A Nikki Giovanni Chronology

1914  Birth of Jones “Gus” Giovanni, the poet’s father, just outside Mobile, Alabama, to Mattie Jones and Thomas Giovanni.

1919  Birth of Yolande Cornelia Watson, Giovanni’s mother, in Albany, Georgia.

1939  Yolande Watson marries Jones Giovanni in Knoxville, Tennessee, on July 3.

1940  Gary Ann Giovanni, the poet’s sister, is born on September 2.

1943  Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, Jr., is born on June 7 in Knoxville General Hospital, Knoxville, Tennessee. In August, the Giovanni family of four moves to Cincinnati, Ohio, home of her father, where her parents take jobs as house parents at Glenview School, a home for black boys. The children and their mother make frequent visits to their grandparents’ home in Knoxville throughout their childhood. At some point during Giovanni’s first three years, her sister—for reasons no one really understands—begins calling her baby sister “Nikki.”

1947  The family leaves Glenview and moves briefly to Woodlawn, a suburb of Cincinnati. Father teaches at South Woodlawn School and works evenings and weekends at the ymca. Because Woodlawn has no elementary school for black children, sister Gary lives with father’s half-brother and his wife, Bill and Gladys Atkinson, in Columbus, Ohio, where she attends second grade.

1948  Family moves to a house on Burns Avenue in nearby Wyoming, another suburb of Cincinnati. Giovanni begins kindergarten at Oak Avenue School, where her teacher is Mrs. Elizabeth Hicks; Giovanni’s sister Gary enters third grade there.

1949–52  Giovanni completes the first, second, and third grades at Oak Avenue School, while her sister completes the fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. In 1951, her mother accepts a third-grade teaching position at St. Simon School, an all-black Episcopal school in the nearby black suburb of Lincoln Heights.

1952  Gus Giovanni makes a down payment on a home at 1167 Jackson Street in Lincoln Heights and moves his family there. Originally, Giovanni’s parents had hoped to be able to build a home in a new all-black housing development called Hollydale. But after having had their money tied up in this real estate venture for several years, they realize that obtaining a loan to build a home was not going to be possible in the foreseeable future; racist lending practices simply could not be circumvented. With the money he makes from selling his stock in this venture, her father is able to make the down payment on the Jackson Street house. During World War II, Lincoln Heights had originally been known as The Valley Homes, affordable housing for employees of General Electric, but with the economic boom following the war, white residents of Valley Homes began moving to other suburbs. The United States government sold the homes to a corporation of black citizens, and Lincoln Heights was born Giovanni enters 4th grade at St. Simon School where her mother teaches 3rd grade. Her sister enrolls in 7th grade at South Woodlawn School, where their father teaches

1953–57  Giovanni continues her schooling at St. Simon’s School, where she completes 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. Her seventh grade teacher, Sister Althea Augustine, is an important influence on her and ultimately becomes a lifelong friend. Her sister Gary enters Wyoming High School as one of the three black students who desegregated the previously all-white school. In 1955, when Emmett Till is killed, her teacher makes the comment that “He got what he deserved.” Gary and her friend Beverly Waugh walk out in protest. Eventually, the school makes an official apology. Also during this period, Giovanni’s father quits his teaching job to take a better-paying position as a probation officer in the Hamilton County Juvenile Detention Office. Through his contacts in that position, he is able to help Giovanni’s mother obtain a position with the Hamilton County Welfare Department which carries better wages than the $100 a month she has been earning as a teacher at St. Simon’s School.

1957–58  Giovanni enters the 9th grade at Lockland High School, an all-black school. Her sister’s negative experiences in desegregating Wyoming High School make her and her parents...