June 7, 1943 – December 9, 2024
Nikki Giovanni, the charismatic and iconoclastic poet, activist, children’s book author and professor wrote, irresistibly and sensuously about race, politics, gender, sex and love. She was a prolific star of the Black Arts Movement; the wave of Black nationalism that erupted during the civil rights era.
In Giovanni’s early years, much of her poetry was boldly militant, as she addressed the horrors that galvanized the civil rights movement. Among many honors, Nikki Giovanni was awarded seven N.A.A.C.P. awards and 31 honorary doctorates.