Truth Is On Its Way

Check out the sister site for Nikki Giovanni and the 'Truth Is On Its Way' documentary to check out the Director's Diary.

Seems only appropriate.

A Summer Love Poem by Nikki Giovanni

Clouds float by on a summer sky
I hop scotch over to you

Rainbows arch from ground to gold
I climb over to you

Thunder grumbles, lightning tumbles
And I bounce over to you

Sun beams back and catches me
Smiling over at you

For our visitors we are calling for your help. Currently we are looking for hip hop artists and spoken word artists for the project. We would greatly appreciate your or a friends' submissions for the documentary. Email us if interested and we'll get back to you with the proper paper work so we can get this together, your effort is appreciated.

Click here to email

Thank You.

Here is some more of Nikki's take on Tupac:

For the beginning check out the video and for more on Nikki, Hip Hop, the docu, and more click here.

Our current goal for "Truth Is On Its Way" is to enter into Sundance Film Festival and have it screened there. However we've currently run into some snags but we should still be on the path to make their Sept. 11 deadline. We'll keep you abreast of developments with a coming Director's Diary.

Hello all. We plan to have a clip from the documentary posted soon.

The Documentary is entitled "Truth Is On Its Way." "Truth" has been the producer's, Fran Harris, dream for quite some time. Introduced to Nikki's work at age six, Fran had kept an uncanny knowledge of every word from Nikki's album "Truth Is On Its Way" when she received a dubbed cassette from her sister in 2000. Having not heard the album in "over twenty years" Fran felt the words and knew something must be done.

Two weeks later the Fran produced, "A Night with Nikki" occurred. The stage production was comprised of three white women and three black women reciting and acting out a selection of Nikki's work form the 70s. The production ran successfully for three weeks, playing to a variety of audience members.

The production and the 2003 appearance of Nikki Giovanni at Fran's alma mater prompted Fran to leave Nikki a voicemail regarding this documentary, and receive the reply she desired: "“Hey Fran, this is Nikki Giovanni. Yeah, I'd love to hear your ideas for doing a documentary . . .”" And the rest is, as Nikki would say, truth.

"Truth" will feature a combination of interviews, performances (live and taped), recitations and cut-ins, plus photos from Nikki'’s personal collection, archival photos, footage and music (gospel and contemporary) from the era she grew up in. Nikki's story moves through Women'’s Movement, Civil Rights era, and the emergence of hip hop and the rap revolution.

• Why she feels she hasn'’t enjoyed the same celebration as other literary greats such as Alice Walker, Toni Morrison, or Zora Neale Hurston.
• Why people think she hates white people.
• What it was like to be a single parent in the 60s.
• Civil rights; threats on her life; Malcolm & Martin Luther King Jr.
• How her work has been received by people of all races.
• The impact her grandmother had on her work and life.
• Why she loves Tupac Shakur and rap music.

When were you first introduced to Nikki Giovanni? Was it through her poetry, albums, or as a public figure?

Has her work been instrumental in your life and if so, how?

First, we'd like to introduce you to the lady on the right. For those that don't know this is the poet, activist, mother, sometimes militant, but always compelling Nikki Giovanni.

Nikki was born Yolanda Cornelia Giovanni, Jr. on June 7, 1943 in Knoxville, Tennessee. At the age of six she was nicknamed Nikki by her maternal grandmother, Louvenia.

Since her emergence Nikki Giovanni has authored more than a dozen books and received 19 honorary doctorate degrees. She has also been recognized with two NAACP’s Image Awards, an Ebony Women of the Year (1970) and a Madamoiselle’s Woman of the Year (1971), among many others.

Her books include Racism 101, and exhibit the bold, unapologetic flavor of this great American poet. Poems such as Ego Tripping, My House and Black Talk/Black Judgment, underscore her relentless pursuit of equality as well as the need for individuals to define themselves, or what she sums up as "Truth."

Nikki is currently a distinguished professor at Virginia Tech University in Blacksburg, Va. She also still tours the country speaking her mind.