Nikki Giovanni, famous US writer and activist, passed away at 81
Photo: Nikki Giovanni (Getty Images)
Nikki Giovanni, the widely acclaimed American poet and leading voice in the Black Arts Movement, has passed away after her third cancer diagnosis, according to The Guardian.
Nikki Giovanni, the award-winning US poet and the author of prominent works such as Black Feeling, Black Talk, and Those Who Ride the Night Winds, passed away on Monday. She devoted her life to activism, exploring, and writing about the concept of Black Joy which implies the strength, resilience, and cultural wealth of the Black community in contrast to all struggles they face.
Giovanni was born in 1943 in Knoxville, Tennessee, and studied at Fisk University in Nashville. There, she joined famous Black literary figures including Amiri Baraka and Dudley Randal in their passion for paving the way for the black community towards art and poetry.
Nikki Giovanni at Emory University 2008 (Photo: Wikipedia)
She wrote about Black liberation, love, and gender which helped her become one of the leading voices of the 1960s Black Arts movement and be on a par with Baldwin and Muhammad Ali, editing numerous poetry and essay collections, supporting hip-hop and authoring several children's books, including the award-winning biography Rosa, about Rosa Parks.
Nikki Giovanni was diagnosed with lung cancer in the 1990s and went through a few surgeries before the tumor took her life. Her legacy is inherited by her wife, Virginia Fowler, an English professor and the author of Giovanni’s biography.
