Nikki Giovanni performs poetry for Black Arts Festival

Nikki Giovanni, a world-renowned poet, writer, commentator, activist, and educator, performed her poetry for the final event of Dickinson's annual 'Black Arts Festival', which celebrated black and African heritage and achievement through presentations and seminars between April 15th and 18th. 

In a commentary preceding her reading, Giovanni placed great importance on poetry as a "living art." and expressed concern at the idea that "They (students) think that if you are a writer, then automatically you're old or crazy or dead," She also said that "we have no concept of public life, of our responsibility to each other... the purpose of human beings... is secular humanism, is how we get along with each other... our purpose has to be human life on earth."