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Racism 101
The author of Sacred Cows and Other Edibles provides a series of essays on race, offering her poetic insights into everything from higher education to Spike Lee, Star Trek, and John F. Kennedy. 35,000 first printing. Tour.
203 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
About the author
Nikki Giovanni
172 books1,447 followersYolande Cornelia "Nikki" Giovanni Jr. was an American poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator. One of the world's most well-known African-American poets, her work includes poetry anthologies, poetry recordings, and nonfiction essays, and covers topics ranging from race and social issues to children's literature. She won numerous awards, including the Langston Hughes Medal and the NAACP Image Award. She was nominated for a Grammy Award for her poetry album, The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection. Additionally, she was named as one of Oprah Winfrey's 25 "Living Legends". Giovanni was a member of The Wintergreen Women Writers Collective.
Giovanni gained initial fame in the late 1960s as one of the foremost authors of the Black Arts Movement. Influenced by the Civil Rights Movement and Black Power Movement of the period, her early work provides a strong, militant African-American perspective, leading one writer to dub her the "Poet of the Black Revolution". During the 1970s, she began writing children's literature, and co-founded a publishing company, NikTom Ltd, to provide an outlet for other African-American women writers. Over subsequent decades, her works discussed social issues, human relationships, and hip hop. Poems such as "Knoxville, Tennessee" and "Nikki-Rosa" have been frequently re-published in anthologies and other collections.
Giovanni received numerous awards and holds 27 honorary degrees from various colleges and universities. She was also given the key to over two dozen cities. Giovanni was honored with the NAACP Image Award seven times. One of her more unique honors was having a South America bat species, Micronycteris giovanniae, named after her in 2007.
Giovanni was proud of her Appalachian roots and worked to change the way the world views Appalachians and Affrilachians.
Giovanni taught at Queens College, Rutgers, and Ohio State, and was a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech until September 1, 2022. After the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, she delivered a chant-poem at a memorial for the shooting victims.
Giovanni gained initial fame in the late 1960s as one of the foremost authors of the Black Arts Movement. Influenced by the Civil Rights Movement and Black Power Movement of the period, her early work provides a strong, militant African-American perspective, leading one writer to dub her the "Poet of the Black Revolution". During the 1970s, she began writing children's literature, and co-founded a publishing company, NikTom Ltd, to provide an outlet for other African-American women writers. Over subsequent decades, her works discussed social issues, human relationships, and hip hop. Poems such as "Knoxville, Tennessee" and "Nikki-Rosa" have been frequently re-published in anthologies and other collections.
Giovanni received numerous awards and holds 27 honorary degrees from various colleges and universities. She was also given the key to over two dozen cities. Giovanni was honored with the NAACP Image Award seven times. One of her more unique honors was having a South America bat species, Micronycteris giovanniae, named after her in 2007.
Giovanni was proud of her Appalachian roots and worked to change the way the world views Appalachians and Affrilachians.
Giovanni taught at Queens College, Rutgers, and Ohio State, and was a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech until September 1, 2022. After the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, she delivered a chant-poem at a memorial for the shooting victims.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
October 20, 2018
I have quite a wide range of friends here on GR, so it came as quite a surprise to see that none of my friends or the people I follow have referenced this. It is a collection of essays by the poet and writer Nikki Giovanni. Giovanni is old enough to remember the segregation of the 1950s and she was involved in the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s. This collection is from the mid-1990s.
The subjects covered are very varied and include racism, education, writing as a profession, family life, food, Christmas, a critique of Spike Lee, identity, Toni Morrison, her childhood, Star Trek and much more. Although there subject matter is often serious, there is a lightness of touch, “Life is far too serious to take seriously.” Giovanni is thoughtful and passionate and there is a great variety here which is refreshing. She makes some good points about education:
“It is called education because it is learned. You do not have to have had an experience in order to sympathize or empathize with the subject. That is why books are written: so that we do not have to do the same things. We learn from experience, true; but we also learn from empathy.”
But she is just as easy talking about Malcolm X, getting annoyed with Spike Lee or talking about food. The writing is warm and vivid, Giovanni makes her very serious points elegantly, and she is a shrewd observer of people. As Virginia Fowler’s forward says:
“These pieces are artistic expressions of a particular way of looking at the world, featuring a performing voice capable of dizzying displays of virtuosity.”
The subjects covered are very varied and include racism, education, writing as a profession, family life, food, Christmas, a critique of Spike Lee, identity, Toni Morrison, her childhood, Star Trek and much more. Although there subject matter is often serious, there is a lightness of touch, “Life is far too serious to take seriously.” Giovanni is thoughtful and passionate and there is a great variety here which is refreshing. She makes some good points about education:
“It is called education because it is learned. You do not have to have had an experience in order to sympathize or empathize with the subject. That is why books are written: so that we do not have to do the same things. We learn from experience, true; but we also learn from empathy.”
But she is just as easy talking about Malcolm X, getting annoyed with Spike Lee or talking about food. The writing is warm and vivid, Giovanni makes her very serious points elegantly, and she is a shrewd observer of people. As Virginia Fowler’s forward says:
“These pieces are artistic expressions of a particular way of looking at the world, featuring a performing voice capable of dizzying displays of virtuosity.”
February 18, 2018
“Writing is a conversation with reading; a dialogue with thinking.”
This book is strictly prose, but I’ve never read such inventive essays. Not necessarily inventive in their style, but in their thinking, in the way she puts one thing with something else you wouldn’t expect. Just like a poet I suppose.
In my favorite essay, “Glasses: For Toni Morrison,” she begins with the writing life, goes on to imagine a future for Cholly and Pecola (of The Bluest Eye), invents a very unique purpose of the virgin birth, and then arrives back at the writing life. It’s a trip you don’t want to miss.
When she tells the truth about things, it makes me feel like I can tell the truth. She does it with such matter-of-fact confidence. Whether it’s biographical details or a scathing critique of Spike Lee, she just says it. Not unkindly, just honestly.
She touches on heavy subjects here—racism, family, society, identity, education—but there is lightness to her style, and plenty of humor.
“Life is far too serious to take seriously.”
Except for some articles and a few poems, this is my first experience with Nikki Giovanni. I highly recommend it as an introduction to her writing. Her poetry though … I can’t wait.
This book is strictly prose, but I’ve never read such inventive essays. Not necessarily inventive in their style, but in their thinking, in the way she puts one thing with something else you wouldn’t expect. Just like a poet I suppose.
In my favorite essay, “Glasses: For Toni Morrison,” she begins with the writing life, goes on to imagine a future for Cholly and Pecola (of The Bluest Eye), invents a very unique purpose of the virgin birth, and then arrives back at the writing life. It’s a trip you don’t want to miss.
When she tells the truth about things, it makes me feel like I can tell the truth. She does it with such matter-of-fact confidence. Whether it’s biographical details or a scathing critique of Spike Lee, she just says it. Not unkindly, just honestly.
She touches on heavy subjects here—racism, family, society, identity, education—but there is lightness to her style, and plenty of humor.
“Life is far too serious to take seriously.”
Except for some articles and a few poems, this is my first experience with Nikki Giovanni. I highly recommend it as an introduction to her writing. Her poetry though … I can’t wait.
January 12, 2016
This book is not an abstract, theoretical beginner’s guide to understanding racism. Rather, it is a collection of deeply personal essays crafted by an extraordinary story-weaver sharing her own experiences with learning about how racism operates and has operated in the USA, and transmitting that knowledge to students and readers across a great breadth of life experiences. Using stories from her childhood, extensive explorations of Star Trek episodes and characters, and speculative journeys into the minds of historical figures such as Shakespeare and Galileo, among other imaginative tools, Nikki Giovanni presents a magnificent work of sociocultural analysis and lyrical prose which comes together to give an impressive presentation of racism that would be accessible to readers for whom reading about racism may be new. This book is a timeless classic and I highly recommend it!
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May 23, 2022Racism 101 is a lovely look at Nikki Giovanni's life from her perspective as she subtly addresses concepts of race, love, and Blackness. Giovanni's memoir takes us through Black History as she explores relationships with Black figures like Toni Morrison, Malcolm X, and Mae Jemison. This text is critical when addressing the improvements higher education must make in order to topple the racism that currently exists. Giovanni embodies patience and love and shows that her educational pedagogy is centered around the student's development rather than institutional and academic development. Giovanni calls for higher-ed to abandon its infatuation with writing books and to get back in the business of teaching students. Exploring her relationship with literature and poetry, Giovanni encourages us to experience the world and to write down these experiences. She addresses the inequities that are still present within the academic-industrial complex while still showing her dedication to educating despite the many challenges that Black women face.
December 15, 2009
I think that many were surprised by this work because it's not poetry and it's not necessarily about "racism." We all need to make some time to sit back and listen to our elders and this is is the crux of her essays. Listening. Hearing about the experience of Black women and making no assumptions.
August 17, 2024
A DIVERSE COLLECTION OF ESSAYS
Author and poet Nikki Giovanni wrote in the ‘Author’s Note’ of this 1994 collection of essays, “some of you may want to know how I put together this collection; or why it’s called ‘Racism 101,’ when many of these essays have nothing to do with race; or why I repeat myself and my themes sometimes… Writing is a conversation with reading; a dialogue with thinking… I just wanted to write an interesting book and look at the world I inhabit. I’m a poet; I believe that the image will reveal itself. If the ‘Racism’ is confusing,’ the ‘101’ cannot be. Sherlock Holmes says, ‘Elementary.’ I think, ‘Basic.’”
She acknowledges, “I am a sixties person. It’s true that I didn’t do the tie-dyed T-shirts or drugs, and I never went to jail. I argued a lot in coffeehouses and tried at one point to be a social drinker. It didn’t work. I can’t hold liquor at all. But I was nonetheless a sixties person and continue to be today because I actually believe in the people… Believing in the people is dangerous, because the people will break our heart..” (Pg. 50)
She explains, “I am an American Black. Period. The rest is of no particular interest to me. Afro-American, African-American, whatever. I am not a hyphenated American, regardless of how others define themselves. They can be Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans, Jewish-Americans, or whatever they would like to use. For me, the noun is Black; American is the adjective.” (Pg. 53-54)
She states, “I obviously am not a movie maker. I just wanted to see for myself if I could at least construct a better film than that sick joke Spike Lee entitled ‘Malcom X.’ … Had I possessed a piece of rotten frit, I would have hurled it at the screen. What was the purpose of Spike Lee’s being the first face on screen?... As a Black woman, I grow every more disturbed by Spike Lee… What movie has Spike Lee ever made that David Duke… couldn’t make?... We get stereotypical whites and stereotyped Blacks and signs---there are always signs in Spike Lee’s movies, trying to explain what the movie couldn’t.” (Pg. 70-71)
She asks, “How can you be a Black man and not understand the great job the Black preacher did in getting the slaves one day off?... How would they like to be alive in 1750 or so, trying to convince a planter that on a pretty day, which just happens to be Sunday, the slaves should be allowed to praise God? What kind of network would we have had without the preacher? What would have happened to our language if the preacher had not been allowed to study the Bible? How would our story have been kept alive if we had not found a song in code?” (Pg. 97)
She advises, “Do not take the burden of 22 million people on your shoulders. Remind everyone that you are an individual, and don’t speak for the race or any other individual within it.” (Pg. 104)
She says, “Why is it important to bet Blacks into colleges and universities? Because the biggest stumbling block to progress in America is still racism…” (Pg. 143)
She observes, “People will… ask a poet, ‘How long does it take you to write a poem?’ And the only answer that we can honestly give is, ‘all my life.’ People do the same to novelists.” (Pg. 159)
She points out, “Poets … are listened to and read only by people who like poetry. Men have been known to turn down lewd and obscene physical acts on their bodies rather than come to poetry readings. And we all know men will do almost anything for a lewd and obscene act. I have wondered why poets get into these petty quarrels when there are so very few of us and even fewer folks who care what we think.” (Pg. 183)
Giovanni is one of the most distinctive voices in the contemporary scene, and this collection is a fine illustration of her abilities.
Author and poet Nikki Giovanni wrote in the ‘Author’s Note’ of this 1994 collection of essays, “some of you may want to know how I put together this collection; or why it’s called ‘Racism 101,’ when many of these essays have nothing to do with race; or why I repeat myself and my themes sometimes… Writing is a conversation with reading; a dialogue with thinking… I just wanted to write an interesting book and look at the world I inhabit. I’m a poet; I believe that the image will reveal itself. If the ‘Racism’ is confusing,’ the ‘101’ cannot be. Sherlock Holmes says, ‘Elementary.’ I think, ‘Basic.’”
She acknowledges, “I am a sixties person. It’s true that I didn’t do the tie-dyed T-shirts or drugs, and I never went to jail. I argued a lot in coffeehouses and tried at one point to be a social drinker. It didn’t work. I can’t hold liquor at all. But I was nonetheless a sixties person and continue to be today because I actually believe in the people… Believing in the people is dangerous, because the people will break our heart..” (Pg. 50)
She explains, “I am an American Black. Period. The rest is of no particular interest to me. Afro-American, African-American, whatever. I am not a hyphenated American, regardless of how others define themselves. They can be Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans, Jewish-Americans, or whatever they would like to use. For me, the noun is Black; American is the adjective.” (Pg. 53-54)
She states, “I obviously am not a movie maker. I just wanted to see for myself if I could at least construct a better film than that sick joke Spike Lee entitled ‘Malcom X.’ … Had I possessed a piece of rotten frit, I would have hurled it at the screen. What was the purpose of Spike Lee’s being the first face on screen?... As a Black woman, I grow every more disturbed by Spike Lee… What movie has Spike Lee ever made that David Duke… couldn’t make?... We get stereotypical whites and stereotyped Blacks and signs---there are always signs in Spike Lee’s movies, trying to explain what the movie couldn’t.” (Pg. 70-71)
She asks, “How can you be a Black man and not understand the great job the Black preacher did in getting the slaves one day off?... How would they like to be alive in 1750 or so, trying to convince a planter that on a pretty day, which just happens to be Sunday, the slaves should be allowed to praise God? What kind of network would we have had without the preacher? What would have happened to our language if the preacher had not been allowed to study the Bible? How would our story have been kept alive if we had not found a song in code?” (Pg. 97)
She advises, “Do not take the burden of 22 million people on your shoulders. Remind everyone that you are an individual, and don’t speak for the race or any other individual within it.” (Pg. 104)
She says, “Why is it important to bet Blacks into colleges and universities? Because the biggest stumbling block to progress in America is still racism…” (Pg. 143)
She observes, “People will… ask a poet, ‘How long does it take you to write a poem?’ And the only answer that we can honestly give is, ‘all my life.’ People do the same to novelists.” (Pg. 159)
She points out, “Poets … are listened to and read only by people who like poetry. Men have been known to turn down lewd and obscene physical acts on their bodies rather than come to poetry readings. And we all know men will do almost anything for a lewd and obscene act. I have wondered why poets get into these petty quarrels when there are so very few of us and even fewer folks who care what we think.” (Pg. 183)
Giovanni is one of the most distinctive voices in the contemporary scene, and this collection is a fine illustration of her abilities.
February 24, 2018
The title of this book might suggest a large discussion about racism but I thought its discussion of racism was more nuanced. The book was a collection of essays about Nikki's life, her family, and with a brief discussion of Spike Lee's movie Malcolm X and Toni Morrison's books. I like how reading the book made me feel closer to my mom as she had owned the book for many years. It is in her memory that I read this book.
March 27, 2022
I don't think the title is correct. Maybe "The world as seen through a black American woman's eyes" would suffice. Very few chapters touched on racism. Would absolutely love to listen to a lecture of hers any time!
December 29, 2017
Amazing book, Mrs. Giovanni Never leaves me wanting whether it be poetry or other. I saw her in her convertible with her friend!! 💚
April 27, 2026
The description of this book is inaccurate. It is a general book of essays. I thought it was a thoughtful and intriguing look at race in America.
February 19, 2021
The title of this collection of essays may seem "misleading" to readers who are more familiar with current popular books on race in America. Published two decades ago, this book is not a primer on racism - although a large number of the essays to focus on race. Rather, this is a volume compiling many excellent essays - on various topics - by gifted poet Nikki Giovanni. Giovanni's writing is deeply thoughtful, sometimes amusing, and makes points regarding family, feminitity, race, and academia that are no less relevant to (and are sometimes predictive of) America's current social issues.
July 19, 2012
This is a book of essays covering a wide range of topics. Education, family, parenting, aging, racism, writing, working, and living are the ones that stand out most to me. I like the anecdote about driving while black in New Jersey. Getting lost at 3 in the morning, getting pulled over by the cops. The cops were sort of like, "okay you ladies have a safe trip." To the author, this was an indication that she and her car mate had reached "old" and therefore were no longer perceived as a threat.
There was something about being a writer and how no one is going to remember you when you die and being a writer and how no one is going to discover your manuscript and make you famous if you approach them at their lecture, and teaching a writing workshop to elders in Appalachia, which isn't about teaching at all but about being a catalyst and a scribe, and how meatloaf deserves its own poem as does anything.
I want to read a book that was referenced "My Soul Is Rested: Movement in the Deep South Remembered". The quote most pressing upon me is:
"My Soul Is Rested: Movement in the Deep South Remembered" is in the best tradition in the sixties. For those of us who are Black writers, it's almost ironic that the spoken word, in journalism, sociology, historical remembrances, is playing such a prominent role. Oral tradition, when Black Americans, Africans, Indians, and Hispanics practice it, is used as evidence of our "lower cultural development." When oral tradition is practiced by white journalists and sociologists, it is considered a new and exciting form. I am glad, however, that whites have once again discovered that we are right. We are right in our moral outrage and we are right in our expression of it."
There was something about being a writer and how no one is going to remember you when you die and being a writer and how no one is going to discover your manuscript and make you famous if you approach them at their lecture, and teaching a writing workshop to elders in Appalachia, which isn't about teaching at all but about being a catalyst and a scribe, and how meatloaf deserves its own poem as does anything.
I want to read a book that was referenced "My Soul Is Rested: Movement in the Deep South Remembered". The quote most pressing upon me is:
"My Soul Is Rested: Movement in the Deep South Remembered" is in the best tradition in the sixties. For those of us who are Black writers, it's almost ironic that the spoken word, in journalism, sociology, historical remembrances, is playing such a prominent role. Oral tradition, when Black Americans, Africans, Indians, and Hispanics practice it, is used as evidence of our "lower cultural development." When oral tradition is practiced by white journalists and sociologists, it is considered a new and exciting form. I am glad, however, that whites have once again discovered that we are right. We are right in our moral outrage and we are right in our expression of it."
December 11, 2008
I initially chose to read this book because the synopses that I read about it convinced me that it was a creative and fresh perspective that I had never previously explored. As a white male, this book that could be labeled as black, feminist literature would introduce me to a new genre. Therefore, my interaction with this book is a study in racial relations in itself.
Her writing was characterized by wit, dry humor, anger, small joys, and resilience. She was angry about how, “The fact of slavery is no more out fault than the fact of rape” (p. 51). Yet she is proud that, “If we are given rotten peaches, we will make cobblers, if given scraps, we will make quilts; take away our drums, and we will clap our hands” (p. 155). If Giovanni’s work added one thing to the racial discussion in America, it was a creative, musical, blues tune that illuminated both how hearts have been battered by racism and how they can move on in victory. To her Black readers and others who identify with her story, Giovanni expressed her journey and tried to leave road markers behind for those young people who are going to walk their own version of her sojourn in coming years. Speaking as one within her white male audience, reading Giovanni is at once both an enjoyable and a painful experience.
Her writing was characterized by wit, dry humor, anger, small joys, and resilience. She was angry about how, “The fact of slavery is no more out fault than the fact of rape” (p. 51). Yet she is proud that, “If we are given rotten peaches, we will make cobblers, if given scraps, we will make quilts; take away our drums, and we will clap our hands” (p. 155). If Giovanni’s work added one thing to the racial discussion in America, it was a creative, musical, blues tune that illuminated both how hearts have been battered by racism and how they can move on in victory. To her Black readers and others who identify with her story, Giovanni expressed her journey and tried to leave road markers behind for those young people who are going to walk their own version of her sojourn in coming years. Speaking as one within her white male audience, reading Giovanni is at once both an enjoyable and a painful experience.
November 1, 2016
I really liked this book it's was mostly about how people with different color skin were different and that some people thought they should just die and they not worth anything and sometimes these different color skin people are actually normal or like have the same things in common like the rest of us no matter what color skin you are we all are human so why be against each other and not work together as all in a team but I would recommend this book for people to read it because it has many characters that had different points of view of how they view this type of situation in the problem they currently are right now.
April 25, 2008
Some compelling essays here--about NG's childhood growing up in Knoxville and her college years at Fisk. Lots of great quotes, like, "I plant geraniums. No one will remember that. I have an allergy to tomato fuzz. No one will care. I write poetry and sometimes prose. No one wil know me...let alone what I thought I did. But while I live, during this all to brief period b/t birth and death, my life and work have been meaningful to me. 'The rest is silence.'"
September 9, 2012
Excellent introduction to understanding the reality of racist thought and action as well as to Nikki Giovanni's political writing. If you like her political and socially conscious poetry, you will probably like Racism 101!
October 10, 2007
the title draws you in...this is a great collection of essays i read during college and still read at least every 6 months..she is so wise and makes me feel like i am wise too
October 29, 2007
Blunt, no nonsense and honest words from Ms. Nikki herself. What can I say....she still rings true and bright for me.
July 8, 2008
Lo-ved it! Here, here, for an honest open discussion about race.
October 31, 2008
great read, very witty.
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November 15, 2008Such a great book! Almost made me want to attend Virginia Tech...that is before the school shooting. Experiencing one school shooting in my life is enough.
December 20, 2008
Excellent! Learned alot, wish it was REQUIRED reading.
April 6, 2013
This book and all that comes with it is absolutely fantastic!
May 22, 2015
This book was a typical informational book about racism. I got the information I need and wanted to know. Overall, very informative and descriptive.
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May 17, 2019I didn't really find any new material in this book. I've heard about half of them in movies here or there. But Nikki Giovanni always tells it like your mother would have explained it.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews