Nikki+Giovanni

= __﻿ ﻿﻿﻿﻿Nikki Giovanni __ = == =__ created by, Ben, Caroline, and Ava __=

To hear Nikki Giovanni speak her mind click on this link: []
=__Information/ Facts __:=

__Nikki Giovanni __

 * ======Born in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1943 ======
 * She has an older sister, Gary-Ann
 * Moved to Cincinnati, Ohio when she was a child
 * Gave her fist public reading in Birland, New York, the city's famous jazz spot
 * She attended Fisk University, and graduated with honors in 1968
 * In 1969 she was teaching at Queens College
 * Later that year,(1969), she took a teaching position at Rutgers University and gave birth to her son, Thomas
 * Around 1970, her focus of poetry was love, tributes to Black music, and irony in statements about racism
 * In 1995, Nikki Giovanni was diagnosed with lung cancer
 * Lung cancer survivor
 * Today, Nikki Giovanni is a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Virginia

__Nikki Giovanni's Poetry __
 * <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Nikki Giovanni's focus is on indiv﻿iduals, and the power you yourself have to make an impact in your life and in others
 * <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Most poems were about experiences of African Americans
 * <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Poems used jazz and blues rhythms
 * <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Formed her own publishing company which allowed her to publish her first book, __Black Feeling, Black Talk__
 * <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Early work was about possible violence and the social revolution
 * <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Her first published volumes of poetry were her way of responding to the assassinations of black individuals at that time
 * <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Later poems wered about family, some humorous
 * <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Some of her works including //Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea//, //Acolytes,// and several others were honored with NAACP Image awards
 * <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Her book __Rosa__ reached #3 on The New York Times Bestseller list
 * <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">She was the first recipient of the Rosa L. Parks Woman of Courage Award

=__<span style="color: #1b48a1; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Poetry __<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">__:__ =
 * ===//<span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Black Feeling, Black Talk //===
 * ===//<span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Re:Creation //===
 * ===//<span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Black Judgement //===
 * ===//<span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">My House //===
 * ===//<span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The Women and the Men //===
 * ===//<span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day //===
 * ===//<span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Those Who Ride the Night Winds //===
 * ===//<span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni //===
 * ===//<span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea: Poems and Not Quite Poems //===
 * ===//<span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The Prosaic Soul of Nikki Giovanni //===
 * ===//<span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni //===
 * ===//<span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Acolytes //===
 * ===//<span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Bicycles: Love Poems //===

<span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">"A Poem for Two Jameses (Ballantine and Snow in Iron Cells)"
<span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">we all start as a speck <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">as a speck <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">nobody notices us <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">but some may hope <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">we're there <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">some count days and wait

<span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">we grow <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">in a cell that spreads <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">like a summer cold <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">to other people <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">they notice and laugh <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">some are happy <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">some wish to stop <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">our movement

<span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">we kick and move <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">are stubborn and demanding <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">completely inside <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">the system

<span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">they put us in a cell <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">to make us behave <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">never realizing it's from cells <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">we have escaped <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">and we will be born <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">from their iron cells <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">new people with a new cry

<span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">"Nikki-Rosa"
<span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">childhood remembrances are always a drag <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">if you’re Black <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">you always remember things like living in Woodlawn <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">with no inside toilet <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">and if you become famous or something <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">they never talk about how happy you were to have <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">your mother <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">all to yourself and <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">how good the water felt when you got your bath <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">from one of those <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">big tubs that folk in Chicago barbecue in <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">and somehow when you talk about home <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">it never gets across how much you <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">understood their feelings <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">as the whole family attended meetings about Hollydale <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">and even though you remember <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">your biographers never understand <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">your father’s pain as he sells his stock <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">and another dream goes <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">and though you’re poor it isn’t poverty that <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">concerns you <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">and though they fought a lot <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">it isn’t your father’s drinking that makes any difference <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">but only that everybody is together and you <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">and your sister have happy birthdays and very good <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Christmases <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">and I really hope no white person ever has cause <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">to write about me <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">because they never understand <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Black love is Black wealth and they’ll <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">probably talk about my hard childhood <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">and never understand that <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">all the while I was quite happy

=__<span style="color: #1b48a1; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Changes Inspired by Giovanni __<span style="color: #1b48a1; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">﻿ <span style="color: #3e117e; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Nikki Giovanni has had a significant impact on not only the African-American community but on anyone who has listened to her, or read her work. Some changes she has caused is in her readers' attitudes and perspectives, about racism, and life. When one reads her poem "Nikki-Rosa," one has a better understanding of what the people in the African-American community went through in her youth. The changes she has set into motion cannot be seen just by looking out onto the world, they are within people's thoughts, feelings, opinions, and beliefs. Whether it was through her poetry, essays, or speeches, Nikki Giovanni has touched us all by writing thought provoking, inspiring, and honest words. = =__<span style="color: #1b48a1; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Images: __=

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<span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">"Brief Bio." //Afro Poets//. Web. 26 Jan. 2011. <span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 14.25pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><[]>.
 * Works Cited:**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mossman, Jennifer. //Reference Library of American Women//. Vol. 2. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Research, 1999. 250-51. Print.

"Nikki Givoanni - Love Poems." //North Carolina// //Agricultural and Technical State University//. Web. 24 Jan. 2011. <[]>.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Wagner-Martin, Linda. "Giovanni, Nikki." World Book. Vol. 8. 2006. 193-94. Print.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">(album), Nikki Giovanni. "Nikki Giovanni." The Poetry Foundation : Find Poems and Poets. Discover Poetry. Web. 20 Jan. 2011. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><[]>.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Tavis Smiley . Shows . Nikki Giovanni . February 26, 2007 | PBS." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 20 Jan. 2011. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><[]>.

"September 2007." //Blackgivesback//. Ed. Tracey. BlackGivesBack, 27 Sept. 2007. Web. 25 Jan. 2011. <[]>.

Elmore, Shanahan. "WebQuest: The Underground Railroad: Created with Zunal WebQuest Maker." //Zunal WebQuest Maker//. Zunal, 31 Dec. 1969. Web. 26 Jan. 2011. <[]> "Biography." //Yolanda Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni: Poet, Virginia Tech University Professor//. Web. 27 Jan. 2011. <[]>. Giovanni, Nikki, and George Ford. "" A Poem for Two Jameses"" 1973. //Ego-tripping and Other Poems for Young People//. Second ed. Chicago: L. Hill, 1993. 6. Print. Dorfman, Elsa. Portrait of Nikki Giovanni. 1980. Photograph. Wikipedia. 28 Oct. 2006. Web. 28 Jan. 2011. <>.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Nikki Giovanni Addresses Crowd. 2007. Photograph. Wikipedia. 18 Apr. 2007. Web. 28 Jan. 2011. <>.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> //Nikki Picture//. Photograph. //My Favorite Nikki Giovanni Poems//. Web. 4 Jan. 2011. [].

**__Works Cited: Video Images:__**
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1963 March On Washington. 1963. Photograph. Washington. Wikipedia. 10 Nov. 2005. Web. 28 Jan. 2011. <>. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">

//Nikki Picture//. Photograph. //My Favorite Nikki Giovanni Poems//. Web. 4 Jan. 2011. [].

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Colored Waiting Room Sign. 1943. Photograph. Greyhound Bus Station[1], Rome GA, United States. Wikipedia. By Esther Bubley. 19 July 2006. Web. 28 Jan. 2011.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><>.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Dance at Naval Base. 1945. Photograph. San Diego. Naval History and Heritage Command. Web. 28 Jan. 2011. <[]>.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Nikki Giovanni Addresses Crowd. 2007. Photograph. Wikipedia. 18 Apr. 2007. Web. 28 Jan. 2011. <>.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Photodisc. Two Young African-American Siblings Pose Together. Photograph. Jupiter Images. Web. 28 Jan. 2011. <[]>.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Stitt, Jason. Laughing, Pointing Girl. Photograph. Dreamstime. Web. 28 Jan. 2011. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><[]>.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Women Protesters. 1960. Photograph. New Orleans. Ruby Bridges Foundation. Web. 28 Jan. 2011. <[]>.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Children and Rights - Murray N. Rothbard - Mises Daily." Ludwig Von Mises Institute - Homepage. Web. 28 Jan. 2011. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><http://mises.org/daily/2568>.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Harvey, Steve. "People: No Longer Needed To Make Babies? | ELEV8." Health Advice, Inspiration & Gospel Music for Black America | Elev8. Web. 30 Jan. 2011. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><[].>

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"Welcome to Pastor John's Web Site." Pastor John's Site. Web. 30 Jan. 2011. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><[|http://www.johnecoleman.org/Ramie Lynch Articles.htm].>

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"The Power of Pause- Beliefnet.com." Inspiration, Spirituality, Faith, Religion.- Beliefnet.com. Web. 30 Jan. 2011. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Christianity/2009/09/How-to-Relax.aspx?p=3>.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"What You Can Do." ACE - Aiding Conservation through Education. Web. 28 Jan. 2011. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[].