Nikki Giovanni was born in 1943 in Knoxville, Tenn. An award-winning author and poet, she has lectured to packed audiences around the world. In 1971 she had a gold record for recording Truth is on its Way with a gospel album featuring one of her poems. Lyrics from her 1960’s album Ego-Tripping remain in the hearts and minds of many to this day. I asked her where the idea came from. “It was really written for a little girl. I almost hate to say it because little boys like it too.
I really got tired of hearing all the little girl games, such as Little Sally Walker. You get so sick of that crap. And they were always turning to the East and Turning to the West. It was tiresome.” For those who want to become writers, Giovanni provides many tips in And Still We Rise. One is: If you wait you will find what you are good at. Waiting is like prayer. It is action. You prepare and prepare. Giovanni teaches writing at Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, VA.
In the 1960s Nikki Giovanni’s poem, Ego-Tripping, became such a hit that the hand-clapping beat and gutsy lyrics stuck in my heart. I was certain Giovanni was a name of an African prince, certain that Nikki had assumed that name during the decade when name changing was common for those of African descent. Everyone looked the other way when my grandmother said, “that’s an Italian name.” After Nikki and I became friends, I asked about her African name. “African? That’s my family name. It’s Italian.”
Read more about Nikki Giovanni in our exclusive interview, only available in my book, And Still We Rise.
All copies purchased here include:
-Authentic Autograph by the Author
Bishop Alfred A. Owens, Jr: has risen from a storefront preacher to a world stage of evangelism. He struggles through life without the love of a father; yet he has become a spiritual father to thousands.
With the same exuberance in which he once preached to seven people, his messages of hope now reach millions. While other churches flee the ghetto for Doing Good in the Hood the affluent suburbs, he proudly affirms his congregation “as the church in the hood that will do you good.”
He extols his congregants in a mission to “rise up and build.” As he continues to plant churches worldwide, he still walks humbly, loves deeply and has surrendered all to the Gospel. Bishop Alfred Owens has combined spiritual fervor and seminary training to build one of the nation’s most effective Pentecostal institutions.
