Yolande Cornelia “Nikki” Giovanni Jr., the beloved Knoxville native and internationally recognized poet and provocateur, died Monday in Blacksburg, Virginia. Giovanni, 81, held many titles. She was a writer, activist, educator, recipient of the Langston Hughes Medal and NAACP Image Award, Grammy Award nominee and much more.

On her visits back to her hometown, Giovanni would stop at the Beck Cultural Exchange Center to look through the archival room at her family's history. Last year, she sent almost 50 boxes of her treasured items to be featured in a permanent exhibit.

Nikki Giovanni, the groundbreaking poet, author, and professor whose work embodied the spirit of the Black Arts Movement and beyond, died on Monday in Blacksburg, Virginia. She was 81. Her wife, Virginia C.