“If you don’t understand yourself you don’t understand anybody else,” said Nikki Giovanni in 1971. This wasn’t just a mere sentence for her; it was her life. She grew up in Knoxville in the 1950s—It was an era in the South associated with segregation and the Civil Rights Movement. As a young black girl in a segregated society, Giovanni had to face not just racial discrimination, but also economic difficulties, and all of this is reflected in her work. In her poem ‘Nikki-Rose’, she wrote: “I really hope no white person ever has cause to write about me because they never understand black love is black wealth and they’ll probably talk about my hard childhood and never understand that all the while I was quite happy.”

As happy as she was, the poet was also rebellious. In 1961, Giovanni attended Fisk—a historically Black university—to study history. She was a voracious reader so, it was no surprise she edited the university’s literary magazine. However, she got expelled after just one semester because of her contentious relationship with the school’s dean. Her political activism and her tendency to challenge the school’s rules and curfews didn’t sit well with the dean. She enrolled in the same school three years later—under a new dean—who agreed to clean her record.

Giovanni’s courage came from her childhood. Born as Yolande Cornelia Giovanni Jr. on June 7, 1943, she was nicknamed Nikki by her older sister, Gary Ann. Giovanni’s father was abusive towards her mother. But what enraged her more was her mother’s acceptance of it. By 15, “I was either going to kill him or leave,” she once shared. Unfortunately, ‘The Princess of Black Poetry’ has passed away.

As per reports, the poet died peacefully on Monday with her partner, Virginia ‘Ginney’ Fowler, by her side. She had been diagnosed with cancer for the third time. She died because of complications with lung cancer. Giovanni had a son named Thomas Watson Giovanni, in 1969 but never married the father because as per her, “I didn’t want to get married, and I could afford not to get married.”

“We will forever feel blessed to have shared a legacy and love with our dear cousin,” said Giovanni’s cousin, Allison Ragan, in a statement. The poet’s death has affected some of the biggest names in the country. Sha’Carri Richardson is one of them. Just Giovanni, the track and field star has spoken about the importance of self-love: “When you wake up in the morning… you have to say, ‘I love you,’ because it may be the only time you hear it.”

Sha’Carri, feeling the weight of Giovanni’s death, took to her Instagram stories and wrote, “Rest in peace,” with a heart emoji, showing just how much the poet meant to her.

Giovanni used her voice to address issues related to Black identity and Black liberation. She was friends with some cultural icons and fellow wordsmiths like Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, and Toni Morrison. She also knew Rosa Parks, Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, and Muhammad Ali.

Diminutive at 105 pounds but larger than life: Nikki Giovanni

Giovanni was a small woman. Weighing about 105 pounds, reporters never filed to mention her small stature in comparison to her larger-than-life persona. People were drawn to her like a magnet. She once even said that her best audiences were college students and prison inmates.

She was 29 in 1972 when she sold out the 1,000-plus seats at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall. She read her poems while gospel music was performed in the background. Similarly, on her 30th birthday, the Philharmonic Hall (now David Geffen Hall) was sold out. All the 3,000 seats!

The poet was joined by Melba Moore and Wilson Pickett and sang gospel songs. Moved by the spectacle, the audience joined in; especially when Giovanni read one of her most emotional pieces called, ‘Ego-Tripping’. This is a work that several generations of young black girls have performed at schools. It goes like:

I was born in the congo
I walked to the fertile crescent and built
the sphinx
I designed a pyramid so tough that a star
that only glows every one hundred years falls
into the center giving divine perfect light
I am bad

It continues:

I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal
I cannot be comprehended
except by my permission
I mean … I … can fly
Like a bird in the sky …

Her early works were militant: ‘The Murder of Emmett Till’, or when she wrote about the four Black girls in the Birmingham church bombing. But Giovanni, who was incredibly close to her grandmother, wanted to write something she could read as well. And that’s how she recorded an album, ‘Truth is on its Way’ (1971) with the New York Community Choir.