Giovanni, Nikki
1943-2024 · Contribution: 1968-2024
Poetry, essays, and children's literature; an influential voice of the Black Arts Movement whose work spans race and social justice, family, love, and children's verse

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Impact on the world
One of the best-known African American poets; collections include 'Black Feeling, Black Talk' (1968) and 'Black Judgement' (1968). Seven-time NAACP Image Award winner; Langston Hughes Medal; Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize (2022); University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech.
Life & background
African-American poet, writer, activist, and educator born June 7, 1943 in Knoxville, TN. Graduated from Fisk University. Taught at Virginia Tech for 35 years. Died Dec 9, 2024.
Sources
- Encyclopædia Britannica; Poetry Foundation; NMAAHC
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