Nikki Giovanni
Encyclopedia
Yolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni (born June 7, 1943) is an American
poet
, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. Her primary focus is on the individual and the power one has to make a difference in oneself and in the lives of others. Giovanni’s poetry expresses strong racial pride, respect for family, and her own experiences as a daughter, a civil rights activist, and a mother. She is currently a distinguished professor of English
at Virginia Tech
.
Nikki Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennessee
to Yolande Cornelia, Sr. and Jones "Gus" Giovanni. She grew up in Lincoln Heights
, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio
, and in 1960 began her studies at Fisk University
in Nashville, Tennessee
, her grandfather's alma mater
. She graduated in 1967 with honors, receiving a B.A. in history. Afterward she went on to attend the University of Pennsylvania
and Columbia University
. In 1969 Giovanni began teaching at Livingston College
of Rutgers University
, and since 1987, she has taught writing and literature at Virginia Tech, where she is a University Distinguished Professor. She has received nineteen honorary doctorates and a myriad of other awards, including "Woman of the Year" awards from three different magazines as well as the key to several different cities. She is a member of Order of Eastern Star (PHA), and an Honorary Member of Delta Sigma Theta
sorority.
for Labor Day Weekend. She later stated that she had a child out of wedlock at twenty-five because she "wanted to have a baby and she could afford to have a baby" and because of her conviction that (marriage) as an institution was inhospitable to women and would never play a role in her life. After her son's birth, Giovanni rearranged her priorities around him and has stated that she would give her life for him. "I just can't imagine living without him. But I can live without the revolution, without world socialism, women's lib...I have a child. My responsibilities have changed."
and in 1995 Giovanni herself was diagnosed with the disease. She had surgery at Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio
and eventually had a lung removed. Giovanni gave up smoking after she was diagnosed, saying in 1996 that she now smokes in her dreams. She also denies that her cancer has made her a better person, adding that "[I]f it takes a near-death experience for you to appreciate your life, you're wasting somebody's time." In 1999, Giovanni said she would like to negotiate a truce with her cancer, stating that she'd "like an agreement that we will live together for another 30 years." In 2005 Giovanni contributed an introduction to the book Breaking the Silence: Inspirational Stories of Black Cancer Survivors.
since 1987, and is a Distinguished Professor of English. Giovanni taught the Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho
in a poetry class. She described him as "mean" and, when she approached the department chair to have Cho taken out of her class, said she was willing to resign rather than continue teaching him. She stated that, upon hearing of the shooting, she immediately suspected that Cho might be the shooter. On April 16, 2007, at the Virginia Tech Convocation commemorating the April 16 Virginia Tech massacre
, Giovanni closed the ceremony with a chant
poem, intoning:
On August 21, 2007, The Tennessean reported that Giovanni is returning to her alma mater as a distinguished visiting professor at Fisk University
. As well as teaching a writers' workshop for about thirty students one day a week, Giovanni also wants to hold a workshop for the general public in order to reach out to the community..
The civil rights and black power
movements inspired her early poetry that was collected in Black Feeling, Black Talk (1967), Black Judgement (1968), and Re: Creation (1970). She has since written more than two dozen books including volumes of poetry, illustrated children's books, and three collections of essays.
Giovanni's writing has been heavily inspired by African American
activists and artists. Her book, Love Poems (1997), was written in memory of Tupac Shakur
and she has stated that she would "rather be with the thugs than the people who are complaining about them."
She also tours nationwide and frequently speaks out against hate-motivated violence. At a 1999 Martin Luther King Day
event, she recalled the 1998 murders of James Byrd, Jr.
and Matthew Shepard
: "What's the difference between dragging a black man behind a truck in Jasper, Texas, and beating a white boy to death in Wyoming because he's gay?"
Those Who Ride the Night Winds (1983) acknowledged notable black figures. Giovanni collected her essays in the 1988 volume Sacred Cows ... and Other Edibles. Some of her more recent works include Acolytes, a collection of eighty new poems, and On My Journey Now. Acolytes is her first published volume since her 2003 Collected Poems. It tones down the militant, edgy conscience that Giovanni has become famous for and portrays her softer, more nostalgic side. The work is a celebration of love and recollection directed at friends and loved ones and recalls memories of nature, theater, and the glories of children. However, her fiery persona still remains a constant undercurrent in Acolytes, as some of the most serious verse link her own life struggles (being a black woman, a cancer survivor, and a professor at Virginia Tech) to the wider frame of African-American history and the continual fight for equality.
Giovanni's most recent work, Bicycles: Love Poems (2009) is a collection of poems that serve as a companion to her 1997 Love Poems. They express notions of love in unexpected ways, touching on the deaths of both her mother and her sister, as well as the massacre on the Virginia Tech campus. Giovanni chose the title of the collection as a metaphor for love itself, "because love requires trust and balance.” The work portrays her life as it spins out of control and love, which she prescribes as the antidote. The poems come alive with her warmth and authenticity, a stark foil to the militant, edgy work that laid a path towards becoming one of the prominent voices of the black community.
In 2004 Giovanni was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album
at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards for her album "The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection." She also featured on the track Ego Trip By Nikki Giovanni on Blackalicious
' 2000 album Nia. In November 2008, a song cycle of her poems, Sounds That Shatter the Staleness in Lives by Adam Hill, was premiered as part of the Soundscapes Chamber Music
Series in Taos, New Mexico
.
She was commissioned by National Public Radio's All Things Considered
to create an inaugural poem for President Barack Obama
. Giovanni read poetry at the Lincoln Memorial
as a part of the bicentennial celebration of Lincoln's birth on February 12, 2009.
The Sun Is So Quiet (1996)
The Girls in the Circle (Just for You!) (2004)
Poetry Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat (2005) [advisory editor] (Sourcebooks
)
Lincoln and Douglass: An American Friendship (2008)
Hip Hop Speaks to Children: A Celebration of Poetry with a Beat (2008) (Sourcebooks
)
The Grasshopper and the Ant (Forthcoming)
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. Her primary focus is on the individual and the power one has to make a difference in oneself and in the lives of others. Giovanni’s poetry expresses strong racial pride, respect for family, and her own experiences as a daughter, a civil rights activist, and a mother. She is currently a distinguished professor of English
English studies
English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...
at Virginia Tech
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, popularly known as Virginia Tech , is a public land-grant university with the main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia with other research and educational centers throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and internationally.Founded in...
.
Biography
Knoxville, Tennessee
Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...
to Yolande Cornelia, Sr. and Jones "Gus" Giovanni. She grew up in Lincoln Heights
Lincoln Heights, Ohio
Lincoln Heights is a village in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. The population was 4,113 at the 2000 census. Lincoln Heights, located in southwestern Ohio, is a suburb of Cincinnati.-Geography:Lincoln Heights is located at ....
, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
, and in 1960 began her studies at Fisk University
Fisk University
Fisk University is an historically black university founded in 1866 in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. The world-famous Fisk Jubilee Singers started as a group of students who performed to earn enough money to save the school at a critical time of financial shortages. They toured to raise funds to...
in Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
, her grandfather's alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...
. She graduated in 1967 with honors, receiving a B.A. in history. Afterward she went on to attend the University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...
and Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
. In 1969 Giovanni began teaching at Livingston College
Livingston College (Rutgers University)
Livingston Campus, originally known as Kilmer Campus, is one of the five campuses that make up Rutgers University's New Brunswick/Piscataway area campus. The campus was originally built to house Livingston College. It is a large campus, although the majority of its land is the undeveloped Rutgers...
of Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
, and since 1987, she has taught writing and literature at Virginia Tech, where she is a University Distinguished Professor. She has received nineteen honorary doctorates and a myriad of other awards, including "Woman of the Year" awards from three different magazines as well as the key to several different cities. She is a member of Order of Eastern Star (PHA), and an Honorary Member of Delta Sigma Theta
Delta Sigma Theta
Delta Sigma Theta is a non-profit Greek-lettered sorority of college-educated women who perform public service and place emphasis on the African American community. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority was founded on January 13, 1913 by twenty-two collegiate women at Howard University...
sorority.
Son
Giovanni gave birth to her only child, Thomas Watson Giovanni, on August 31, 1969, while visiting Cincinnati, OhioOhio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
for Labor Day Weekend. She later stated that she had a child out of wedlock at twenty-five because she "wanted to have a baby and she could afford to have a baby" and because of her conviction that (marriage) as an institution was inhospitable to women and would never play a role in her life. After her son's birth, Giovanni rearranged her priorities around him and has stated that she would give her life for him. "I just can't imagine living without him. But I can live without the revolution, without world socialism, women's lib...I have a child. My responsibilities have changed."
Cancer battle
Both Giovanni's mother and sister died of lung cancerLung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
and in 1995 Giovanni herself was diagnosed with the disease. She had surgery at Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio
Jewish Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio
Jewish Hospital, located in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, was the first Jewish hospital in the United States. The hospital was initially established in 1850 as a result of a cholera epidemic for treating the affected Jewish population of Cincinnati...
and eventually had a lung removed. Giovanni gave up smoking after she was diagnosed, saying in 1996 that she now smokes in her dreams. She also denies that her cancer has made her a better person, adding that "[I]f it takes a near-death experience for you to appreciate your life, you're wasting somebody's time." In 1999, Giovanni said she would like to negotiate a truce with her cancer, stating that she'd "like an agreement that we will live together for another 30 years." In 2005 Giovanni contributed an introduction to the book Breaking the Silence: Inspirational Stories of Black Cancer Survivors.
Virginia Tech
Giovanni has been teaching writing and literature at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VirginiaBlacksburg, Virginia
Blacksburg is an incorporated town located in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States, with a population of 42,620 at the 2010 census. Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Radford are the three principal jurisdictions of the Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford Metropolitan Statistical Area which...
since 1987, and is a Distinguished Professor of English. Giovanni taught the Virginia Tech shooter Seung-Hui Cho
Seung-Hui Cho
Seung-Hui Cho was a senior-level undergraduate student at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University who killed 32 people and wounded 17 others on April 16, 2007, in the shooting rampage which came to be known as the "Virginia Tech massacre." Cho later committed suicide after law...
in a poetry class. She described him as "mean" and, when she approached the department chair to have Cho taken out of her class, said she was willing to resign rather than continue teaching him. She stated that, upon hearing of the shooting, she immediately suspected that Cho might be the shooter. On April 16, 2007, at the Virginia Tech Convocation commemorating the April 16 Virginia Tech massacre
Virginia Tech massacre
The Virginia Tech massacre was a school shooting that took place on April 16, 2007, on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States. In two separate attacks, approximately two hours apart, the perpetrator, Seung-Hui Cho, killed 32 people...
, Giovanni closed the ceremony with a chant
Chant
Chant is the rhythmic speaking or singing of words or sounds, often primarily on one or two pitches called reciting tones. Chants may range from a simple melody involving a limited set of notes to highly complex musical structures Chant (from French chanter) is the rhythmic speaking or singing...
poem, intoning:
On August 21, 2007, The Tennessean reported that Giovanni is returning to her alma mater as a distinguished visiting professor at Fisk University
Fisk University
Fisk University is an historically black university founded in 1866 in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S. The world-famous Fisk Jubilee Singers started as a group of students who performed to earn enough money to save the school at a critical time of financial shortages. They toured to raise funds to...
. As well as teaching a writers' workshop for about thirty students one day a week, Giovanni also wants to hold a workshop for the general public in order to reach out to the community..
Writing career
Black Power
Black Power is a political slogan and a name for various associated ideologies. It is used in the movement among people of Black African descent throughout the world, though primarily by African Americans in the United States...
movements inspired her early poetry that was collected in Black Feeling, Black Talk (1967), Black Judgement (1968), and Re: Creation (1970). She has since written more than two dozen books including volumes of poetry, illustrated children's books, and three collections of essays.
Giovanni's writing has been heavily inspired by African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
activists and artists. Her book, Love Poems (1997), was written in memory of Tupac Shakur
Tupac Shakur
Tupac Amaru Shakur , known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide as of 2007, making him one of the best-selling music artists in the world...
and she has stated that she would "rather be with the thugs than the people who are complaining about them."
She also tours nationwide and frequently speaks out against hate-motivated violence. At a 1999 Martin Luther King Day
Martin Luther King Day
Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is a United States federal holiday marking the birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It is observed on the third Monday of January each year, which is around the time of King's birthday, January 15. The floating holiday is similar to holidays set under the Uniform...
event, she recalled the 1998 murders of James Byrd, Jr.
James Byrd, Jr.
James Byrd, Jr. was an African-American who was murdered by three white men, asserted to be white supremacists, during a racially motivated crime in Jasper, Texas, on June 7, 1998. Shawn Berry, Lawrence Brewer, and John King dragged Byrd behind a pick-up truck along an asphalt road after they...
and Matthew Shepard
Matthew Shepard
Matthew Wayne Shepard was a student at the University of Wyoming who was tortured and murdered near Laramie, Wyoming, in October 1998...
: "What's the difference between dragging a black man behind a truck in Jasper, Texas, and beating a white boy to death in Wyoming because he's gay?"
Those Who Ride the Night Winds (1983) acknowledged notable black figures. Giovanni collected her essays in the 1988 volume Sacred Cows ... and Other Edibles. Some of her more recent works include Acolytes, a collection of eighty new poems, and On My Journey Now. Acolytes is her first published volume since her 2003 Collected Poems. It tones down the militant, edgy conscience that Giovanni has become famous for and portrays her softer, more nostalgic side. The work is a celebration of love and recollection directed at friends and loved ones and recalls memories of nature, theater, and the glories of children. However, her fiery persona still remains a constant undercurrent in Acolytes, as some of the most serious verse link her own life struggles (being a black woman, a cancer survivor, and a professor at Virginia Tech) to the wider frame of African-American history and the continual fight for equality.
Giovanni's most recent work, Bicycles: Love Poems (2009) is a collection of poems that serve as a companion to her 1997 Love Poems. They express notions of love in unexpected ways, touching on the deaths of both her mother and her sister, as well as the massacre on the Virginia Tech campus. Giovanni chose the title of the collection as a metaphor for love itself, "because love requires trust and balance.” The work portrays her life as it spins out of control and love, which she prescribes as the antidote. The poems come alive with her warmth and authenticity, a stark foil to the militant, edgy work that laid a path towards becoming one of the prominent voices of the black community.
In 2004 Giovanni was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album
Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album
The Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album has been awarded since 1959. The award had several minor name changes:*In 1959 the award was known as Best Performance, Documentary or Spoken Word...
at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards for her album "The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection." She also featured on the track Ego Trip By Nikki Giovanni on Blackalicious
Blackalicious
Blackalicious is an American hip hop duo from Sacramento, California made up of rapper Gift of Gab and DJ/producer Chief Xcel . They are noted for Gift of Gab's often "tongue-twisting", multisyllabic, complex rhymes and Chief Xcel's "classic" beats...
' 2000 album Nia. In November 2008, a song cycle of her poems, Sounds That Shatter the Staleness in Lives by Adam Hill, was premiered as part of the Soundscapes Chamber Music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
Series in Taos, New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
.
She was commissioned by National Public Radio's All Things Considered
All Things Considered
All Things Considered is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio. It was the first news program on NPR, and is broadcast live worldwide through several outlets...
to create an inaugural poem for President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
. Giovanni read poetry at the Lincoln Memorial
Lincoln Memorial
The Lincoln Memorial is an American memorial built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. It is located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The architect was Henry Bacon, the sculptor of the main statue was Daniel Chester French, and the painter of the interior...
as a part of the bicentennial celebration of Lincoln's birth on February 12, 2009.
Poetry
- Black Feeling, Black Talk (1967)
- Black Judgement (1968)
- Re: Creation (1970)
- My House (1972)
- The Women and The Men (1975)
- Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day (1978)
- Woman (1978)
- Those Who Ride The Night Winds (1983)
- Knoxville, Tennessee (1994)
- The Selected Poems of Nikki Giovanni (1996)
- Love Poems (1997)
- Blues: For All the Changes (1999)
- Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea: Poems and Not Quite Poems (2002)
- The Prosaic Soul of Nikki Giovanni (2003)
- The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni (2003)
- Acolytes (2007)
- Bicycles: Love Poems (2009) (William MorrowWilliam Morrow and CompanyWilliam Morrow and Company is an American publishing company founded by William Morrow in 1926. The company was acquired by Scott Foresman in 1967, and sold to Hearst Corporation in 1981. It was sold along to the News Corporation in 1999...
) - 100 Best African American Poems (2010) [editor] (SourcebooksSourcebooksSourcebooks is a book publisher located in Naperville, IL, in the western suburbs of Chicago. The company publishes books, ebooks, and digital products in most consumer categories, including college guides, memoir, children's books, young adult, fiction, romance fiction, and reference books...
MediaFusion)'
Co-authored
- A DialogueA DialogueA Dialogue is a 1973 collaborative work featuring a multi-topic conversation between writers James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni.The preface was written by Ida Lewis, the afterword by Orde M. Coombs.It was published by J. B. Lippincott & Co....
with James BaldwinJames Baldwin (writer)James Arthur Baldwin was an American novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic.Baldwin's essays, for instance "Notes of a Native Son" , explore palpable yet unspoken intricacies of racial, sexual, and class distinctions in Western societies, most notably in mid-20th century America,...
(1973) - Rosa with Bryan CollierBryan CollierBryan Collier, award-winning author and illustrator, has illustrated numerous children's books, including Rosa by Nikki Giovanni which was awarded a Coretta Scott King Award and a Caldecott Honor. He also won a Coretta Scott King Award for Uptown, his first attempt at both writing and...
(2005) - Harlem Stomp!: A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance with Laban Carrick (2009)
Children's Books
- Spin a Soft Black Song (1971)
- Ego-Tripping and Other Poems For Young People (1973)
- Vacation Time: Poems for Children (1980)
Sourcebooks
Sourcebooks is a book publisher located in Naperville, IL, in the western suburbs of Chicago. The company publishes books, ebooks, and digital products in most consumer categories, including college guides, memoir, children's books, young adult, fiction, romance fiction, and reference books...
)
Sourcebooks
Sourcebooks is a book publisher located in Naperville, IL, in the western suburbs of Chicago. The company publishes books, ebooks, and digital products in most consumer categories, including college guides, memoir, children's books, young adult, fiction, romance fiction, and reference books...
)
Discography
- Truth Is On Its Way (Right On Records, 1976)
- The Reason I Like Chocolate (Folkways RecordsFolkways RecordsFolkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987, and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.-History:...
, 1976) - Legacies: The Poetry of Nikki Giovanni (Folkways, 1976)
- Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day (Folkways, 1978)
- Every Tone A Testimony (Smithsonian FolkwaysSmithsonian FolkwaysSmithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was founded in 1987 after the family of Moses Asch, founder of Folkways...
, 2001)
External links
- Giovanni's website
- Profile at Lavin
- Profile and poems of Nikki Giovanni at the Poetry Foundation.
- Giovanni Discography at Smithsonian FolkwaysSmithsonian FolkwaysSmithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was founded in 1987 after the family of Moses Asch, founder of Folkways...
- Poems, Essays and Biography for Nikki Giovanni
- "Interview with poet Nikki Giovanni" for the WGBH series Say Brother
- Pin His Ear to the Wisdom Post Nikki Giovanni named the first Coretta Scott King Fellow, video, April 3, 2009
- "We are Virginia Tech" - convocation poem read by Giovanni