Please enter a minimum of 2 characters to search.
Please enter a minimum of 2 characters to search.
Memorial Keepers(1)
They manage this memorial. Contact or join
Wilmetta Toliver-Diallo
Garrett Albert Duncan
February 1st, 1961 - December 8th, 2020
February 1st, 1961 - December 8th, 2020
Events
Create an event page to coordinate a gathering in honor of Garrett
Tributes
Share a favorite memory, send condolences, and honor Garrett’s life with a heartfelt message.
Ron B
On a whim, I looked Garrett up to see what he was up to. I had no idea that he'd passed away or been sick. I was a nobody really in the grand scheme of things; an active duty Airman taking a night class at Wash U. Garrett had to give me permission to sign up since I wasn't even a day student with much college at the time. He changed my perspective and my life on so many things in the conversations we had. There's no world he'd have remembered me, but Lord knows I remembered him and feel fortunate and lucky to have met him.
Maria Gadsden
No one told me. I love Garrett. Maria Gadsden
Eve Graves
I met Garrett several years ago at a job interview. I was immediately drawn to his passion for education and cultural curation. I quickly learned during that interview that Garrett was an extremely generous, kind, understanding, and brilliant educator. I am encouraged by knowing that his light will continue to shine through the lives of all that he touched. Rest well my friend and mentor.
Tina Evans
When I think of what Professor Duncan meant to me, the first word that comes to mind is "mentor" because he was my trusted adviser. But, if I'm honest, he was more than that; much more. When I was at my most vulnerable after the loss of my mom, he stood in the gap for me and let me know that I could and would not only survive but thrive. He embodied the meaning of the word educator as simultaneously trained and led his students at Wash U in scholarship teaching us about pedagogy, ethnography, etymology, and all of the other ologies. He was so SMART! He also committed himself to lead us out of our mental shackles which sought to instill us with imposter syndrome and limitations. We were the raisins in a bowl of milk, but not in his class. His ideas of Black power being rooted in self-love and the rejection of internalized oppression propelled us all and encouraged me to use my voice - and use it well - and to always show up as my authentic self. He taught us to be proud of our culture and our heritage and our language and especially loved to tout his cobalt blue-black complexion. He just knew that he was as fine as wine with his suspenders, his Stacy Adams, and bow ties. The man was CLEAN! He introduced me to John Baugh's research on Black talk, Black sounds, AAVE at a time when our ABS meetings struggled to define the tension that existed between where you're from and how you speak, and how that impacts our identity. He taught us about the "language we cry in" and that this is the language that felt most like home and more importantly that our home life - no matter where we came from - had value. As if that weren't enough, Professor Duncan challenged me endlessly. Be it by giving me a C on a paper just because he knew I would come charging into his office to question him about it and for him to say, "Tina B., girl, now you know you can do better than what you submitted to me," and making me do it over to earn a better grade or telling me to check my Diva attitude. After senior year, he made it his business to meet and also mentor a special guy that I was dating. He took him to get sushi, took him to get wings at Culpepper's, and hooked him up with a few suits. I was jealous at the time - I like wings, too! - but I know that he was vetting this man, whom I later married, and opened his heart to him just as he'd done to me. He also beamed with pride once he found out that I'd named my daughter Kali (e.g. an ode to the best coast and the name of his beloved sister, Callie) and my son, Kalil (e.g. Khalil Gibran). I hadn't realized the connections then, but I do now. Professor Duncan urged me to call him Garrett and I never did or well, I never could. To me, he commanded and demanded so much respect and it was the least I could do to always address him as such. I am forever indebted to him for his mentorship, care, empathy, love, and his father-like guidance which I shall cherish forevermore. To my beloved Professor Garrett Albert Duncan, I say thank you.
Elie Zenner
Professor Garrett Albert Duncan was a hero, a mentor, and friend. He was the single most important educator in my life, and he formed the person I am today. When I stumbled into his introductory AFAS class my sophomore year of college, I thought I understood the world and my place in it, but he fundamentally altered my worldview. He taught all those who were lucky enough to take his classes about the origins of race, about cultural imperialism, critical race theory, and about the way that humans have used race to control and oppress since the beginning. He connected the dots between slavery, Jim Crow, redlining, the war on drugs, and the school to prison pipeline, but he made me and every student feel like we were discovering the ideas on our own. He taught me about love and justice and that those principles should guide every interaction we have, but especially the way we educate our youth. He made me feel America was broken, but also that it was worth fighting for. And his reading lists, oh, his reading lists. He introduced me to Paolo Freire, Walter Mosley, bell hooks, WEB DuBois, Amiri Baraka, Eldridge Cleaver, and so so many more. We read novels and plays, academic studies and tomes, my bookshelf is what it is today because of him and he used to send me reading lists well into my 30s. Also, his suits were next level. But more than just educating, he cared. He had nicknames for every student, going back generations. There was no better feeling than walking into his classroom and hearing that boisterous "EZ!" ring out, or taking an risk by raising your hand and positing a theory no one had mentioned yet and hearing that un-professorial response, "BOOM" or "MY MAN" as a huge smile spread across his face. I still have papers with his hand-written notes, "I'm feeling this, EZ" or "But what about this..." He made me believe in myself as a writer and thinker, and that stays with me today. He defined my college experience, and he made me believe in the power of a liberal arts education and in the power a teacher can have. He also inspired. In another life, before Wash U, Dr. D was a Black Panther and then a middle school science teacher in California. Even after entering academia, he continued working in St. Louis city schools and teaching incarcerated teenagers. And after we did an independent study together teaching Shakespeare to North St. Louis kids, he made me want to be a teacher, to get on the frontlines. He didn't think TFA was the best program, but he had my back, as he always did, and he told me go do it my way, to fight for justice and for the kids that school wasn't working for, regardless of what the rules or program called for. I'm not sure I always lived up to his dreams for me, but I tried. He continued to be a mentor and an ally well into my career, and I am forever thankful. He lived his values. He fought for justice till the end. And he made countless others want to do the same. I'm heartbroken, but as he would say, the fight goes on. Rest in Power beloved Dr. D.
Holly Machado
I was raised in Hayward with Garrett. My mother and his mother were best friends. I'm sure it's just an oversight, but there is some family missing here. Garrett is also survived by his brother, David...his sister, Veronica...his sister, Dominique...and his niece, Temika.
Copyright © 2026 Keeper Memorials, All rights reserved.