thomas watson giovanni father

Their eyes dazzled. 2023 Write For Us: Info@stellanonna.com. Robert Baker, a scientist and a fan, names a new species of bat he discovered for Giovanni: The Micronycteris giovanniae. Giovanni publishes Rosa, illustrated by Ashley Bryan. Home: For Jack Robinson (Sony Records 1997), Our Show more. I have certain skills that I am able to impart and that I want to, and it keeps me involved in my community and in a community of writers who are not professional but who are interested. . Paula Gordon Show, http://www.paulagordon.com/ (January 22, 2003), interview with Giovanni. Thomas Watson Jr. was born in 1914, the same year his father was appointed manager of Computing-Tabulating-Recording Co. (CTR). Giovanni publishes Sacred Cows . In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. In addition to writing her own poetry, Giovanni used her boundless energy to offer exposure for other African-American women writers through NikTom, Ltd., a publishing cooperative she founded in 1970. Evans, Mari, editor, Black Women Writers, 1950-1980: A Critical Evaluation, Doubleday/Anchor Books, 1984. In the spring of 1966, at the First Writers Conference at Fisk, she meets Dudley Randall, who was soon to launch Broadside Press; Robert Hayden, Melvin Tolson, Margaret Walker, and LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka). The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni: 1968-1998 is published. 100 Church St FL 6, New York, NY 10007-2615 Overview Thomas Watson Giovanniis an attorney registered with , admitted in 2000. In Won Pulitzer Prize MEMBER: National Council of Negro Women, Society of Magazine Writers, National Black Heroines for PUSH, Winnie Mandela Children's Fund Committee, Delta Sigma Theta (honorary member). Travels to Africa. "Mostly I'm aware, as the mother of a reader, that I read to him," she once observed in an interview. (Editor) Grand Fathers: Reminiscences, Poems, Recipes, and Photos of the Keepers of Our Traditions, Holt (New York, NY), 1999. A NIKKI GIOVANNI CHRONOLOGY _ virginia C. fowler 1914 Birth of Jones "Gus" Giovanni, the poet's father, just outside Mobile, Alabama, to Mattie Jones and Thomas Giovanni. She has also received a plethora of awards, ranging from the National Book Award to the NAACP Woman of the Year award. Giovanni accepts permanent position as tenured Full Professor of English at Virginia Tech. Writer, educator "I did not get married because I didn't want to get married and I could afford not to get married. Civitas Books, 2004); With the birth of Thomas, Nikki started writing childrens books since children need different content from adults. Ohio, in August 1943. ", Ego-Tripping and Other Poems for Young People contains several poems previously published in Black Feeling, Black Talk. that time she gave birth to a son, Thomas Watson Giovanni, on 31st August 1969), High School: Lockland High School (1957-58) High School: Austin High School, Knoxville, TN (1958-) University: BA, Fisk University (1967) University: University of Pennsylvania University: Columbia University Professor: Literature, Virginia Polytechnic Institute (1987-), Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Honorary Phi Beta Kappa Society Order of the Long Leaf Pine 1999 Risk Factors: Lung Cancer, Official Website:http://www.nikki-giovanni.com/, Author of books: Her second volume was released the following year. Attends the Detroit Conference of Unity and Art, where she meets H. Rap Brown (1943- ), now Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, and other movement leaders. Honorary degrees from numerous institutions. In August, the Giovanni family of four moves to Cincinnati, Ohio, home of Jones Giovanni, where both he and Yolande take jobs as house parents at Glenview School, a home for black boys. She In addition to collections such as Re: Creation, Spin a Soft Black Song, and Those Who Ride the Night Winds, Giovanni has published several works of nonfiction, including Racism 101 and the anthology Grand Mothers: Poems, Reminiscences, and Short Stories about the Keepers of Our Traditions. Thomas A. Watson - Wikipedia Festival. In 1978, she published what Anna T. Robinson has called her pivotal work, Cotton Candy on a Rainy Day, a volume that Robinson surmised will mandate that she be evaluated as a poet rather than a voice for a cause.. By continuing, well assume you agree with our Cookies policy. During the two years between the publication of 1970s Re:Creation and 1972s My House, Giovanni began to travel overseas, including her first trip to Africa. Organizes a Black Arts Festival, Cincinnatis first, for which she adapts and directs Virginia Hamiltons Zeely for the stage. Is subject of a PBS documentary, Spirit to Spirit (1987). An historic marker in her honor is placed near the St. Simon of Cyrene Episcopal School by the Ohio House of Representatives. Her rhymes became more pronounced, more lyrical, more gentle. Giovanni delivers a stirring poem at the conclusion of Virginia Tech's convocation following the April 16 campus massacre. The prose poem "Nikki-Rosa," Giovanni's reminiscence of her childhood in a close-knit African-American home, was first published in Black Judgement. She refused to associate with negative outlooks for her future and fired one of her oncologists for setting a date for her death. Giovanni really didnt want to get married, she thought she couldnt afford to pay for the marriage! Giovanni has written 30 books of poetry. Her introspection led to Gemini: An Extended Autobiographical Statement on My First Twenty-five Years of Being a Black Poet, which earned a nomination for the National Book Award. When she reentered Fisk in 1964, she engaged in literary and radical activities, including reestablishing the universitys chapter of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), editing the student literary magazine, and participating in John O. Killens creative writing workshop. Receives grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Her sister Gary leaves home to attend Central State University. Thomas Watson Giovanni - Law.Network In April, The New York Times features her in an article entitled Renaissance in Black Poetry Expresses Anger. The Amsterdam News names her one of the ten most admired black women. Regularly publishes book reviews in Negro Digest. Releases the album Like A Ripple On A Pond. Her mother moved with their She takes a job at Walgreens, but still helps with Christophers care. In becoming her most beloved and most anthologized work, "Nikki-Rosa" also expanded her appeal to an audience well beyond followers of her more activist poetry. Lee, Don L., Dynamite Voices I: Black Poets of the 1960s, Broadside Press (Detroit, MI), 1971, pp. Temokake video cekak sing kagayut karo thomas watson giovanni ing tiktok. Extend your car covers life by cleaning them frequently! "We're missing Tupac like my generation missed Malcolm X," she said. Fowler, Virginia, Nikki Giovanni, Twayne (Boston, MA), 1992. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. Nikki did not get married for the sake of she didnt want to marry the father. "The least factual of anything is autobiography, because half the stuff is forgotten," she added. In high school, Giovanni has two influential teachers: her French teacher, Mrs. Emma Stokes, and her English teacher, Miss Alfredda Delaney. Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, October, 1980, p. 31; June, 1996, p. 334. of Pennsylvania's School of Social Work with a Ford Foundation fellowship. Twenty of the fifty-three works collected in Love Poems find the writer musing on subjects as diverse as friendship, sexual desire, motherhood, and loneliness, while the remainder of the volume includes relevant earlier works. During the same year, Dudley Randalls Broadside Press published Re: Creation, and in 1971, Gemini: An Extended Autobiographical Statement was published. In 1924, Watson Sr. became CEO and renamed the company International . She used her big platform for the good! Plays an active role in a new publication undertaken by her friend, Ida Lewis, Encore, later renamed Encore American & Worldwide News, a black news magazine. 64-70. Giovanni moves with her son back to Cincinnati, to her parents home in Lincoln Heights. Giovanni teaches at Queens College. None of the metaphorical mumbo jumbo that baffles so many of us. Gary Ann Giovanni, the poet's sister, is born on September 2. Contributes to a Smithsonian special exhibition, In the Spirit of Martin: The Living Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Adelante! Publishers Weekly, May 23, 1980, p. 77; December 13, 1993, p. 54; December 18, 1995, pp. ", Vacation Time contrasts with Giovanni's two earlier poetry collections for children by being "a much more relaxed and joyous collection which portrays the world of children as full of wonder and delight," according to Kay E. Vandergrift in Twentieth-Century Children's Writers. Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, in 1943, the younger of two daughters in a close-knit family, and had a reputation for being strong-willed even as a child. ; is able to bring son, Thomas, and his nanny, Deborah Russell, a former student of her at Rutgers. Nikki Giovanni did not have the kind of poverty-stricken, uncertain childhood typical of a number of other black writers. Thomas Watson Giovanni- Bio, Family, and Career. - StellaNonna Continues to receive keys to the major cities in America; to this date, these include Dallas, Miami, New York, New Orleans, Baltimore, Los Angeles, Mobile, and a dozen or so more. Contributor to numerous anthologies; author of columns One Womans Voice for Anderson-Moberg Syndicate of the New York Times and The Root of the Matter for Encore American and Worldwide News; managing editor of and contributor to Conversation; contributor to magazines, including Black Creation, Black World, Ebony, Encore, Essence, Freedomways, Journal of Black Poetry, Negro Digest, Saturday Review of Literature, and Umbra. Tate, Claudia, editor, Black Women Writers at Work, Crossroads Publishing, 1983. Featured Poet at Portland (Oregon) Art Beat Festival. She As Giddings wrote, Giovannis greatest challenge, as a poet, lies ahead, and Harris, also writing in Mari Evanss anthology, praised Giovanni as one of the most talented writers to come out of the black sixties, adding that he didnt want to lose her. As Harris concluded, she has the talent to create good, perhaps important, poetry, if only she has the will to discipline her craft.. Americas Intelligence Wire, February 6, 2003. She uses many personal experiences in King of shadows is a book by Susan cooper set in a cross between 1999 and 1599 it is the story of a boy Nathan field who is playing puck in a midsummer nights dream in the newly opened globe theatre but then is suddenly whisked We use cookies to offer you the best experience. We`ll do boring work for you. A selection of Giovannis public papers are housed at Mugar Memorial Library of Boston University. Named to The Gihon Foundations 2000 Council of Ideas. Black History Month Project: Nikki Giovanni - EDUZAURUS the International Year of the Child. and is the mother of only one child, a son, Thomas Watson Giovanni. A compilation of works composed by African-American writers during the Harlem Renaissance of the early twentieth century, Shimmy helps students of black writing to gain an understanding of the past. Edits Conversation, a Cincinnati revolutionary art journal. Contemporary Literary Criticism, Gale, volume 2, 1974; volume 4, 1975; volume 9, 1981. Published November 26, 2022 Thomas Watson Giovanni was born in 1969 to his mother, Nikki Giovanni, an American commentator, poet, writer, activist, and educator. (Editor) Grand Mothers: Poems, Reminiscences, and Short Stories about the Keepers of Our Traditions, Holt (New York, NY), 1994. Knowing that readers will often draw false conclusions about the factual details of ones life, Giovanni says they will probably talk about my hard childhood/and never understand that/all the while I was quite happy., Despite poverty, the Giovannis provided hundreds of books and a piano for their daughters. The world can create trouble in peace, but God can create peace in trouble. received an honorary doctorate of human letters from the College of Mount She is also winning lots of awards like the national book award. So, in the summer of 1958 she asks her grandmother Watson if she can come to Knoxville for the summer. I want them to jump into hip-hop and address it.". Ethnicity: "Black." Washington Post Book World, May 19, 1974; March 8,1981; February 14, 1988, p. 3. Giovanni also grieves the loss of Rosa Parks on 24 October. Academics present no problem to her, but she is unprepared for the conservatism of this small black college. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Giovanni's popularity as a speaker and lecturer increased along with her success as a poet and children's author. . In 1968, she published her first collection of poetry entitled Black Feeling Black Talk. Father, Son & Co.: My Life at IBM and Beyond - Thomas J. Watson, Peter She discovers that Dean Cheatam is gone and that her replacement, Blanche McConnell Cowan (Jackie) is completely different. Giovanni continues her schooling at St. Simons School, where she completes 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. "Funny yet thoughtful, Giovanni celebrates creative energy and the family spirit of African-American communities," Frank Allen wrote of Love Poems in a Library Journal review. bought an honorary doctorate of literature trom the University of Maryland, Thomas Watson Giovanni is a lawyer serving New York . Mr. Watson's father, Thomas J. Watson Sr., headed IBM for 42 years, made it increasingly successful, created much of its famed corporate culture and took it to the dawn of the age of the computer. Influenced by Next Generation of Blac, Madhubuti, Haki R. 1942 The Reason I Like Chocolate (And Other Children's Poems) (album), Folkways, 1976. Education: Fisk University, B.A., 1967; attended University of Cincinnati, 1961-63, University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work, 1967, Columbia University School of the Arts, 1968. Talking of what Thomas Watson does to earn a living, that information is yet to be revealed. Travels to other parts of the world, including the Caribbean, also filled much of the poet's time and contributed to the evolution of her work. The The institutions he attended are unknown, and so are his highest education qualifications. Authors in the News, volume 1, Gale, 1976. And as Martha Cook explained, her other publications consistently attack[ed] elitism in the Black Arts movement and praised writers whom she viewed as presenting a realistic yet positive picture of black life, including new and established voices. Receives Community Volunteer of the Year Award from Warm Hearth Village. Giovannis father often had to work several jobs during these years. Ellen Fader, writing in Horn Book, called The Sun Is So Quiet "a celebration of African-American family life for all families." It was awarded Best Spoken Word Album by the National Association of Radio and Television Announcers and was a top 100 album in 1971. The Women and the Men, Morrow (New York, NY), 1975. ", Giovanni's later works for children, include Knoxville, Tennessee and The Sun Is So Quiet. Wilberforce University, Wilberforce, Ohio. Originally, Giovannis parents had hoped to be able to build a home in a new all-black housing development called Hollydale. Retrieved February 22, 2023 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/giovanni-nikki-1943. Rosa (children's book), illustrated by Bryan Collier, Henry Holt (New York, NY), 2005. They toured in a circus and retired about 1900; details of their later lives are uncertain. Added: 2022-12-21. by faqlib.day. Is the Hill Visiting Professor at the University of Minnesota (1993). Continues regular appearances on Soul!, including an appearance in January with Lena Horne. In mid- January she is diagnosed with lung cancer. When we are young we do not think about getting old, rather older. "It is clear why she conveys such urgency in expressing the need for Black awareness, unity, solidarity. Who was Giovanni Bellini's mother? - Answers Teaches in Switzerland. "I think all autobiography is fiction," Giovanni once observed in an interview, expressing amazement that readers feel they will learn something personal about an author by reading a creative work. Amiri Baraka is one of the most controversial writers in recent history, one whose influence on Afro-American li, Hailed by its practitioners, pundits, and critics as the cultural "aesthetic and spiritual sister of the Black Power concept" (Neal 1989, p. 62), the, Hemphill, Essex 1957 E-mail[emailprotected]. She was decidedly conservative in political outlook: during high school she had been a supporter of Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, as well as an avid reader of books by Ayn Rand, famous for her philosophy of "objectivism" (based on self-assertion, individualism, and competition). 542-54. Mabe noted that "single motherhood, a bout with lung cancer, showers of literary awards and an academic career have enriched but not blunted her edge," in the volume, though, she adds wryly, "being radical today has sometimes meant being reduced to voting for Ralph Nader." to New York City. Appears frequently on Soul! Giovanni begins kindergarten at Oak Avenue School, where her teacher is Mrs. Elizabeth Hicks; Giovanni's sister Gary enters third grade there. It looks at Watson, Sr., one of America's most charismatic bosses, and Watson, Jr., who spurred IBM into the computer age. Travels on book tour. Giovanni was a stan of The black arts movement. Similarly, Those Who Ride the Night Winds reveals "a new and innovative form," according to Mitchell, who added that "the poetry reflects her heightened self-knowledge and imagination." Way I Feel (Atlantic Records 1975), Legacies Giovanni receives Alumnae Membership in Fisk University's Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. Poet, publisher, educator The most famous line of the poem summarizes Giovannis subjective experience of her childhood: Black love is black wealth. In 1957 Nikki Giovanni decided to return to what she regarded as her spiritual home, the home of her maternal grandparents, John Brown and Emma Louvenia Watson in Knoxville, Tennessee. You cannot copy content from our website. Vacation Time: Poems for Children, Morrow, 1980. (Editor with Cathee Dennison) Appalachian Elders: A Warm Hearth Sampler, Pocahontas Press, 1991. As she broadened her perspective, Giovanni began to review her own life. Goes on an African lecture tour sponsored by U.S.I.A. Contributor to numerous anthologies. I just cannot imagine living without him. Born in Salem, Massachusetts, [1] United States Watson was a bookkeeper and a carpenter before he found a job more to his liking in the Charles Williams machine shop in Boston in 1872. It is what it is to be a woman who has failed and is now sentimental about some things, bitter about some things, and generally always frustrated, always feeling frustrated on one of various levels or another." Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, November 20, 2002. named Outstanding Woman of Tennessee. Used by permission of author. Time, April 6, 1970; January 17, 1972, pp. Voice of Youth Advocates, December, 1994, p. 298; October, 1996, pp. . Giovanni publishes Blues: For All the Changes (1999) and edits and publishes Grand Fathers: Reminiscences, Poems, Recipes, and Photos of the Keepers of Our Tradition (1999. One of these new concepts was that being black is beautiful and black people should not try to hide their ancestry or Nikki Giovanni was one of the greatest African American women who wrote about civil rights and personal stories about her life. My House contained the revelations of a woman coming to terms with her life. Moves to Wilmington, Delaware, and, with the help of a Ford Foundation fellowship, enrolls in the University of Pennsylvanias School of Social Work. No plagiarism guarantee. Then, copy and paste the text into your bibliography or works cited list. IBM Archives: Thomas Watson, Jr. leaving IBM (1984 bio) Black World, December 1970, pp. Nikki Giovanni has one sister named "Gary Giovanni". Lewis, Ida, introduction to My House, Morrow (New York, NY), 1972. . years later, she became assistant in John O. Killens's writers' workshop She also takes courses at the University of Cincinnati and does volunteer work with children and parents who are among her mothers clients. The first work, a free-verse poem originally published in Black Feeling, Black Talk, Black Judgement, celebrates the pleasures of summer. Maybe one day the Jewish community will be at rest, the Christian community will be content, the Moslem community will be at peace, and all the rest of us will get great meals on holy days and learn new songs and sing in harmony. She moved with her mother and sister to a small black suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio, although she traveled back to Knoxville during the summers to live with her grandparents. . Her articles and book reviews began appearing in periodicals such as Negro Digest and Black World, and the poetry she began to write formed her first volume, Black Feeling, Black Talk. Her parents move into another, better house in Lincoln Heights at 1168 Congress Avenue, just a few short blocks from the house on Jackson. Giovanni says she has found writing for children particularly fulfilling because she is a mother who reads to her son. Barksdale, Richard, and Keneth Kinnamon, Black Writers of America: A Comprehensive Anthology, Macmillan, 1972. Giovannis second volume of poetry, Black Judgement, was published in 1969 with the assistance of a grant from the Harlem Council of the Arts. The In an essay on black literary criticism, Margaret B. McDowell wrote that through Giovannis public readings and appearances she truly becomes poet of the people renew[ing] the tradition of the bard, prophet, or witness who sings or chants to inform the people. The poems contained in My House are suggestive of this time period in Giovannis life; in fact, Virginia Fowler suggested that if read as a whole they become a poetic autobiography of the first three decades of Giovannis life. Maybe we can get something done. Those Who Ride the Night Winds, Morrow, 1983. Council. To Rev. Keys to numerous cities, including Dallas, TX, New York, NY, Cincinnati, OH, Miami, FL, New Orleans, LA, and Los Angeles, CA; Ohioana Book Award, 1988; Jeanine Rae Award for the Advancement of Women's Culture, 1995; Langston Hughes Award, 1996; NAACP Image award, 1998; Tennessee Governor's award, 1998; Virginia Governor's Award for the Arts 2000; SHero Award for Lifetime Achievement, 2002; the first Rosa Parks Woman of Courage Award, 2002; Black Caucus Award for nonfiction, American Library Association, and NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work, both 2003, both for Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea: Poems and Not Quite Poems. She told the Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, Being radical in the 21st century is different from being radical in the 60s. Career: Queens College (CUNY) and Rutgers University, teacher, 1969; NikTom, Ltd. (communications company), founder and publisher, 1970; Ohio State University, visiting professor of English, 1984; Mount Joseph on the Ohio, professor of creative writing, 1985-87; Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, visiting professor of English, 1987-89, professor of English, 1989-; Warm Hearth Writers Workshop, director, 1988-. But after having had their money tied up in this real estate venture for several years, they realize that obtaining a loan to build a home was not going to be possible in the foreseeable future; racist lending practices simply could not be circumvented. Giovanni told Mabe that the Black Arts movement wasn't about presenting black culture as "Hallmark" perfect, and she feels that "the hip-hop movement took that from us, as we took it from the Harlem Renaissance before us." Sacred Cows . Contributor to periodicals, including Black Creation, Black World, Ebony, Essence, Freedom Ways, Journal of Black Poetry, Negro Digest, and Umbra. this event Giovanni made her home with her parents and shouldered the extensive Giacomo and Giovanni Battista Tocci were conjoined twins born in Locana, Italy between 1875 and 1877 in either July or October. Receives an Honorary Doctorate from Wilberforce University, becoming the youngest person so honored by the nations oldest black college. Giovanni publishes A Poetic Equation: Conversations Between Nikki Giovanni and Margaret Walker (1974) and The Women and the Men (1975). [fac_icon icon="paypal" color="#ffffff" color_hover="#5a7ddd"] The Nikki Giovanni Poetry Collection (CD), HarperAudio, 2002. The next few years were spent in the same fashion, with more public readings, but Giovanni also renewed her focus on social activism, examining the life of famous African Americans such as Tupac Shakur and Allen Iverson, as well as pushing for the exploration of space and other planets. Kwame A. Appiah and Henry Louis Gates, eds., Africana: The Encyclopedia Giovanni is best known for her readings and spoken word poetry. It also explained to many critics and fans why she had chosen to teach and stay in a stable environment. Goes to Atlanta for funeral of Martin Luther King, Jr., who was assassinated on 4 April. In Vacation Time Giovanni uses more traditional rhyme patterns than in Spin a Soft Black Song. In a New York Times Book Review article on Spin a Soft Black Song, Nancy Klein noted, "Nikki Giovanni's poems for children, like her adult works, exhibit a combination of casual energy and sudden wit. Candy On A Rainy Day (Folkways Records 1978), Spirit of the African & African American Experience (New York: Basic Truth is a phenomenal success, selling more than 100,000 copies in its first six months. Everywhere was snow. We those around The Adventures of Tintin or just Tintin is a wave of Comic Books or more precisely Comic Albums created by Georges Prosper Remi, a cartoonist from Belgium and we all know him by his pen name Herg. next year she published 'Black Judgement' with a grant received from Harlem In November, she goes back to Knoxville to spend Thanksgiving with her grandparentswithout obtaining the necessary permission from Dean Cheatam. To Spirit (Videocassette Records 1987), In . She is a voice for all types of Americans -- she has been labeled an Appalachian writer and a Southern writer; she is a female poet and an African-American poet, a mother, a teacher, and a cancer survivor. Inge, Tonette Bond, editor, Southern Women Writers: The New Generation, University of Alabama Press (Tuscaloosa, AL), 1990. Over the years, Thomas Watsons mother has written several poems and has received many awards, and she is considered one of the richest poets, with her net worth estimated to be 5 million dollars. Like all writers, I guess, I keep looking for the heart." Giovanni believes one of her most important qualities is to have experienced life and to have been able to translate those experiences into her work"apply the lessons learned," as she termed it in CA. Martha Cook, in an article in Southern Women Writers, explained, "'Truth Is on Its Way' includes a number of poems from Giovanni's Broadside volumes, with music by the New York Community Choir under the direction of Benny Diggs. Like all of her previous material, it was well received by both critics and fans. Serves on National Advisory Board of The National Underground Museum and Freedom Center. Giovanni publishes an autobiography, Gemini, and poems for children, Spin A Soft Black Song, illustrated by Charles Bible. (with honors), 1967; postgraduate studies at University of Pennsylvania School of Social Work and Columbia University School of Fine Arts, 1968. Shortly she moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to attend her first college,Fisk University. Thomas J. Watson Sr. After a modest rural childhood near Ithaca, New York, Thomas J. Watson got his start in business in sales. Fowler, Virginia C., editor, Conversations With Nikki Giovanni, U Press of Mississippi, 1992. 1984 and 1985 she became visiting Professor of English, Ohio State University,