Key Information
Yolande Cornelia Giovanni or "Nikki" Giovanni was an American poet, writer, commentator, educator, civil rights activist, and outspoken social critic, born on June 7th, 1943. She idolized herself as "a proud Black American, a daughter, and a mother." Giovanni was a hardworking single mother who raised her only son, while fighting a war for civil rights and equality. Very touched by the discrimination the Black society had to face at that time period, Giovanni had chosen to become a civil rights activist besides her regular occupations, such as poet, writer etc, which were inspired to her by the black power movements. Giovanni's poems and literature was used as political commentary. When going through hardships in life, Giovanni wrote poetic pieces to express her hurt feelings, though never gave up fighting for the ultimate war of equality. She was very hardworking, determined and passionate about what she did, because even after getting put down many times, she never gave up, and continued her journey.