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Nikki Giovanni is a Black American poet, essayist, and lecturer, whose work influenced many throughout the years of the BAM. Giovanni was born Yolande Cornelia Giovanni, Jr., in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1943. She attended Fisk University where she received her degree in 1967. Giovanni has since further studied at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Social Work and Columbia University's School of Fine Arts. In 1970 Giovanni founded a publishing company called Niktom Limited. She now works as a professor in the English department of Virginia Polytechnical Institute.

Giovanni believes that change is necessary for growth. Her poetry is renowned for its call of urgency for Black people to realize their identities and understand their surroundings as part of a white-controlled culture. She is considered a leader in the Black poetry movement. Her collection of poetry, Black Feeling, Black Talk, Black Judgement, captures the militant attitude of the civil rights and Black Art movements of that time. In other works, Giovanni also focuses on her family and personal relationships. She is known for her recordings of her conversations with prominent African-American writers James Baldwin and Margaret Walker. Giovanni continues to write, speak and teach about the history and future of Black people and has become a symbol of the BAM, as well as for Black women and women writers today.

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