Jackson State University News April 24, 2015 Giovanni thrills audience at opening of JSU civil rights era photo exhibit Renowned poet, activist and educator Nikki Giovanni delighted a packed audience at the Jackson State University Student Center Theater Thursday night with a bravura display of wit and wisdom, ranging from humorous anecdotes that elicited peals of laughter to piercing comments that prompted shouts of "tell it, sister!" Speaking as the keynote speaker at the opening Dr. Doris Derby's documentary photography exhibit, "The Black Arts Movement, Black Power, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in America," Giovanni's observations ranged far and wide. JSU President Carolyn W. Meyers, who welcomed Giovanni to JSU, was a surprise visitor to the event. "This was just too wonderful to miss," she said. Giovanni regaled the audience with delightful tales -from personal experiences, such as the unfortunate consequences of traffic tickets, to trenchant political commentary. Much of her discourse revolved around the ironies of politicians. For example, she blasted President Barack Obama apologizing for the drone strike deaths of "innocent" civilians in Pakistan while ignoring the many more deaths of "innocent" young black men at the hands of police in our own country. "Who's death don't we regret?" she asked. She skewered politicians who rant about abortion but won't take responsibility for the suffering of people who are living and want to dictate others' lives. Believe what you want, but don't tell other people what to do, she said. If people are against abortion, she said, they shouldn't do things that require it. Same with drugs. If people are against drugs, don't do it, she said, saying that politicians shouldn't seek to enact laws that govern people's own bodies. Nor do we teach history from the standpoint of the oppressed, she said. What's good that came out of slavery? she asked. "Us," she answered, looking around at the predominately black audience. Black people in America are survivors, a truly American people and the real "earthlings" of our planet, she observed. That's because they were taken from their various cultures that included a multitude of languages, histories and practices, and were assimilated into a new land having to not only endure under the most brutal and dehumanizing conditions, but create themselves anew. Unlike white Europeans, "We don't have a national language except English," Giovanni said. She said she had the opportunity to have lunch with the head of NASA and told him "Middle passage (the trip African Americans were forced to endure across the ocean in slavery) is the key to life on Mars." "I think we are an incredible people," she said. Giovanni also had advice for young people, saying they must trust who they are, trust in their gifts and have the courage to follow their own path, asking if they could imagine how strange it must have been to be the first person to sing the blues. Giovanni, born in 1943, "knew and loved our own Dr. Walker," said Mass Communications professor Dr. Monica Flippin-Wynn, referring to the renowned author and late JSU professor often known locally by her married name of Margaret Walker Alexander but known in literary circles as Margaret Walker. Giovanni recalled her friendships with Walker and the late poet, author and actor Maya Angelou, both of whom were colleagues. Both were excellent cooks, she said, and they probably are in heaven right now arguing over "which spice goes where." Giovanni was presented with a framed photo of her reading poetry at the Phillis Wheatley Poetry Festival Walker organized at JSU in 1973. Giovanni, who also read some of her poetry, was featured as the speaker for the opening of Derby's photography exhibition. Derby spent 10 years in Mississippi as a civil rights activist, said Dr. Robert Luckett, director of JSU's Margaret Walker Center for the Study of the African-American Experience, which sponsored the event. She was one of the original members of the March on Washington in 1963, he said. "It's really wonderful to be back here in Jackson, Mississippi, and especially Jackson State University," Derby told the packed crowd that gave her a standing ovation. She briefly described her coming to Mississippi to Tougaloo College in 1963 with "a mission in life to document the life, history and culture." Once here, Derby, born in the Bronx of New York in 1939 and now living in Atlanta with actor husband Bob Banks, said she was swept up in the civil rights movement and documented it with her camera. As a teacher and field secretary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee's adult literacy program, she was witness firsthand to the struggles of that era. She said that after last year's exhibit at the Walker Center, "Women: Agents of Change in the American Civil Rights Movement," she was asked back by Luckett to display her works in the yearlong observance of the anniversary of Margaret Walker's birth, titled This Is My Century: 2015 Margaret Walker Centennial, that is under way. Displayed at Johnson Hall, her exhibit is expected to show through the summer. Derby, a retired professor at Georgia State University, presented a collage of photos to JSU that show events in Jackson, which was gratefully accepted by Dr. Mario Azevedo, dean of the College of Liberal Arts. The Walker Centennial will include a major gala celebration on July 10, 2015, for what would have been Walker's 100th birthday, as well as other events around the state. For more information, visit the Center's website at www.jsums.edu/margaretwalkercenter or contact the Center's staff at 601-979-2055 or mwa@jsums.edu. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-702-5854 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree NW Suite 200 Atlanta,GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (LYRASIS) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.