Yolande Cornelia “Nikki” Giovanni Jr., the beloved Knoxville native and internationally recognized poet and provocateur, died Monday in Blacksburg, Virginia. Giovanni, 81, held many titles. She was a writer, activist, educator, recipient of the Langston Hughes Medal and NAACP Image Award, Grammy Award nominee and much more.

Giovanni read her poems about love, nostalgia and race to audiences around the world, but she never stopped loving.

On her visits back to her hometown, Giovanni would stop at the Beck Cultural Exchange Center to look through the archival room at her family's history. Last year, she sent almost 50 boxes of her treasured items to be featured in a permanent exhibit.