Black Feeling Black Talk was self-published by Giovanni in 1968 (she borrowed money to print the first run) before being picked up by Dudley Randall’s Broadside Press in Detroit — the most important publisher of the Black Arts Movement. The collection sold over 10,000 copies in its first year, establishing Giovanni as a major voice at twenty-four.
The poems are rooted in the Black Power movement of the late 1960s: they call for revolution, celebrate Black identity, mourn assassinated leaders (Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X), and refuse the accommodation that the Civil Rights movement’s integrationist wing had practiced. Giovanni’s particular contribution was to combine political rage with personal vulnerability — her revolutionary poems sit alongside poems about family, love, and the ordinary textures of Black life.
“The True Import of Present Dialogue, Black vs. Negro” asks “Nigger / Can you kill?” — a challenge to Black people who have internalized white supremacy’s pacifying influence. “My Poem” declares “i am 25 years old / black female poet” with a directness that makes identity itself a political statement. “Nikki-Rosa” (in the companion volume Black Judgement) remembers childhood poverty with warmth that refuses white pity.
Giovanni’s voice is colloquial, rhythmic, influenced by jazz and gospel, and designed for performance — she was one of the first poets to record spoken-word albums, and her reading style (intimate, conversational, building to revelation) influenced generations of performers.
Collecting Black Feeling Black Talk
First edition (Self-published / Broadside Press, Detroit, 1968): Paper wrappers.
Market values:
- Self-published first printing: $100–$300
- Broadside Press first edition: $40–$100
- Combined with Black Judgement (Morrow, 1970): $20–$50