Nikki Giovanni, the Civil Rights Movement leader, poet and professor at Virginia Tech, has died of cancer, WDBJ 7 reported Monday. She was 81.
Giovanni began her undergraduate studies at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, as an “early entrant,” a designation that allowed her to begin college without having finished high school. She left the school for several years due to a dispute with the then-Dean but returned in 1964.
Giovanni published three books of poetry after graduating in 1967: “Black Feeling, Black Talk,” “Black Judgement,” and “Re: Creation.” She would go on to publish over two dozen volumes of poetry, essays, and anthologies as well as 11 children’s books.