Twenty-five Years of Being a Black Poet, the poet born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni wrote, “Objective standards and objective feelings always lead to objectionable situations, I’m a revolutionary poet in a prerevolutionary world.”
Giovanni published that autobiography in 1971.
After her work from the 1960s, Giovanni’s work became less harsh.
She continued publishing poems after the revolutionary 1960s, but also created literature for children.
Some of her nonfiction work included A Dialogue: James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni from 1972 and 1974’s A Poetic Equation: Conversations Between Nikki Giovanni and Margaret Walker.
Baldwin became legendary for his civil rights work in the 1960s and his literary work like If Beale Street Could Talk.
Walker’s most popular work is probably The Color Purple.
The books by Baldwin and Walker became major motion pictures in the decades following their publications.
An X user tweeted, “Nikki Giovanni really gave me a different perspective on what strength was in the Black relationship as well as Black masculinity.”
Speaking on her famous interview with Baldwin on “Soul,” the social media user added, “I listen to this conversation with James Baldwin on a weekly basis [because] of her. I’ll miss her a lot.”
Giovanni’s last book entitled The Last Book is scheduled for a 2025 release.
Melissa Noel of Essence wrote, “With a career spanning five decades, Giovanni wove the fabric of the Black experience into poetry, essays, children’s books and anthologies. Her fearless exploration of race, gender and civil rights made her a clarion voice for justice and empowerment—a voice that shaped a generation.
“By the late 1960s, Giovanni emerged as a leading voice for the Black Arts Movement. Her debut poetry collections, Black Feeling, Black Talk and Black Judgement (both published in 1968), delivered unapologetic and militant calls for racial and social justice, earning her the title ‘Poet of the Black Revolution.’”
Giovanni once said, “My dream was not to publish or even be a writer: my dream was to discover something no one else had thought of. I guess that’s why I’m a poet. We put things together in ways no one else does.”
In addition to her bond with fellow literary giant Baldwin, Giovanni had close relationships with civil rights icon Rosa Parks, boxing great Muhammad Ali and singers Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin.
Fellow writer and friend Renee Watson said, “As one of the cultural icons of the Black Arts and Civil Rights Movements, she inspired generations of students, artists, activists, musicians, scholars, and human beings, young and old.”
Noel of Essence wrote, “Giovanni’s influence extended beyond the page. In 2024, she earned an Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking for ‘Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project.’”
As a professor, Giovanni’s classes were in high-demand, making them almost impossible for many students to enroll in.
While many of her interactions with her students were positive, one encounter with a student led to her having the student removed from her class.
That former student Seung-hui Cho eventually committed a mass shooting at Virginia Tech that left many dead.
In 2007, ABC News reported, “Just five weeks into the fall 2005 semester, Professor Nikki Giovanni asked to have Cho removed from her introductory creative writing course after female students complained that he was snapping photos of their legs under the desk with a cell phone camera. Giovanni told the Associated Press that she approached then-department head Lucinda Roy, who pulled Cho from the class.
“Roy also alerted student affairs, the dean’s office and Virginia Tech police—all of whom told Roy there was little that could be done unless Cho was making clear threats.”
Cho’s massacre at Virginia Tech took the lives of 32 people and left 17 others wounded.
Giovanni is survived by her wife Virginia Fowler, her son Thomas Giovanni, granddaughter Kai Giovanni.
The poet of the Black revolution also leaves beyond a loving extended family including nephew Christopher Black and cousins Allison “Pat” Ragan and Haynes Ford.
