20 pages • 40 minutes read
Knoxville, Tennessee
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Further Reading & Resources
Related Poems
"Dreams" by Nikki Giovanni (1968)
"Dreams,” another poem featured in Black Feeling, Black Talk/Black Judgment, provides an interesting counterpoint to the themes addressed in “Knoxville, Tennessee.” Rather than telling the tale of a little girl embraced by her community, the poem deals with the exclusion of Black people from mainstream culture. Here, the speaker aspires in her childhood to be a backup singer for Ray Charles: a "raelet." But she comes to learn that "black people aren't / suppose [sic] to dream" (Lines 3-4). As she matures and becomes sensible, she abandons her desire to sing and instead becomes the thing or person that someone sings about: a muse, a “sweet inspiration” (Line 19). Ultimately, as an act of rebellion or defiance against the imposition that Black people aren't supposed to dream, the speaker becomes that which people dream about.
"History as Process" by Amiri Baraka (1964)
Another towering figure in the Black Arts Movement, Amira Baraka's “History as Process” addresses some of the same themes as Giovanni's “Knoxville, Tennessee.” Baraka’s text, however, is more dependent on the formal precedents of Modernist literary forebears, such as Louis Zukofsky and Ezra Pound. Like Giovanni's poem, Baraka’s work describes the need to realize and understand an authentically Black community—a visionary utopia between the merely "adequate thighs of all humanity" (Line 16). As a companion piece to “Knoxville, Tennessee,” Baraka's poem showcases the diversity of influences, perspectives, and talents inherent in the Black Arts Movement.
"In Praise of Okra" by January Gill O'Neil (2009)
January Gill O'Neil’s "In Praise of Okra" relates to Giovanni's poem in the way it explores the shared, communal experience a person can have with food. While the speaker in "Knoxville, Tennessee" seems quite content with picking and eating raw okra from her father's garden, the speaker in O'Neil's poem humorously observes that Black people tend to overlook okra whenever it's served. O'Neil's poem describes the history of okra; the way it came to American soil parallels the historic struggles of African Americans: "you were brought from Africa / as seeds, hidden in the ears and hair / of slaves" (Lines 13-15). And just as these early cooks had to learn how to "make something out of nothing" (Line 25), okra became a symbol of Black perseverance: "still tough, unbruised" (Line 29).
Further Literary Resources
Black Feeling, Black Talk/Black Judgement by Nikki Giovanni (1970)
This book is the foundation of Giovanni's literary career. Comprising her first two individual poetry collections, Black Feeling, Black Talk/Black Judgement not only gives the reader a glimpse into Giovanni's early poetics and politics but is a seminal contribution to the Black Arts Movement in its own right. Other writers associated with the movement, in their own ways, occupied the theme of Blackness running through these early collections, but Giovanni addresses her chosen theme in a way that doesn't easily align with any particular aesthetic or political program. One learns a good deal about American society through Giovanni’s earliest work—and a good deal about what it was like to be a Black woman during the tumultuous 1960s.
Knoxville, Tennessee by Nikki Giovanni (1994)
Giovanni’s poem “Knoxville, Tennessee” was given a new form in this beautiful, illustrated book. A collaboration between the poet and artist Larry Johnson, this book gives the reader an idea of what Giovanni's books for children are generally like. While she drafted the poem during what was arguably her most "militant" phase in the 1960s, “Knoxville, Tennessee” has an openness about it that underscores its focus on Black solidarity. The paintings reproduced in the book are remarkable in their own right. Larry Johnson, the artist, is also a minister; he has an ingrained sensitivity for representing the more transcendental themes suggested in Giovanni's poem.
The Black Arts Movement: Literary Nationalism in the 1960s and 1970s by James Smethurst (2005)
James Smethurst’s study of the Black Arts Movement traces its origins from a web of influences—not least of which was a kind of Old-World bohemianism. How these influences crystallized into the artistic forms known today is one of the primary focuses of his study. Apart from the origins of the Black Arts Movement, Smethurst is also invested in describing its influence on contemporary culture—especially the way the Black Arts Movement altered how public funding operates. True to its goals and origins, the Black Arts Movement was not simply a new aesthetic, but a way of effectively transforming the economic and social landscape of the US, situating Black artists and intellectuals at the forefront of a revolutionary avant-garde.
Listen to the Poem
Nikki Giovanni visits her hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee, to read her influential poem on the occasion of the unveiling of a new historical marker established by the City of Knoxville and Mayor Madeline Rogero.
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By Nikki Giovanni
