Nikki Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennessee , to Yolande Cornelia, Sr. and Jones "Gus" Giovanni. She grew up in Lincoln Heights , a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio , though she returned to Knoxville to live with her grandparents in 1958, and attended the city's Austin High School . In 1960, she began her studies at her grandfather's alma mater, Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee . She had a difficult time adjusting to college life and was subsequently expelled. However, she realized that she needed an education, drove back to Nashville, spoke with the Dean of Women, and was readmitted. In 1967, she graduated with honors with a B.A. in History. She returned to Cincinnati and established the city's first Black Arts Festival. Giovanni also began writing the poems that are included in her first self-published volume, Black Feeling, Black Talk (1968). Afterward she went on to attend graduate school at the University o...