PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas (April 15, 2022) – It was an exciting week for Prairie View A&M University faculty, staff and students. The university held multiple events to culminate the year-long appointment of its inaugural Writer-in-Residence, Nikki Giovanni, under PVAMU’s Toni Morrison Writing Program.
The award-winning creative legend began her visit on Tuesday at Houston’s Ensemble Theatre with a private lecture entitled “The Inimitable Nikki Giovanni: Reading, Reflecting and Rejoicing.”
“I hardly imagined two years ago that an effort to bring the arts into flourishing and sharp relief at Prairie View would result in an evening of this moment. But here we are,” said President Ruth J. Simmons. “The magnificent Nikki Giovanni has been our guide and our inspiration, our prod and our teacher for many decades. We are delighted to have her with us as the inaugural writer-in-residence in the Toni Morrison Writing Program. And would Toni be pleased, Nikki; she would be so pleased to know that you are here doing this work.”
During the event, Giovanni received proclamations from Representatives Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) and Harold Dutton (D-TX) and the City of Houston, declaring April 12, 2022, Nikki Giovanni Day.
“I was thrilled when Drs. Simmons and Emma Joahanne Thomas-Smith invited me to be a part of this; I am very pleased, and of course, I love Toni Morrison. She was a very close friend. And to be invited to be a part of the Toni Morrison Writing Program is an honor,” Giovanni said.
Giovanni read pieces of her work and provided invaluable lessons to the audience. Her full talk can be viewed on PVAMU’s official YouTube channel below.
Wednesday morning began with a surprise for students at Waller ISD’s H.T. Jones Elementary. Giovanni had several virtual visits throughout the year to Jones. However, this was the first time the students were able to see her in person. They read poetry to her, and she read to the students from her book, “I Am Loved.”
Teaching to Transgress
“The classroom remains the most radical space of possibility in the academy… I add my voice to the collective call for renewal and rejuvenation in our teaching practices… I celebrate teaching that enables transgressions – a movement against and beyond boundaries. It is that movement which makes education the practice of freedom.”
This quote by the late author and social activist bell hooks laid the foundation for the third event of the week, which featured both Giovanni and PVAMU’s Activist-in-Residence Melina Abdullah. “Teaching to Transgress: A Conversation on Activism, Writing and HBCUs” was a moderated panel led by Melanye Price ’95, endowed professor and director of the Ruth J. Simmons Center for Race and Justice.
“Students are looking to the classroom to be a space for true knowledge, conversation and reflection on these important issues,” said Dorie J. Gilbert, dean of the Marvin D. and June Samuel Brailsford College of Arts and Sciences, in her introduction of the panel. The college is the organizational home of the Ruth J. Simmons Center for Race and Justice and the Toni Morrison Writing Program. “Now is the time to help our students empathize, reimagine, think broadly, examine critically, and engage in research, speech, writings and practices that help transform our society.”
Price began the conversation by asking the duo about what people saw in them and nurtured as children that led to them becoming writers and activists.
“I think in a world that tries to turn Black women into mules, it’s really important that we have people in our lives who tell us that we’re not mules and who teach us to take up space. My mother, my grandmother and my grandfather taught me to take up space,” Abdullah said.
Abdullah and Giovanni, who both attended HBCUs, said these institutions greatly molded their being.
“I would not be who I am had I not gone to Howard University, had I not had an entire campus of folks who saw me the way my mother, the way my grandfather, and the way that the people in my neighborhood saw us,” Abdullah said. “That’s the way that everyone at Howard saw us and nurtured us into who we were to become.”
The women also gave sound advice to dozens of PVAMU students who were in attendance. Giovanni mentioned several things that were key to her success: “I’ve just always wanted me. Any writer in this room, if you can’t be lonely, if you can’t be alone, if you can’t watch, if you can’t imagine, if you can’t sit and read a book, you’re not going to be a writer.”
“You can always say, ‘I tried to be a writer, but they wouldn’t publish my book,’” Giovanni continued. “Well, if they don’t publish your book, publish it yourself.”
Abdullah mentioned in reference to bell hooks, “She reminds us all that we have an obligation to do.”
Price concluded the program by saying, “I think that’s what both of you really represent: the call for us to be our authentic selves, whatever that authentic looks like. And I think more than anything, you all tell us that you don’t just end up a thing; you have to work at it. You have to do it. You have to practice it. And so, you might, at some point, be a writer, but the way you become that writer is that you actually write. And you might be an activist, and the way you become an activist is that you actually resist and stand up for things.”
Lessons for Life
PVAMU students attended a final Master Class with Giovanni Wednesday afternoon. Similar to Jones Elementary students, all of their interactions with Giovanni have been virtual. So, it was exciting to receive knowledge from Giovanni in the flesh.
“The Toni Morrison Program has helped me not only to feel empowered through my passion for storytelling but also to understand the power that the realm of literature holds,” Jayven Rashard Jean-Louis, a junior computer science major and aspiring screenwriter/director, said. “Participating in this masterclass was a pivotal moment in my career due to the immersive experience that I’ve received through the unapologetic yet passionate teachings from Nikki Giovanni.”
“The new Toni Morrison Writing Program is a major landmark in the great history of the university,” said Teta Banks, Ed.D., committee chair of the Toni Morrison Writing Program. “It continues the tradition and dedication of the university to provide excellence in education—in all its forms—to its students and the community. The inaugural writer-in-residence, the great poet Nikki Giovanni, has been the epitome of excellence in creative writing, social thought, communication, and the arts as a vehicle for social change.”
“Empowering our students to use writing to have their voices heard and power felt is indeed proof that the work we have done, and we continue to do, in HBCUs matters,” said Emma Joahanne Thomas-Smith, Ed.D., director of the Toni Morrison Writing Program.
Click below to watch This Week on ‘The Hill’ on PVAMU’s official YouTube channel, which features special footage from this week.
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