Ms. Giovanni Civil Rights Speech

Loud. That was my first thought when Ms. Giovanni started speaking at the MLK Celebration Speaker event on January 18, 2017. Not loud as in volume wise but loud as in everything she did was big. The moment she took to the stage all focus was on her and the words she spoke. For such a small, petite looking African American woman, her personality was enormous. One could immediately tell that she held a strong pride in the color of her skin and her gender. She constantly reminded the audience of this pride by saying “Black women are the best.” Ms. Giovanni was invited to this event at Georgia Southern to commemorate the annual celebration of the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A man who peacefully fought for the civil rights of Blacks during a period when many where subjugated to oppression, race-inspired violence, and discrimination from their peers and authorities. When most people think of the American Civil Rights movement, they usually think about the events that occur around the 1950s and 1960s, such as the 1954 Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education. The movement has actually been going on …show more content…
Giovanni, herself, was alive during the Civil Rights Era of the 1950s and 60s but as a young girl. Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, as the baby of her family, Giovanni was taught by grandmother to have an intense pride in their African-American heritage. Her grandmother’s stories about their culture aspired her to become a poet. From a young age, she knew what she wanted to do in life for as she stated “I wanted to be a writer who dreams or maybe a dreamer who writes” (Giovanni). This dream of hers came true with her becoming one of the best-known African American poets, who has won numerous awards and prizes. This acclaim to fame and the poetry she has written expressing her strong racial pride and respect for family has led her to speak at the MLK Celebration Speaker event, where she told us about her meeting with a remarkable woman, Rosa