Yolande Cornelia ‘Nikki’ Giovanni Jr was one of the world’s best African-American poets. One of Oprah’s 25 living legends, she was nominated for the Grammy’s in 2004 for her poetry collection. A major exponent of BAM, founded by Amiri Baraka, her writings especially earlier have been militant to dub her the ‘ Poet of the Black Revolution.’ Writing for social issues, she also made headway in children’s literature even establishing a publishing house for the same to provide a voice to the African-American women community. Her poetry collections have been frequently anthologised. Her nonfiction essays on race and social issues have made a mark in recognising her as an activist who honoured Black lives through her works.
When Nikki founded NikTom in 1970, the publishing company for Children’s literature, she had already written six children’s books by then. The birth of her son made her realise that children wanted different content and that made her realise to diversify and experiment with themes catering to their needs other than the adults. Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, she then moved to different places in Ohio before returning to Tennessee again in 1958 to her grandparents. A voracious reader, she also applied to study at Fisk as an ‘ early entrant’ where soon she was expelled for violating permission to take a leave for Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, again moving back to Knoxville to work at a drugstore, she reapplied in 1964. Graduating with an honours in History in 1967, she suffered the loss of her grandmother. To cope, she turned to writing poetry. These poems were later published in Black Feeling Black Talk. In the university, she edited a student journal and published an essay in Negro Digest. She attended a semester at Penn for an MSW and briefly attended Columbia for an MFA in poetry. The year 1969 was momentous as she started teaching and gave birth to her only child, a son. While facing the stigma of having a child while unmarried, she reasoned that she couldn’t afford to get married but could afford to have a child and raise.
While supporting other Black writers through her publishing company, she also appeared in the television series ‘Soul!’ Later she designed episodes for the show as well. She also appeared in one of the episodes in conversation with James Baldwin filmed in London. Retiring from Virginia Tech in 2022, she widely gained accolades and honours in her career spanning more than 50 years. Besides receiving 20 honorary doctorates, she was also awarded Langston Hughes and Rosa Parks awards.
IMAGE SOURCE: nikkigiovanni.com