Nikki Giovanni Biography
Nikki Giovanni Biography:Nikki Giovanni (born June 7, 1943, Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.—died December 9, 2024, Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.) was an American poet whose writings range from calls for Black power to poems for children and intimate personal statements.
Giovanni grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and Knoxville, Tennessee, and in 1960 she entered Nashville’s Fisk University. By 1967, when she received a B.A., she had become firmly committed to the civil rights movement and the concept of Black power. In her first three collections of poems, Black Feeling, Black Talk (1968), Black Judgement (1968), and Re: Creation (1970), her content was urgently revolutionary and suffused with deliberate interpretation of experience through a Black.
Nikki Giovanni Early Life
When she was fourteen, Giovanni returned to Knoxville to live with her grandparents, where she had spent nearly every summer beforehand. She attended Austin High School and graduated early to attend historically black Fisk University in Nashville. After a particularly rough year, including the death of her grandfather and some rebellious behavior at college, Giovanni was dismissed from Fisk University. She returned to Cincinnati, working at Walgreens and taking occasional classes at the University of Cincinnati. In 1964, she re-entered Fisk University and immediately became involved with the growing Civil Rights Movement. She re-established the Student Nonviolence Coordinating Committee at Fisk, and edited a student literary journal. Her political and artistic involvement in the Civil Rights Movement earned Giovanni her reputation as a fiery young woman, and outspoken Black Rights poet.
Nikki Giovanni family
Nikki Giovanni was born Yolanda Cornelia Giovanni on June 7, 1943, the second child of Yolande and Jones Giovanni. A few months after her birth, the family left their Knoxville, Tennessee home to move to Cincinnati, Ohio. Giovanni’s sister Gary was the first one that began calling her Nikki.
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Nikki Giovanni Career
A revolutionary, an artist, and a dreamer walk in a room to thunderous applause. Surely you would join if you watched the African American poet, writer, activist, and educator Nikki Giovanni take the stage. Nikki Giovanni, originally Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, Jr., was born on June 7, 1943, in Knoxville, Tennessee. Giovanni and her sister grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio but traveled to Knoxville every summer to visit their grandparents. She attended Fisk University for undergraduate studies and enrolled in the graduate Master of Fine Arts (MFA) programs at The University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University.
Giovanni was influenced by the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. She was heavily involved in the Black Arts movement in Cincinnati and after graduating from Fisk University, she organized the first Black Arts Festival in 1967.
Nikki Giovanni’s poems are described as being ”politically, spiritually, and socially aware.” A description, she, herself, ascribes to her own writing, especially when she began being militant. Her writing has been inspired by African-American activists and artists: including Maya Angelou. Issues of race, gender, sexuality, and the African-American family are present in her work.
Her self-published first collection called Black Feeling, Black Talk came out in 1968. Since then, she has had 18 collections of poetry published.
She has also written books for children including Jimmy Grasshopper Versus the Ants in 2007 and Rosa in 2005, a picture book about the civil rights figure Rosa Parks.
Aside from her own writing, Giovanni edited several collections and anthologies of essays and poetry.
In addition to writing, Giovanni also teaches. She has taught at College Mount St. Joseph and since 1987 she has taught at Virginia Tech University where she still works as a distinguished professor.
Nikki Giovanni Net worth
Nikki Giovanni’s net worth stands at $5 million, with projections to grow to 85 million by 2024. This positions her as one of the most prominent figures among literary artists.