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Analysis Of Princess Of Black Rights Activist By Nikki Giovanni

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“The state of the world we live in is so depressing. And this is not because of the reality of the men who run it but it just doesn’t have to be that way. The possibilities of life are so great and beautiful that to see less wears the spirit down.” Nikki Giovanni imagines herself living a life with a “different personality emerging all of the time” (Mitchell 1). Giovanni grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee, a considerably large city, where she established her views on life. As an emerging author, she did not let one or two harsh remarks stop her from writing multiple poems and books. She loves to share her past experiences through poems. An author, cancer survivor, mother, and Black Rights Activist, Nikki Giovanni writes how she feels in her Knoxville, …show more content…

She worked hard and made many sacrifices to be awarded with such an honor. First, she enrolled in the all-black Fisk University in Nashville. Unfortunately later that year, she was expelled due to her free spirit. That didn’t stop her, she returned in 1964 with a new outlook on life. Nikki made her college experience worth her while. She reestablished the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) at Fisk to relay the message of “black power” (“Overview” 1). This was just the start of her involvement in the black rights movement. Some of her major influences include Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Medgar Evers, John F. Kennedy, and her maternal grandmother, Louvenia Terrell Watson. The majority of Giovanni’s role models inspired her to write poems, like Black Feeling, Black Talk (1967), Black Judgement (1968), and The Funeral of Martin Luther King Jr. (1968). Her poems became …show more content…

This poem is entirely different from the other poems she has written. Giovanni sets aside her opinion of the Black Rights Movement and focuses on something closer to home. She was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and lived there in her teenage years. During her early years, she was exposed to many different religions and schools. Giovanni attended an Episcopal and an all black school. With all of her education, she established a strong literary background, reading approximately fifty books per year. On top of that, she was a developing author in the midst of the Freedom Riders, National Association Advancement of Colored People, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and marches on Washington. Knoxville, Tennessee is such a great correlation to her actual life in her adolescent years (Mitchell

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