During the civil rights era, he was a member of the
Society of Umbra, a collective of Black writers. Cannon, along with
Joe Johnson and Ishmael Reed, began an independent publishing house that focused on multicultural literature in the 1970s called Reed, Cannon and Johnson. In 1973 he also collaborated with Reed to interview the first Black sci-fi writer,
George S. Schuyler, for
Yardbird II, Reed's own publication. Cannon met artist
David Hammons on a park bench in the 1970s and they became friends. The two collaborated on certain works, including
Invisible Paintings, where Hammons traced Cannon's painting collection with pencil and then removed the physical works. Hammons once bottled Cannon's voice speaking poems. Cannon wrote poems about Hammons' work and made public appearances for him.
A Gathering of Tribes In 1990, Cannon was visiting the
Nuyorican Poet's Cafe with Hammons when he was inspired to create
A Gathering of the Tribes first as a literary magazine to document the vibrant culture that was happening on the
Lower East Side. The first issue was published with less than 1000 copies in 1991 on a
Xerox machine. The collective also hosted a gallery and performance space where numerous exhibitions and concerts have taken place, supporting and inspiring many notable artists and musicians such as the
Sun Ra Arkestra (1995),
David Henderson,
Chavisa Woods,
John Farris,
Bob Holman,
Ishmael Reed,
Billy Bang,
Diane Burns,
Max Blagg, and David Hammons. One of Cannon's exhibitions at Tribes Gallery that he titled
Exquisite Poop was inspired by his relationship with visual art as a blind person. A painter included in the exhibition would describe a piece to participating writers, who would then describe the painting for a different painter who would in turn paint it.
Tribes magazine began publishing online and Cannon published an anthology in hard copy in 2017. ==Personal life==