Awards and Honors
Keys to more than two dozen American cities, including New York, Miami, Los Angeles, and New Orleans
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority (Honorary Member)
Seven NAACP Image Awards: for Love Poems; Blues: For All the Changes; Quilting the Black-Eyed Pea; Acolytes; Hip Hop Speaks to Children; 100 Best African American Poems; Bicycles
Life Membership & Scroll, The National Council of Negro Women
Named one of Oprah Winfrey’s 25 Living Legends
Phi Beta Kappa
State Historical markers in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Lincoln Heights, Ohio
The Tennessee Governor's Award in the Arts
Tennessee Governor's Award In the Humanities
Virginia Governor's Award for the Arts
Woman of the Year, Ebony Magazine
Woman of the Year, Ladies Home Journal
Woman of the Year, Mademoiselle Magazine
The Rosa Parks Women of Courage Award, first recipient
American Book Award
Caldecott Honor Book Award
Carl Sandburg Literary Award
Moonbeam Children’s Book Award
Tennessee Writer's Award, The Nashville Banner
The Appalachian Medallion Award
The East Tennessee Writers Hall of Fame Award
The Gwendolyn Brooks Award
The Gwendolyn Brooks/John O. Killens Award
The Langston Hughes Award
ALC Lifetime Achievement Award
Art Sanctuary’s Lifetime Achievement Award
Artist-in-Residence. The Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts
Distinguished Visiting Professor, Johnson & Wales University
Duncanson Artist in Residence, The Taft Museum
Poet-In-Residence, Walt Whitman Birthplace Association
The Cecil H. and Ida Green Honors Chair, Texas Christian University
The Hill Visiting Professor, University of Minnesota
Sankofa Freedom Award
The Legacy Award, National Alumni Council United Negro College Fund
The Ohio Women's Hall of Fame
2000 Council of Ideas, The Gihon Foundation
A species of bat named in her honor (Micronycteris giovanniae)
Affrilachian Award
American Library Association's Black Caucus Award for Non-fiction
Ann Fralin Award
Child Magazine Best Children's Book of the Year
Cincinnati Bi-Centennial Honoree
Excellence in Leadership Award from Dominion Power
Finalist, Best Spoken Word Grammy
John Henry "Pop" Lloyd Humanitarian Award
Legends and Legacies Award
Named a HistoryMaker
National Association of Radio and Television Announcers Award for Best Spoken Word Album
National Book Award Nomination for Gemini
National Parenting Publications Gold Award
Outstanding Woman of Tennessee
Parents' Choice Award for The Sun Is So Quiet
Presidential Medal of Honor, Dillard University
The SHero Award for Lifetime Achievement
United States Senate Certificate of Commendation
Woman of the Year, Cincinnati YWCA
Women of Power Legacy Award