Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon was a founding board member of the Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, where she served for decades. She continued her leadership until her passing in 2018, serving as a member of the Feminist Studies in Religion (FSR) board. Before her untimely death, Dr. Cannon was able to launch the Center for Womanist Leadership, which has been renamed in her honor. To foster this long-standing dream of hers, the FSR board has decided to support her many contributions to womanist studies in religion with a $10,000 donation to the center.
Dr. Cannon’s contributions to FSR were numerous. She published many articles in the Journal, encouraged other scholars to contribute, served as a reviewer, participated in conferences, and contributed to the overall direction of not only FSR but all its publications and activities since its founding in 1983. This collection in Katie’s honor, written by longtime colleagues, students, and friends, is a tribute to her work and leadership. We invited contributions from those who served with Katie in the early years and continued growth of the Journal as well as those who participated in the American Academy of Religion, Womanist Approaches to Religion and Society Unit panel honoring her, entitled “Mining the Motherlode: The Life and Legacy of the Rev. Katie Geneva Cannon, PhD,” this past November. As a reader, if you have not yet been introduced to Rev. Dr. Cannon’s work, we commend to you her articles and roundtables in the Journal as well as her discipline-shaping books.
For all those who have been changed by her scholarship, teaching, mentoring, and friendship, we invite you to join us in supporting her legacy by giving to the Katie Geneva Cannon Center for Womanist Leadership (contact [email protected] for instructions on how to donate).
J. Shannon Clarkson: Making Connections for the Kindom
M. Shawn Copeland: Katie Geneva Cannon, A Remembrance
Stacey M. Floyd-Thomas: Katie’s Canon: Enfleshing Womanism, Mentoring, and the Soul of the Black Community
Cheryl Townsend Gilkes: “Strength for Today, Bright Hope for Tomorrow”: Remembering My Bishop—Rev. Dr. Katie Geneva Cannon
Alison P. Gise Johnson: Fulfilling Katie’s Deepest Desire
Mary E. Hunt: Katie Geneva Cannon Incarnate
Cheryl A. Kirk-Duggan: Eliminating Ignorance, Womanist Perspectival Discourse, and Cannon Formation
Peter J. Paris: Katie Cannon’s Encounter with Africa
Judith Plaskow: Facing Race: A Tribute to Katie Cannon
Stephen G. Ray Jr.: Black Sacred Rhetoric: Katie Cannon and the Power of Memory
Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza: In Memory of Her
Angela D. Sims: Wisdom in the Key of Dr. C
Emilie M. Townes: Soul Memories
Ellen M. Umansky: Katie Cannon, Contemporary Prophet
Traci C. West: Magnanimous and Brilliant Sister Dr. Katie