Essay On Nikki Giovanni

Born on June 7, 1943, in Knoxville, Tennessee, Nikki Giovanni was originally named Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, Jr. Giovanni is an African-American woman that expresses her passion and ethical messages through her poetry. Throughout Giovanni’s life, she has moved around the United States numerous times, learning and adapting to new environments and new duties each time. Not all communities that she arrived at welcomed her with open arms.She inherited a powerful gratitude of her culture and heritage through her grandmother, which influenced her as a poet. As she got older she attended an all-black college, Fisk University. Her first published poetry was motivated by the assassinations of great activist like Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr.

and others because she felt the need enlighten others. In order to raise awareness she wrote novels like Re: Creation, Black feeling, and Black Talk, which was very successful, selling thousands of copies that first year.

She was recognized as one of the leaders in poet society during the new Black Renaissance. After birthing a son, she shifted her focus towards poetry for children. Written for children, her poem consisted of imagery and feelings focusing on history of African Americans to ensure the younger generation had a exposure to their heritage. Thus, this leads to her own individual experience of the oppressive society in the mid to late 1900s. “Ego-Trippin’,” one of her most famous work was written for both adults as well as children, especially for girls. So why did she write “Ego-Trippin?” This poem was composed for she wanted to offer something special to to girls and “wanted the young women to know they to are wonderful” (“Nikki Giovanni Interview Transcript”). Nikki Giovanni’s “Ego-Trippin’,” reflects a prideful outlook on life and self-worth, and through an egotistical tone, she promotes the black feminism, respect for family, and artistic expression during the

1970s.
“Ego-Tripping” was first published in 1972 in a collection of poetry titled My House. The date 1972 is extremely significant since Giovanni had her first trip to Africa in 1972. This will then come to play as she inputs her knowledge about Africa’s history and allusions within her poem, “Ego-Trippin.’”
On March 22nd of 1972, the Senate passed the Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution, which proposed banning discrimination based on sex. The E.R.A. was sent to the states for ratification, but it would fall short of the three-fourths approval needed. The ratification process slowed as anti-E.R.A. organizations mobilized. Anti-E.R.A. activists warned that the amendment would deny women privileges that revolved around the military drafting and the ability to be supported by their husbands. In the same year, the Supreme Court rules that the right to privacy encompasses an unmarried person’s right to use contraceptives (or in other words, birth control). This expands the rights and confidence of women (but that does not mean there was an instant change to people’s mindset). Shortly after, in 1973, the Supreme Court also rules to privacy and the right for women to terminate early pregnancies (abortions), spreading the rights and choice of women in the United States. In this whole process, women, diverse in age and background, are given
Throughout the 1970s, women were expanding their sexual identities and shining their newborn confidence and their rights to experiment. They were able to enjoy sexual intercourse just as men were able to, even if it continued to be a controversial debate whether it was “right” for a women to do. This is proved in a CNN article stating, “The 1970s saw the convergence of several phenomena related to sex, sexuality and gender. There was the women's liberation movement, in which women and girls who had been long told they were the inferior sex finally took to the streets, the courts and the voting booths to assert their equality” (Kohn, “The Seventies: The Sex Freakout”). Women were building their women’s rights movement, shutting down stereotypes and spreading awareness over the country. This movement made up of 51% of minorities.
In the late 1970s, more than 14,000 women gathered to confront problems and issues with President Carter. Their movement grew tremendously throughout the 1970s. Women were gathering and their courage grew to experiment with their confidence and pride, things that they were unable to risk doing before because they were forced to conform. Women have been spreading the idea of “self-worth” through the 1970s, explaining their desire to experiment with their sexualities more. Some called the 1970s era as “the sex freak-out.”
Nikki Giovanni had personal experiences with sexism or racism (being that she is a black woman). In 1957, she enters the 9th grade at Lockland High School, an all-black school, in which she gets accustomed to. However, her sister’s negative experiences in desegregating Wyoming High School causes the rest of the family to be in opposition to Nikki Giovanni attending one. Going to a conservative and small black college, Giovanni experiences issues when she is confronted with the Dean of Women, Ann Cheatam. Cheatam’s ideas about the “right” and “appropriate” behavior and attitudes for women enrolled in Fisk had contrast the ideas of Giovanni. Giovanni emphasized the “intellectual seriousness and political awareness appropriate to a college student” (Giovanni, “Chronology”). Giovanni is a prominent poet and writer who first caught the public’s attention as part of the Black Arts movement of the late 1960s. During her enrollment at Fisk University, a black renaissance was emerging. Creative artists of color were finding new ways of expressing their culture, ideologies, and their voice. “Her seventh grade teacher, Sister Althea Augustine, is an important influence on her and ultimately becomes a lifelong friend” (Giovanni, “Chronology”). When questioned for her reason in writing the poem “Ego Trippin’,” she states, “Because I wanted to give something to girls. Boys have everything to support their independence and area of wonderfulness; they have baseball players and astronauts. I wanted the young women to know that we too are wonderful, everything that happened we did it. I love that poem. I must add if I may, the joy has been that the boys have liked it also. Hearing boys recite it has been wonderful to me, which means that things that are born of love - bring love. That poem came from a lot of love” (“Nikki Giovanni Interview Transcript”). “Ego-Trippin’” is one of Giovanni’s most popular poems, and is included in a published children’s book of poetry called Ego-Tripping and Other Poems for Young People. Her poem has a strong influence on young minds about confidence and help children understand and feel black pride. As a black feminist, she advocated strength and independence, successfully influencing children throughout the country. She was enrolled in Fisk University in Nashville, and was participating in a program called “Early Entrant.” Giovanni has been taking courses in multiple colleges while balancing her busy work schedule. In total, Giovanni had had her education in three universities: Fisk University, University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia University.
As an activist for the Civil Rights Movement, Giovanni put the effort when, “In recent years, Giovanni has produced several new works.

For children, she wrote Jimmy Grasshopper Versus the Ants (2007) and Rosa (2005), a picture book about legendary civil rights figure Rosa Parks” (“Nikki Giovanni”). Throughout her promotion and contributions to the movement, she reveals through more of her works, “In her collection Racism 101 (1994), she looks back at her experiences of the civil rights movement and its aftermath” (“Nikki

Giovanni”).
Not only was she involved in one of the most powerful movements in America, but she was also a strong and influential activist for the Black Power Movement, (it can also be known as the black renaissance movement). In the 1960s and 1970s, Nikki Giovanni helped and contributed to the pathway for black intellectuals (especially women). In enrolling in a suburban-black college, a black renaissance movement was arising in Fisk, and she participated with her talent and strong voice. This connects to her actions to promote black excellence but she puts to use her creative talent through the Black Arts Movement. In 1967, Nikki Giovanni established Cincinnati's first Black Arts Festival; she wrote a book of poems in dedication to the Movement and festival.
As stated before, there were 51% of the involved women that were people of color, Giovanni was one of them in the Women’s Rights Movement. Nikki Giovanni is a feminist when feminism was not considered “popular trend”; that is why in many of her poems, she expresses the pride and power that women should feel and express everyday. For instance, in her poem, “Ego-Trippin,'” she felt emotions that she did not want to be ceased when she was done writing it.