[5][6] Born on January 3, 1950, Cannon spent her childhood in Kannapolis, North Carolina, a racially segregated community where she could not use local facilities such as the YMCA, swimming pool or library.

[citation needed] In 2012, Cannon began serving as executive director of the Squaring the Womanist Circle Project at Union Presbyterian Seminary.

[14] Cannon received the distinguished professor award from Spelman College, the Lucy Craft Laney Award at the Black Presbyterian Bicentennial Celebration, and was a professor-scholar honoree at the National Black Church Summit at Emory University.

[7][15] In 2018, Cannon was honored at the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s General Assembly, receiving the Excellence in Theological Education Award.

[10] In reflecting on her legacy, scholar Traci C. West notes Cannon's emphasis on using black women's embodied knowledge as a source for ethical reflection: In her analytical approach, one finds a sharp conceptualization of both the strength and vulnerability of black women especially evident in their collisions with white supremacy.

Katie Cannon's scholarship reveals the ugliness of white racism and how it preys on black women's human vulnerabilities.

The reflective process of unravelling the impact of racist patterns, as well as the commitment to remaining focused on them and inviting others to do so too, requires scholarly and spiritual stamina.

Katie Cannon's work provides us with historically rooted, geopolitically situated, and intimate examples of black women's epistemological strength.