What a life well lived!
Nikki Giovanni, a beloved poet, professor, and Black Arts Movement pioneer, has joined the ancestors, AP News reports.
“We will forever feel blessed to have shared a legacy and love with our dear cousin,” said Allison (Pat) Ragan, Giovanni’s cousin, in a statement on behalf of the family.
She was born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, Jr., on June 7, 1943, in Knoxville, Tennessee, earning the nickname “Nikki” from her older sister. When she was young, her family moved to the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio, with Giovanni eventually returning to Tennessee to attend Fisk University. There, she began her writing career, editing the Fisk literary magazine and helping start the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee on campus. It was also during this time that she connected with others in the literary world, relying on the support of friends to help publish her debut collection, “Black Poetry Black Talk,” in 1968, the year after she graduated.
The work catapulted her to prominence within the Black Arts Movement, and she became known for her poignant work and biting social commentary. Giovanni’s poetry was a raw and honest reflection of the Black experience in America, celebrating Black womanhood, challenging societal norms, and exploring themes of love, joy, loss, and resistance. Despite her ever-evolving ideologies, Giovanni never shied away from challenging topics and stayed committed to using her art as a tool for liberation.
“I have been considered a writer who writes from rage and it confuses me. What else do writers write from? A poem has to say something. It has to make some sort of sense; be lyrical; to the point; and still able to be read by whatever reader is kind enough to pick up the book,” Giovanni once wrote in a biographical sketch for Contemporary Writers.
In 1987, Giovanni joined the Virginia Tech faculty as part of the Commonwealth Visiting Professor program, which sought to attract more diverse artists and scholars to the University. Giovanni became a beloved professor, teaching generations of students for 35 years before her retirement in 2022. Over the course of her life, Giovanni published more than 25 books and earned numerous accolades and awards, including 30 honorary degrees, seven NAACP Image Awards, one Grammy nomination, keys to more than two dozen American cities, including New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and New Orleans, and an Emmy, that she earned for her 2023 documentary, Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, which details her battle with cancer.
Giovanni passed away on December 9, 2024, at the age of 81, leaving to cherish her memory her wife, Virginia “Ginney” Fowler, son, Thomas Watson Giovanni, and a host of family, friends, and generations of writers present and future. She continued working until her last days, with her final work, THE LAST BOOK, set to be published in fall 2025.
Cover photo: Nikki Giovanni, Renowned Poet, Professor, & Black Arts Movement Pioneer, Has Joined the Ancestors/Photo credit: Shaban Athuman/New York Times