In 1994, Virginia Tech professor of English Nikki Giovanni spoke at the annual banquet of the Waynesboro branch of the NAACP.
“She was our Freedom Fund speaker and I’ll never forget the theme for her speech was ‘The System is Wrong,'” said branch president Joyce Colemon.
Colemon added that Giovanni, who retired from VTech in 2022 and died on December 9, was a “phenomenal” speaker in 1994.
“I think she was spiritually led,” Colemon said of Giovanni’s ability to intuitively anticipate events before they “came to fruition.”
For example, on April 16, 2007, Colemon’s son was attending VTech when reports spread across Virginia that an active shooter was on campus. According to Colemon, Giovanni had alerted administration about the writing of one of her students, a “troubling” essay for one of her classes written by a young man who would later cause a mass shooting on campus.
Colemon retired in 2020 from teaching the GED program for Waynesboro Schools. She said she also could pick up on student mentality and behavior by their performance in class
“When that happened, it was just so unfortunate,” Colemon said.
At the NAACP’s 1994 banquet, Colemon said Giovanni was also aware of what needed to be addressed before others knew. She had received the NAACP Image Award for her writing which addressed racial inequality in the United States. Giovanni was willing to shine a light on what others chose to overlook. She knew that policy improvements were necessary and “she spoke it” when it came to racial issues and education.
“I said she was before her time,” Colemon said.
Giovanni spoke one other time for the Waynesboro branch and also at a Waynesboro education program, for which the VTech professor’s theme was “Education: The Key to Success.”
Colemon described Giovanni as “a wonderful person, very poetic,” who was an inspiration to many. “She touched so many lives.”
After 20 years teaching the GED program, Colemon had the highest number of students graduate with their GED in Waynesboro than in any other school system in Virginia. She credits her success to treating her students as if they were her own children much like Giovanni did with her college students.
“I think it’s more than just teaching, it’s developing relationships with students,” Colemon said.
Coleman said that Giovanni’s writing was so important and made an impact because “she touched on areas that needed to be addressed and shouldn’t have still been continuing,” such as racial inequality in the U.S.
Giovanni was 81 years old when she died after a third battle with cancer. She is survived by her partner, Virginia Fowler, and son, Thomas Giovanni, her granddaughter, Kai Giovanni, and other family.
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Rebecca Barnabi
