Nikki Giovanni: poet, teacher

Black History Month began brilliantly with laughs and inspiration as poet Nikki Giovanni lectured to a full house in the Magnolia Ball room on Wednesday night.

“I haven’t been here in 15 or 20 years,” Giovanni said to open her speech. “It’s nice to be back. I would come to Milledgeville at anytime.”

Giovanni is a world renowned poet, teacher and Civil Rights activist who has received many awards in her career. She has been nominated for a Grammy, named Woman of the Year by three national magazines and has 22 honorary doctorate degrees. She even has a tattoo on her arm that reads “Thug Life.”

Of all her many talents, Giovanni turns to poetry the most as an outlet of emotion.

“In a time of stress people turn to poetry,” she said.

One of Giovanni’s recent literary ventures is the children’s book “Rosa,” which depicts the faithful day that Rosa Parks defied the law and did not give up her seat on the bus. For this, Giovanni was named the first recipient of the Rosa Parks Moment of Courage Award. The book was viewed by both Rosa Parks and Coretta Scott King before their deaths. Giovanni read portions of the book and displayed the illustrations Wednesday night.

Black history is a major form of inspiration for Giovanni and is often the theme for many of her works.

“I’m a big fan of history, especially African-American history,” she said. “In all points of American literature there are blacks involved. One of the great gifts black people bring to America is sanity.”

?Giovanni also likes to take figures from the past and give them present day personas.

“I’m sure Martin would have had braids. He always wanted to be hip,” Giovanni said while describing how it would be if Martin Luther King Jr. were still alive, drawing loud laughter and applause from the crowd.

Giovanni also read several of her poems including “In the Spirit of Martin,” which she composed for the Smithsonian’s exhibit of Martin Luther King Jr.

Her poems and thoughts were widely accepted by the student body.

Johnathan Lay, a senior creative writing major, said Giovanni is his favorite poet “of all time”?

“To see her in person makes me overwhelmingly excited.” Lay said. “Her work is important to all communities. It speaks to everyone.”

English majors were not the only ones comfortable around Giovanni. Adam Gray, a junior accounting major, was also awed by her.

“She is a very down to earth person, and she’s easy to talk to,” he said.

The event was sponsored by the Department of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs, directed by Allia Carter.

“My goal since I’ve been here is to bring one or two significant people to the university who address diversity issues,” Carter said.

Giovanni was petitioned by the Black Student Alliance and the university was able to get her to visit at a minimal cost, Carter said.

“(Giovanni) is a woman who demands much attention. We are honored to get her here,” Cater said. “Her work is history in a time capsule. She can be quite controversial, but her goal is to make a difference.”?

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 10 2006. Filed under Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry