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Quick Facts
- NAME: Nikki Giovanni
- OCCUPATION: Civil Rights Activist, Television Personality, Poet
- BIRTH DATE: June 07, 1943 (Age: 68)
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Knoxville, Tennessee
- ZODIAC SIGN: Gemini
Best Known For
The poems of Nikki Giovanni helped to define the African American voice of the 1960s, 70s, and beyond. She was also a major force in the Black Arts movement.
Nikki Giovanni. (2012). Biography.com. Retrieved 05:36, May 23, 2012 from http://www.biography.com/people/nikki-giovanni-9312272
Nikki Giovanni [Internet]. 2012. http://www.biography.com/people/nikki-giovanni-9312272, May 23
" Nikki Giovanni." 2012. Biography.com 23 May 2012, 05:36 http://www.biography.com/people/nikki-giovanni-9312272
' Nikki Giovanni', Biography.com,(2012) http://www.biography.com/people/nikki-giovanni-9312272 [accessed May 23, 2012]
" Nikki Giovanni," Biography.com, http://www.biography.com/people/nikki-giovanni-9312272 (accessed May 23, 2012).
Nikki Giovanni [Internet]. Biography.com; 2012 [cited 2012 May 23]. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/nikki-giovanni-9312272.
Nikki Giovanni, http://www.biography.com/people/nikki-giovanni-9312272 (last visited May 23, 2012).
Nikki Giovanni, http://www.biography.com/people/nikki-giovanni-9312272 (last visited May 23, 2012).
Synopsis
Profile
Poet and writer. Born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, Jr., on June 7, 1943, in Knoxville, Tennessee. Nikki Giovanni is a prominent poet and writer who first caught the public??s attention as part of the Black Arts movement of the late 1960s. Growing up in the Cincinnati area, she often visited Knoxville to see family, especially her maternal grandmother. After graduating with honors from Fisk University in 1967, she returned to Cincinnati and established the city??s first Black Arts Festival. Giovanni also began writing the poems that are included in her first self-published volume, Black Feeling, Black Talk (1968).
By the mid-1970s, Nikki Giovanni had established herself as one of the leading poetic voices. She won a number of awards including Woman of the Year from Ladies?? Home Journal in 1973. Giovanni also made several television appearances, including the African American arts and culture show, Soul!. During the 1980s, she continued to publish and spent much of her time touring to attend speaking engagements. Giovanni also found time to teach at College Mount St. Joseph and Virginia Tech University where she still works as a professor.
In recent years, Nikki Giovanni has produced several new works. For children, she wrote Jimmy Grasshopper Versus the Ants (2007) and Rosa (2005), a picture book about legendary civil rights figure Rosa Parks. Her latest poetry collection is Acolytes (2007). Also an accomplished writer of nonfiction, Giovanni wrote On My Journey Now: Looking at African-American History through the Spirituals (2007).
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Included In These Groups
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Black Writers
View groupBrowse through prominent figures in African-American literature such as Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, and Toni Morrison.
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Famous Black Activists
View groupAfrican-Americans have a long history of activism in America, from fighting for the right to vote to pushing for integrated public spaces. Activists like Stokely Carmichael organized freedom rides, James Meredith fought to integrate blacks and whites at the University of Mississippi, and Rosa Parks instigated the Montgomery Bus Boycott. These protests were often legal and nonviolent, and made a powerful impact on civil rights in the U.S. With the help of activists like these—and many others—the country slowly worked to acknowledge the basic rights and contributions of African-Americans. Learn more about the many African-American activists who fought against the odds in order to achieve equality.
Famous Black Activists 117 people in this group
