Visionary poet and activist, Nikki Giovanni passed away at 81

Nikki Giovanni, the lauded, poet and exemplar of the Black Arts Movement, passed away on December 9, 2024, surrounded by her life-long partner, Virginia Fowler. Her death was peaceful. Giovanni was acclaimed for her poems on gender, civil rights and race, and was a creative writer with over two dozen poetry collections, essays, anthologies. She had wrote more than 10 children’s books.

She worked as an influential professor at Virginia Tech since 1987 too. Giovanni’s latest work, The Last Book, is set to be published in 2025. She was awarded a 2024 Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking for Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project.

Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, on June 7, 1943, Giovanni graduated with a degree in history from Fisk University in 1967. She became known as a leading figure in both the Black Arts and Civil Rights Movements, befriending figures such as Rosa Parks, Aretha Franklin, James Baldwin, Nina Simone, and Muhammad Ali, among others. Her work motivated generations of students, artists, and activists.

Although the cause of her death is unrevealed, she rested by her wife, Virginia Fowler, son Thomas Giovanni, granddaughter Kai Giovanni, and other family members. Giovanni once wrote, “I hope I die warmed by the life that I tried to live.”