Source: Jackson State University / Getty
Legendary activist and poet Nikki Giovanni has retired from her teaching post at Virginia Tech. The world-renowned writer and educator dedicated the last 35 years of her career to teaching English at the distinguished university.
“I hope that I’ve done a good job,” Giovanni said in a statement on Virginia Tech’s website. “I hope that I’ve done at least my fair share.”
In 1987, Giovanni landed a teaching role at the university when Ginney Fowler, a faculty member at VT’s Department of English heard the literary genius speak at a conference. The revered writer and essayist was hired to teach as part of the Commonwealth Visiting Professor program, an initiative that aimed to bring artists and scholars from different minority groups to the university.
By that time, Giovanni had already made historic strides as a prominent member of the Black Arts Movement. The Ohio native published more than two dozen volumes of influential essays, anthologies and poems, including her 1968 groundbreaking piece Black Feeling Black Talk, which highlighted the tense societal and political issues impacting Black Americans. According to the Poetry Foundation, the book sold over ten thousand copies in its first year alone.
Giovanni’s historic accomplishments
Over the years, Giovanni used her talented literary gifts to impact students in the English Department. Christal Presley, a former student of the icon, gushed about her supportive and nurturing nature
“She was the first writer who ever really told me I had talent and who I felt sincerely believed that,” Presley shared, noting how the passionate educator would always encourage her to “call” for help and guidance. “I was a nobody. I believed what she said about my writing, and that’s one of the things that has carried me through the years, through a bunch of rejections.”
After struggling to make ends meet as a writer post-graduation, a student named Alexander said that the revered poet paid him $50 to submit a poem to her book “Grand Fathers” published in 1999.
“That letter she sent me with the $50 check to pay me for the poem, those two things secured another three years of confidence in me that I could do this,” he said. “It gave me a three year boost, like a booster shot.”
While at Virginia Tech, Giovanni received over 30 honorary degrees including seven NAACP Image Awards, the inaugural Rosa L. Parks Woman of Courage Award, and the Emily Couric Leadership Award. Other notable achievements include 2009’s Bicycles: Love Poems which earned Giovanni a New York Times bestseller title.
Even though she’s moving away from her teaching post, this certainly won’t be the last we see or hear of the literary giant. The 79-year-old is gearing up to release her new children’s book “A Library” in the fall. The exciting piece will “recount her weekly visits as a child to a segregated library near her home,” VT’s website notes.
