Poetry

Rest in Power: Nikki Giovanni, the Angel of Black Poetry

Yolande Cornelia “Nikki” Giovanni Jr.—poet, writer, feminist and civil rights activist and educator—has died. Born June 7, 1943 , Giovanni was the author of more than 25 books and subject of the award-winning 2023 documentary Going to Mars.

A poem written in her honor:

“Nikki Giovanni,

Black poetic angel extraordinaire

who wrote to us

and for us;

gave us Black folk,

and the world,

a legacy of words

that exuded courage:

words of truthtelling

words of Black magic

words of inspiration

words of your life

words of your vision

words of love

for us,

your global Black community.”

Lost Women: Aphra Behn—Novelist, Spy and the First Woman to Earn a Living as an English Writer

This Women’s History Month, we’re reviving the iconic “Lost Women” column—diving into the archives to make these histories more accessible to our new age of Ms. readers.

For any writer to have produced 19 plays and 13 novels, plus 11 volumes of letters, translations and miscellaneous prose and verse, is remarkable. For a 17th-century woman to have done so is phenomenal. That was the literary output of Aphra Behn (1640-1689), the first woman to earn her living as a writer in the English language. 

Black Women Lead: Remembering Ruby Bridges, Sonia Sanchez and Maggie Lena Walker

Women throughout history have been inventing, leading, organizing, creating and making the world a better place despite gender injustice. If women knew about these inspiring stories that have been kept from them, would they be bolder and have more willingness to persevere?

Since incorporating as a nonprofit in 2015, Look What SHE Did! has produced 150+ three- to four-minute films of women telling the stories of the trailblazing women who inspire them. Throughout Women’s History Month, discover untold stories of incredible women—starting this week with Ruby Bridges, Sonia Sanchez and Maggie Lena Walker.

From a Psych Hospital to Harvard Law: One Black Woman’s Journey With Bipolar Disorder

I am a successful dual-degree student who is smart like you are, capable like you are, kind like you are and feeling like you are. I just also live with bipolar disorder and generalized anxiety disorder.

So next time you think—as one of my professors did—that there’s no one at Harvard Law School whose brain works “like that” and that people who plead guilty by reason of insanity are “not like us,” please know that we are among you, your friends, loved ones and community, contributing to society.

November 2023 Reads for the Rest of Us

Each month, we provide Ms. readers with a list of new books being published by writers from historically excluded groups.

This November brings a brilliant selection of new book releases. From Native American Heritage Month to Trans Day of Remembrance, there are books for you to learn from, unwind with, and reflect upon. Which of these 24 titles will you be reading this month?  

To Fight the ‘War on Woke,’ We Need Poetry and Poets

I’m a former professor at the New College of Florida—I resigned the end of July.

On July 19, 2023, Robert Allen published an opinion piece in the Sarasota Herald Tribune criticizing the lack of ideological balance in the New College faculty and listing myself, faculty chair Amy Reid and gender studies professor Nick Clarkson as “pedagogical aberrations” that exemplified his point.

Shortly thereafter, I resigned—which would have happened regardless of Allen’s piece. However, Allen’s piece has invited me to speak up and, after much deliberation and careful wordsmithing, I’ve decided I want to share my story.

In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens: The Creativity of Black Women in the South (May 1974)

From the May 1974 issue of Ms. magazine:

“What did it mean for a Black woman to be an artist in our grandmothers’ time? It is a question with an answer cruel enough to stop the blood. … How was the creativity of the Black woman kept alive, year after year and century after century, when for most of the years Black people have been in America, it was a punishable crime for a Black person to read or write? … The agony of the lives of women who might have been Poets, Novelists, Essayists and Short Story Writers, who died with their real gifts stifled within them.”