Nikki Giovanni reads "Knoxville, Tennessee" in Knoxville, Tennessee

May 23, 2019 -- Acclaimed poet Nikki Giovanni visited her hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee, to help unveil a new historical marker established by the City of Knoxville and Mayor Madeline Rogero.
The new marker -- a replacement of a previous marker damaged during construction work -- includes biographical information about Giovanni and identifies the area around Cal Johnson Recreation Center and Park as the former location of the neighborhood where Giovanni's grandparents lived when she visited during summers when she was a child. Their home at 400 Mulvaney Street is described in Giovanni's essay named after the address and was located along what is now Hall of Fame Drive.
In the 1960s, "urban renewal" displaced predominately African-American residents and neighborhoods located in this area east of downtown Knoxville, replacing hundreds of homes, churches, schools and libraries with James White Parkway and civic buildings including the Knoxville Civic Auditorium and Coliseum.