title: Andrea R Canaan
text: # Andrea R Canaan
  
  Andrea R Canaan (born 1950) is a Black feminist writer, speaker, community organizer, poet and activist.
  
  ## Early life and education
  
  Canaan was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1950. She was raised in a close activist and spiritual community. At twelve years old, Canaan was raped by a Methodist minister where she also faced abuse from a female church camp counselor. Canaan has also intimated that her mother was aware of this abuse and did nothing to help her child. Canaan has referenced this abuse in her work by touching upon themes of religious abuses of power and clergy misconduct.
  
  Canaan holds a M.S.W. from University of Tulane and a M.F.A. in non-fiction from the University of San Francisco.
  
  In 2018, she received a second M.F.A. in fiction from Goddard College in Vermont.
  
  In the 1980s, Canaan served as the Director of Women and Employment which helps place women in non-traditional jobs.
  
  ## Work
  
  Canaan's creative passion is personal wholeness, the transformation of shame into courage for herself and in the lives of other black women. Her work explores themes of black womanhood, sexual abuse, identity labels, and friendships between black women.
  
  