When a poet functions at their highest calling, they have the power to shift the universe of a reader. A perfectly curated assortment of words can compel one to examine faith, grief, joy, life, loss, love, purpose and sorrow – sometimes all at once.
Nikki Giovanni used poetry for an even higher calling than that. At a time when hatred and systemic racism permeated every aspect of American life, her work served as both a prompt for Black self-love and a declaration of Black power.
From her first book of poems, 1968’s Black Poetry Black Talk, Giovanni devoted her words to signifying the worth of her people. She provided a eulogy of sorts for herself in the follow up collection, Black Feeling, Black Talk/Black Judgement.
Giovanni passed away on Monday, December 9. She was 81. Although a family statement didn’t disclose her cause of death, in the Emmy Award-winning documentary about her life “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project,” her ongoing battle with cancer was a point of discussion.
One of the world’s most famous African American poets, Giovanni was also an author, commentator, activist and educator who emerged as a leading voice within the Black Arts Movement of the late 1960s. Her work includes poetry anthologies, poetry recordings, and nonfiction essays, and covers topics ranging from race and social issues to children’s literature.
She framed the Black struggle in America as the ultimate demonstration of faith – and endurance. Long before it was a catch phrase, Giovanni was a founding mother of “Black Girl Magic.” Her verses unapologetically opposed Eurocentric standards of beauty, intelligence and forms of expression, particularly when it came to Black women.
From her first book of poems, 1968’s Black Poetry Black Talk, Giovanni devoted her words to signifying the worth of her people. She provided a eulogy of sorts for herself in the follow up collection, Black Feeling, Black Talk/Black Judgement. Released the same year as her debut, the collection featured the poem “Nikki-Rosa.” An excerpt reads:
“and I really hope no white person ever has cause
to write about me
because they never understand
Black love is Black wealth and they’ll
probably talk about my hard childhood
and never understand that
all the while I was quite happy”
“To know Nikki was to be forever changed by her,” Laura Belmonte, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences at Virginia Tech, said in a statement about Giovanni’s passing.
Giovanni spent 35 years as a professor in the Department of English at Virginia Tech.
“One minute, she would say something that would make you laugh so hard you would cry. The next minute, she would say something that would haunt you for the months and make you reevaluate the world as you knew it,” Belmonte said.
She retired from the University in 2022, she returned to campus to present the annual Giovanni-Steger Poetry Prize Award.
Yolande Cornelia “Nikki” Giovanni Jr. was born in Knoxville, Tennessee on June 7, 1943 to Yolande Cornelia Sr. and Jones “Gus” Giovanni. Soon after her birth, the family moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where her parents worked at Glenview School. In 1958, Giovanni returned to Knoxville to live with her grandparents and attend Austin High School. In 1960, she began her studies at her grandfather’s alma mater, Fisk University in Nashville. She completed her studies, after a hiatus, in 1967. The release of her debut poetry collection the following year launched a career that would continue for the rest of her life. An upcoming collection of poems is slated for 2025.
Along with being a 2004 Grammy Award nominee for her poetry album The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection and a National Book Award finalist for her 1973 offering Gemini, she has won countless awards. They include a Langston Hughes Medal, nearly 30 honorary degrees and seven NAACP Image Awards and the 2022 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize.
And “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project,” won the Grand Jury Prize in the Sundance U.S. Documentary Competition in 2023. Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s documentary portrait also won a 2024 Emmy Award for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking for the film.
“We will forever feel blessed to have shared a legacy and love with our dear cousin,” said Allison Ragan, Giovanni’s cousin, in a statement on behalf of her family.
Giovanni is survived by Fowler, her son, Thomas Giovanni, her granddaughter, Kai Giovanni, and other family members.