President Joe Biden reacts to the death of ‘literary legend’ Nikki Giovanni

President Joe Biden eulogized Nikki Giovanni in an official White House statement on Wednesday, hailing the late poet as a “literary legend.”

“Jill and I send our love and condolences to her family—including her wife Virginia, her son Thomas, and her granddaughter Kai—and all those who loved and admired that something special, her courage,” Biden said of the famed writer, activist, and educator who died on Monday.  

The president recalled Giovanni’s “majestic voice” and “powerful words” in 2020, when she said, “and sometime, there has to be something called courage. You have it in your hands.”

“Born in segregated Knoxville, Tennessee, she became a renowned activist, professor, and literary legend who had that courage in her hands and in her heart,” Biden continued. “A pioneering poet of the Black Arts Movement and the Civil Rights era, she used her pen to advance racial and gender equality and confront violence, hate and injustice, alongside some of the most esteemed artists and icons of the past century.”

Acknowledging her more than 25 published books, President Biden said Giovanni’s “wit and intellect earned her numerous accolades, including the Langston Hughes medal, an Emmy award, and a Grammy award nomination.” 

Biden, who lost his son Beau Biden to brain cancer and has used his presidency to provide more federal funding and research to end cancer, also noted that Nikki Giovanni was a three-time cancer fighter. 

“Nikki offered words of wisdom that gave hope to countless others fighting disease and despair,” he maintained.

Throughout her 81-year-old life, Giovanni used her talents as a poet and thought leader to celebrate and eulogize past U.S. presidents. In 2009, she penned the inaugural poem “Yes We Can/Yes We Can/Yes We Can” in honor of America’s first Black president, Barack Obama. That same year, Giovanni recited an original poem to commemorate the 200th birthday of America’s 12th president, Abraham Lincoln, who famously signed the Emancipation Proclamation, ending the enslavement of Black Americans.

Giovanni notably lent her talents to Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign, reciting a poem encouraging Black Americans to exercise their right to vote in a campaign ad.

“Vote like your grandmother would be proud of you. Close your eyes as she did. Dream of a future as your grandfather did, vote for the future of your grandchildren,” said Giovanni. “Vote for the best in you, vote for the best in all of us.”

As Biden prepares to leave office in 40 days, his presidential nod to the late poet paid true homage, almost serving as a thank you to her for supporting him four years ago. Like the president’s often-used phrase “God bless America” at the end of his many public speeches, he ended his statement simply, “May God bless Nikki Giovanni.”