Nikki Giovanni
Birth Name: Yolande Cornelia Giovanni
Place of Birth: Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Date of Birth: June 7, 1943
Date of Death: December 9, 2024
Place of Death: Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.
Ethnicity: African-American, 1/8 Italian
Ancestry/Genealogy:
Nikki Giovanni was an American poet, author, activist, and television personality. She wrote numerous poetry anthologies, essays, and children’s books. She also recorded spoken word albums. She was involved in the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Nikki also appeared on the television series “Soul!” She was also a professor at Virginia Tech.
Nikki grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio as well as Knoxville, Tennessee. She had one child.
Nikkie was the daughter of Yolanda, born in Georgia, and Jones/Gus Giovanni, born in Alabama.
Nikki’s paternal grandparents, Mattie and Thomas Giovanni, were born in Alabama. On the 1880 Census, Thomas lists his father’s birthplace as Italy. His mother, Susan, was born in South Carolina.
Genealogy of Nikki Giovanni:
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/GJWD-9FQ
Is that actually true? Not many Italians in the South in 1800s
There are two guys with the last name Giovanni in Alabama on the 1850 census. Their ages are listed 35 and 40, and their birth country is given as France. Maybe the line originates with them. I assume the “Italy” on the census was just an assumption, kind of like Chris Mulkey and his purportedly Spanish ancestor.
In the 1870 census, there are some Giovannis all born in Louisiana who are listed as “mulatto” (I assume they’re just ethnic Italians, but it shows you how easy it was for an Italian guy to pass himself off as black back then).
There’s also a “Jasper Giovani”, b. 1838, living in Alabama with his wife and two children who is listed as black. He’s not on any other record I can find, but I would assume he is related to this Giovanni line.
No white person at that time was “passing themselves off as black.” That is patently ridiculous.