Nikki Giovanni

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Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni Jr., (born June 7, 1943), is an American poet, writer, commentator, and educator.

Her book includes poetry anthologies, poetry collections, and nonfiction essays and spans a variety of topics ranging from race and socioeconomic to children's literature.

She has received numerous accolades, including the Langston Hughes Medal and the NAACP Image Award.

She has been nominated for a Grammy Award for her poetry collection, The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection.

In addition, she has been named as one of Oprah Winfrey's 25 "Life Legends" in the late 1960s. Giovanni was first recognized in the late 1960s as one of the foremost writers of the Black Arts Movement in the United States.

Her early work, which was influenced by the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement of the time, gives a strong, militant African-American viewpoint, prompting one writer to refer to her as "Poet of the Black Revolution."

She began writing children's books in the 1970s and co-founded NikTom Ltd, a publishing firm, in order to give other African-American women writers a platform.

Her works have addressed social issues, human relationships, and hip hop over the past decade.

Many poems such as "Knoxville, Tennessee" and "Nikki-Rosa" have been re-published in anthologies and other collections, and Giovanni has taught at Queens College, Rutgers, and Ohio State, and is currently a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech.

She gave a chant-poem at a memorial for the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007.

Life and work

Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni Jr. was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, to Yolande Cornelia Sr. and Jones "Gus" Giovanni. The family immigrated to Cincinnati, Ohio, where her parents attended Glenview School right away after she was born. The family moved to Wyoming, Ohio, in 1948, and Giovanni's sister, Gary, began to call her "Nikki" for the first three years. Giovanni moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1958, to live with her grandparents and attend Austin High School. She began her studies at her grandfather's alma mater, Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1960, making it possible to enroll in college without having completed high school first. Ann Cheatam, the Dean of Women, was immediately dismissed after failing to obtain the Dean's permission to leave campus and travel home for Thanksgiving break. Giovanni migrated to Knoxville, Tennessee, where she worked at a Walgreens pharmacy and helped her nephew, Christopher. Giovanni met with Blanche McConnell Cowan, the new Dean of Women at Fisk University, in 1964. Giovanni edited an undergraduate literary journal (titled Élan), revived the campus chapter of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee), and published an article in Negro Digest on gender issues in the Movement. She received a B.A. degree in 1967 and earned a Bachelor's degree. A degree in history.

Louvenia Watson, her grandmother's death, was dealt with by the student who graduated shortly after. These poems will be included in her collection Black Feelings, Black Talk later this year. Giovanni earned a bachelor's degree at the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work in 1968, then moved to New York City. She briefly attended Columbia University School of the Arts for a MFA in poetry and Black Talk, a privately published journal. Giovanni began teaching at Rutgers University in 1969. She was a founder of the Black Arts Movement from the late 1960s. She gave birth to Thomas Watson Giovanni, her only child, in 1969.

Giovanni was accused of leading a bad example after her son's birth because there were no single single mothers at the time. Giovanni said that the birth of her son taught her that children have different tastes and require different media than adults. This realization prompted her to write six children's books.

She began appearing on television program Soul!, an entertainment/variety/talk show that promoted black art and culture and encouraged political expression in 1970.

Soul!

Including notable guests such as Muhammad Ali, James Baldwin, Jesse Jackson, Harry Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, Miriam Makeba, and Stevie Wonder were among the notable guests on the show, including Muhammad Ali, James Baldwin, James Baldwin, James Baldwin, Jesse Jackson, Jesse Jackson, James Baldwin, Jesse Jackson, Sir Walter Poitier, Sime Jackson, Stephen Belafonte, Sidney Poitier, Jesse Jackson, Sidney Poiam Makeba (In addition to being a "regular" on the show, Giovanni worked on and produced episodes for many years.) She has published multiple poetry anthologies, children's books, and spoken word albums from 1973 to 1987.

She has been teaching writing and literature at Virginia Tech, where she is a University Distinguished Professor since 1987. She has received 20 honorary doctorates and several other honors, including the Rosa Parks and Langston Hughes Award for Outstanding Contributions to Arts and Letters, as well as the National Arts Council Image Award. In addition, Dallas, Miami, New York City, and Los Angeles, she has been a key to many cities, including Dallas, Miami, New York City, and Los Angeles. She is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star (PHA), has received the Life Membership and Scroll from the National Council of Negro Women, and she is Honorary Member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

Giovanni was diagnosed with lung cancer in the early 1990s and underwent numerous surgeries. Blues: For All the Changes: New Poems was published in 1999 and has poems about nature and her battle with cancer. Giovanni argued in front of NASA in 2002 that African Americans must pursue space travel, and then published Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea: Poems and Not Quite Poems, which had similar themes.

In addition to being the first person to receive the Rosa L. Parks Women of Courage Award, she has been praised for her life and work by the HistoryMakers. In 2010, she was given the Presidential Medal of Honor from Dillard University. Giovanni was named one of the Library of Virginia's "Virginia Women in History" in 2015 for her contributions to poetry, education, and society.

In an extended interview with Bryan Knight of Tell A Friend, she gave an account of her life and legacy.

On February 8, 2022, Giovanni released "The Gospel According to Nikki Giovanni," a new album by the artist.

Seung-Hui Cho, a mass murderer who killed 32 people in the Virginia Tech shooting on April 16, 2007, was a student in one of Giovanni's poetry classes. She referred to Cho as "mean" and "menacing" and threatened to have him out of her class and said she was ready to resign rather than continue teaching him. Cho was suspended from her class in 2005. Giovanni said following the shooting that she immediately suspected Cho to be the shooter upon learning of the shooting.

Virginia Tech president Charles Steger had requested Giovanni to address the shooting victims at 5:00 p.m. on the day of the shootings, giving her less than 24 hours to prepare). She said she usually feels very comfortable speaking at conferences but was concerned that her emotions would get the best of her. Giovanni closed the ceremony on April 17, 2007, at the Virginia Tech Convocation, commemorating the April 16 massacre, with a chant poem.

"I would call it, in terms of writing, it's a laundry list." Since all you're doing is: This is who we are, and this is what we think, and this is what we think, and this is what we feel, and this is why. I just wanted to tell you, that we didn't deserve this, and no one does. "I wanted to connect our tragedy in every sense, because we are no different from anything else."

For balance, she felt that ending with a thrice-repeated "We will prevail" would be anti-climactic, and she wanted to re-connect with the beginning. "We are Virginia Tech" says the actress's closing shortly before going onstage. Her appearance brought a sense of unity and culminated in a fifty-fourth standing ovation from the over-capacity audience in Cassell Coliseum, which included former President George W. Bush.

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