Nikki Giovanni

June 7, 1943 - December 9, 2024

Our Beloved Native Daughter

Darling Nikki

A beloved daughter of Knoxville, Nikki Giovanni was a renowned and legendary poet, writer, activist, and educator whose contributions to literature and social justice have touched lives around the globe.


Born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, Jr. on June 7, 1943, in the “Negro Wing” of Knoxville General Hospital, Nikki drew her strength and passion from her Tennessee roots. She was the daughter of Jones "Gus" Giovanni and Yolande Cornelia Watson and attended Austin High School, where she was an esteemed member of the graduating class of 1961. She was accepted to Fisk University's Early Entrants Program.


Nikki deeply loved her hometown of Knoxville, a place she credited for nurturing her passion for literature. Her family home once stood at 400 Mulvaney Street (now Hall of Fame Drive), adjacent to the Carnegie Library, further inspiring her creative journey.

World Renowned

Giovanni burst onto the literary scene in the late 1960s with powerful collections like Black Feeling Black Talk (1968), Black Judgement (1968), and Re: Creation (1970), works that blended sharp political insight with personal reflection and helped define the Black Arts Movement. Throughout her career, Giovanni’s writing has approached several topics such as racial equality, gender and sexuality, Black culture and identity, and family. 


Across a career of more than five decades, Giovanni published more than 25 books, taught creative writing and literature at universities including Rutgers University and Virginia Tech (where she was University Distinguished Professor until 2022), and received numerous honors, such as multiple NAACP Image Awards, the Langston Hughes Medal, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, and seven honorary degrees.


Her work resonated far beyond the page: she was a captivating performer and speaker, a mentor to emerging writers, and the subject of the Emmy-winning documentary Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project (2023).

Beck houses and preserves a record collection, with albums by local artists including Nikki Giovanni. Released in 1976, "The Reason I Like Chocolate" features Nikki Giovanni reading her poems for children, including "Knoxville, Tennessee."

Knoxville, Tennessee 

Written by Nikki Giovanni and originally featured in one of her earliest works, Black Judgement (1968). 


"I always like summer

 

Best

 

you can eat fresh corn

 

From daddy's garden

 

And okra

 

And greens

 

And cabbage

 

And lots of

 

Barbeque

 

And buttermilk

 

And homemade ice-cream

 

At the church picnic

 

And listen to

 

Gospel music

 

Outside

 

At the church

 

Homecoming

 

And go to the mountains with

 

Your grandmother

 

And go barefooted

 

And be warm

 

All the time

 

Not only when you go to bed

 

And sleep."