Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon’s Legacy: A Griot Teaching Griots
BY PATRICIA TURNER-OLDS (M.Div., MACE’06)
I entered college and seminary (STVU and UPSEM) after marriage, raising five children and taking care of three grandchildren, who sometimes had to attend classes with me. Dr. Allison P. Gise-Johnson, professor of Christian Ethics at Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology, introduced me to Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon’s work. One of the required books for Dr. Gise-Johnson’s class was Dr. Cannon’s book, “Black Womanist Ethics.”
In the fall of 2002, my classmate Natalie Jones and I took our first class with Dr. Cannon, Theology and Culture. In doing so, my passion for life and learning was awakened even more, especially when Dr. Cannon said to the class, “I am giving you the best that I have and I want you to take it and be even better.” Buried deep in my memory, soul and spirit is Dr. Cannon’s story of her life and her family’s story as well as her personal advice, “Sister Patricia, don’t die before time.”
Dr. Cannon believed more in me than I believed in myself. One day she asked me, “Sister Patricia, has anyone ever told you, you are smart?”And, she told me “Well, I am telling you; you are smart so will you please stop overwriting my papers; you belong at the table.” I struggled with my identity and self-confidence. It was Dr. Cannon who taught me how to “think with my heart and write with my brain.”
Freewrites (reactionary and/or reflective thoughts), liberated my voice and taught me how to write poetry: “Run, Sista, Run;” “Read God,” and:
The very person I think I’m not, I am.
I don’t want to be a leader, but I am.
I don’t want to be a follower, but I am.
I don’t want to be responsible, but I am.
I don’t want to be a hindrance, but I am.
And, I don’t want to be a slave, but I am.
In my heart, mind and spirit, Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon is an African-American Womanist griot. According to Thomas A. Hale, author of Griots and Griottes, Alex Haley’s movie, “Roots”, introduced the 13th century African griots and griottes to the world. They were, and are: artists, historians, musicians, preachers, teachers and wordsmiths. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon fulfilled all griot roles and responsibilities when she helped me and others to rise up and walk. I have grown in my abilities and possibilities for I have taken several classes with Dr. Cannon: Social Ethics and Contemporary Thought; Wrong: Memory, Resistance Resilience; Ethics, Ethnicity and Architectonic Texts; Theology 102: Christian Ethics; Theology 114: Codes of Ethics in Freedom Narratives; Theology 118/618: Themes and Problems in African American Theological Ethics; Theology 610: Methods in Ethics and Womanist Ethics of Erotic Defiance.
In each class I discovered my true self and gained the confidence and courage to unmask and reveal my truth identity. In fact, it was through Dr. Cannon’s handouts, “Anatomy of an Idea”, “Meta-Ethics and Dance of Redemption Processes”, “W.E.B. Dubois’ double consciousness theory” and a masking workshop, that Dr. Cannon helped to shape me. Her womanist griot words, “Every time an elder dies a library burns”, inspired me and contributed to my soul’s work, “Griot Intergenerational Faith Formation in a Digital Age” as well as my Doctor of Educational Ministry degree. Because of Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon, my griot thirst is to expand the “Canon”; to reconnect broken and missing truths and/or generations so that wholeness is experienced and thinking with your heart and writing with your brain become natural and acceptable modality.
Dr. Cannon developed a personable and unforgettable bond with all those who experienced her griot womanist characteristics and identity: PhD knowledge and wisdom; storytelling and community gatekeeper; ethics and womanist teachings. Dr. Katie Cannon taught all of us how to embrace our true selves, how to live as a womanist griot in a diverse and multicultural community, and how to use real and relevant social ethics, intracultural and intergenerational encounters and experiences applying multicultural theology and griot pedagogy – content and context – that equips and empowers all.
All of us who have encountered and experienced Dr. Cannon in any way (artists, authors, counselors, lecturers, mentors, preachers, teachers or wordsmiths of profound wisdom) have a memorable and meaningful story to tell. It is her life’s work that births, equips, empowers and establishes us as female and male griots or sages for today’s millennial generations and the generations to come. We will continue to live into this reality, especially, if we stay connected to the dreams, hopes, and spirits of Jesus Christ, the preaching, teaching Son of God, and Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon, a trusted Christian disciple, because we have inherited both their legacies and their work as members of the Cannonite Village.
Thank you, Jesus, for your patience and, thank you, Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon for believing in me, and pushing and pulling me into being and becoming. A return on your investment is coming!
