Short Biography Of Nikki Giovanni

Nikki Giovanni was a poet and a writer that was born within as Yolande Corneila Giovanni Jr., Giovanni was a prominent poet and writer that had first caught the publics attention as a being part of the Blacks Arts Movement back in the late 1960s. Giovanni was also a civil rights activists and a television personality.

Marian Anderson, an operatic singer from the slums of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was not only a beautiful voice, but also an important impact on African-American history. Helping civil rights advocates through the 20th century, she stood up for what she believed in and has inspired other African Americans to do the same. Marian Anderson was born on February 27, 1897 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to her father John and mother Annie Delilah Rucker. She had two sister Ethel and Alice Anderson. Being members of the Union Baptist Church, Anderson was exposed to music and singing at a very young age.

Maya Angelou was inspired to read by several amazing authors and an educated Black woman. “She read books by Langston Hughes, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Paul Lawrence Dunbar”. .”(Poetry Foundation, 2008). Maya said, “Even though she and Bailey were discouraged from reading the works of white writers at home, Angelou read and fell in love with the works of William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and Edgar Allan Poe.”(Poetry Foundation, 2008). Mrs. Flower’s was someone who also once played a wonderful role in her life. She was the person whom was able to get Maya to speak again when she was young. Mrs. Flowers was a charming gentlewoman who was an aristocrat in the small town of Black Stamps. She would give Maya books to take home, and she would tell her to read the books aloud. “She explained the importance of education, importance of the spoken word, and instilled in her a love of poetry. ”(Poetry Foundation, 2008). Maya became so interested in writing that she moved to New York and joined the Harlem Writers Guide in the late 50’s and began her writing career.

Esther Popel was born in July 16, 1896 in Harrisburg, PA to a mother and father named Helen King Anderson, and Joseph Gibbs. Esther had two siblings, an older sister and a younger brother. Esther was a woman that accomplished a lot, but is never heard too much about. In a Popel’s life time she had a career in teaching, says The Daily Times. She was also an active Harlem Renaissance poet, involved in The Negro History, and education. Popel was a founder of many African American women organizations

Nikki Giovanni, Poet, Activist, Educator. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.)

Gwendolyn brooks was born in Topeka, Kansas. Her family moved to Chicago during the great migration when Brooks was six weeks old. Her first poem was published when she was 13 and at the age of 17, she already had a series of poems published in the poetry column “Lights and shadows” in the Chicago defender newspaper. . After working for The NAACP, she began to write poems that focus on urban poor blacks. Those poems were later published as a collection in 1945. The collection was titled A Street in Bronzeville. A street in bronzeville received critical acclaim but it was her next work, Annie Allen, that was got her the Pulitzer Prize. She lived in Chicago until her death on December 3, 2000 at age of 83.

When a person grows up, they are in constant search of their identity, of who they are. Yet, the identity of a person is too complex for anyone to form assumptions about it because it involves more than one factor. The assumptions themselves may be insulting to others who truly know what their marginalized group has. According to the poem Nikki-Rose by Nikki Giovanni, “I really hope no white person ever has cause to write about me” (73). People can never enter the minds of others, they can only speculate from what they have seen or heard. Giovanni states that she does not want anyone to write about her, which shows that she believes they will not receive correct information. People may have honest intentions when they produce a comment

The poem, “Nikki-rosa” written by Nikki Giovanni, an African American poet, who was born in 1943. During the sixties, she emerged as a black poet whose militancy during the civil rights movement made her immensely popular. In 1968, she published the poem “Nikki-rosa”. In the poem “Nikki-rosa”, she uses her childhood as the basis of this story. Nikki-rosa communicates through her childhood memories, the belief that white people and black people have fundamentally different ideas about wealth and happiness. That white people and black people see their personal life experiences differently. Wealth for black people is love, family, and togetherness; not tangible items. The sense of community and acceptance was more valuable than having even an

The poet, writer, and activist Nikki Giovanni were born as Yolande Cornelia Giovanni Jr. She was born on June 7, 1943, in Knoxville, Tennessee. Throughout her career, she has spoken on being sick all the time and missing school left her with a love for words(Giovanni). In a brief profile of herself, Giovanni stated: “I think I was lucky because I was always sniffling… which meant I gotta stay from school a lot. Which meant I could read the books I wanted to read.

She has also written essays, reviews, and books. She is also a prolific poet, becoming extensive in writing poetry which moves from the traditional ones to even the unrestricted free verse. Her characters are mostly from the underclass of the black neighborhoods which shows the impact of city life to the people within. As one of the most visible poets in the United States, she is active not only in public readings and poetry workshops but she also participates in contests and classes

On the other hand, as Giovanni introduces whom she portrays in the poem she also introduces her conviction for her race and ethnic roots. The poem’s setting can be evidently noted as Africa. Based on the analysis produced by Encyclopedia.com, “By making the speaker a strong and powerful goddess, Giovanni counters the oppression that so many blacks have had to endure in the US.” She also exemplifies how proud she is of her background in the exact first line of the poem firmly stating “I was born in the Congo.” For a multitude of African Americans Africa is a continent whose history is looked upon for meaning and understanding of the African American origins. As well as, viewed in a sense whose history contests to more than two hundred

After graduating, Cullen entered New York University, where his works attracted critical attention. Cullen's first collection of poems, Color was published in the same year he graduated from NYU. Written in a traditional style, the work celebrated black beauty and deplored the effects of racism. (Brown, 2012)

In the poem Ego Tripping, Nikki Giovanni uses the voice of a woman speaker who is strong, proud and independent.The word “ego- trip” describes an act of behaving in a self-seeking manner(“Ego- Trip”). Therefore, this is one of the main messages the poem tries to send across to its readers.Although Giovanni targets this poem at an audience of men and women of color, she also aims this poem at herself. She tries to see the good inside of herself. Giovanni inculcates the themes of Religion, Identity, and Africa into her poem. Although Nikki Giovanni penned this poem in 1972, when racial discrimination was at its peak, its messages are still very useful to us even today. The world today, is not much different from 1972.

Nikki Giovanni uses free verse, hyperbole, and symbolism in her poems, Nikki- Rosa, Ego Tripping, The Beep Beep Poem, and Kidnap Poem. Her style is to make the audience to create a descriptive picture and a deep understanding of Nikki’s perspective of her life of being a Black- American, which she didn’t let the color of her skin stop her from dreaming, creating her own imaginative life in her poet’s world.

Historically, surveillance came in the form of a watch tower, designed to watch out for danger in order to protect citizens. In a more recent context, the implementation has evolved now to supervise the citizens in order to watch out for danger. The modern “watch tower” does not occupy the same physical space as its predecessor and does not impress by its height, but rather, impresses by its seemingly omnipresent eye in all channels of society and its reach into the lives of individuals, but that reach is only enough to protect very specific dangers. Although mass surveillance portrays itself as proficient in preventing threats to a collective, Nikki Giovanni’s “Surveillance” reveals her mother’s physical abuse and, as a result, the dissonance