culture, through his role as filmmaker, screen-
writer, and producer. His neighbor Spike Lee first
introduced him to the world of film. He has writ-
ten scripts for several television programs and two
feature films and was associate producer for the
critically acclaimed “Just Another Girl on the IRT.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barrett, Lindon. “Dead Men Printed: Tupac Shakur,
Biggie Small, and Hip-Hop Eulogy.” Callaloo 22,
no. 2 (1999): 306–332.
George, Nelson. Death of Rhythm and Blues. New
York: Plume, 1988.
———. Hip Hop America. New York: Penguin, 1999.
Kun, Josh. “Two Turntables and a Social Movement:
Writing Hip-Hop at Century’s End.” American
Literary History 14, no. 3 (2002): 580–592.
Reisig, Robin. “Review of Buppies, B. Boy, BAPS, &
Bohos.” New York Times Book Review, 14 March
1993, p. 724.
Ryan Dickson
Giovanni, Nikki (1943– )
Born Yolande Cornelia in Knoxville, Tennessee,
Nikki Giovanni attended Fisk University, where
she began to demonstrate her passion for social
activism. Giovanni published Black Feeling, Black
Talk and Black Judgement (both 1968), her first two
collections of poetry, shortly after graduating from
Fisk. To date, Giovanni, who emerged as a writer
during the BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT in the 1960s,
has published 24 books, including memoirs, col-
lections of essays, and children’s books. Giovanni
remains one of the most prolific African-Ameri-
can writers of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Giovanni played a central role in the develop-
ment of the Black Arts Movement. Although she
considered the poets of this movement unique, she
was convinced that they were a meaningful part
of the African-American literary tradition. In her
autobiographical work Gemini, she wrote:
Poetry is the culture of our people. We are
poets even when we don’t write poetry; just
look at our life, our rhythms, our tenderness,our signifying, our sermons and our songs. I
could just as easily say we are all musicians. We
are all preachers because we are one.... The
new Black Poets, so called, are in line with this
tradition. We rap a tale out.... The new Black
poetry is in fact just a manifestation of our col-
lective historical needs. (95–96)The tone, language, and themes of Black Feel-
ing, Black Talk/Black Judgment (published as one
volume, 1970) are representative of works pro-
duced during the Black Arts Movement. Giovanni
includes such themes as freedom, violence, black
love, and black pride; moreover, she makes gender a
central theme, especially through her examination
of the role assigned to black women in the move-
ment. Giovanni’s Black Feeling, Black Talk/Black
Judgement, similar to many of her other books,
illustrates her strong desire for change in Ameri-
can society and in the status of African Americans
within that society. Giovanni’s work is prophetic,
timeless, and filled with insights on American race
relations and blackness/BLACK POWER.
Giovanni sounds a clarion cry for African
Americans to initiate political and social changes.
She is most concerned about the rift between the
black middle class and the masses and the effects
of white physical and psychological violence on
the black community as a whole. For example,
in “Poem (No Name No. 3),” Giovanni writes,
“If the Black Revolution passes you by it’s for
damned / sure / the white reaction to it won’t”
(Giovanni, 25). Giovanni is equally critical of the
methods used to control and silence charismatic
African-Americans leaders. The speaker in “Poem
(No Name No. 3)” notes:They already got Malcolm
They already got LeRoi
They already strapped a harness on Rap
They already pulled Stokely’s teeth
They already here if you can hear properly
negroes. (Giovanni 24)The “negroes” Giovanni refers to here are African
Americans who place, in her view, too much stock
in a white-defined integration.202 Giovanni, Nikki