[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 22 (Wednesday, February 7, 2024)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E124]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2024: HONORING THE CANADY FAMILY

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ELISSA SLOTKIN

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 7, 2024

  Ms. SLOTKIN. Mr. Speaker, today I pay tribute to a legendary Lansing 
family that has broken barriers across generations, and continues to 
make history today.
  The story begins in 1927 when the family matriarch, Ms. Hortense 
Canady was born in Chicago. While she didn't grow up in Michigan, she 
came to Michigan State University to pursue graduate studies after 
attending Fisk University, where she met her husband, Clinton. In the 
Lansing area, Hortense and Clinton, a World War II veteran and member 
of the famed Tuskegee Airmen, settled, put down roots, and left an 
indelible mark on the community.
  Clinton became a well-known and well-loved dentist, while Hortense 
put her passion for education and civil rights into action, becoming 
the first African American elected to the Lansing School District Board 
of Education in 1968. Four years later, she and several other board 
members were recalled for advocating for desegregation, but Hortense 
did not let that deter her from working toward her core belief that 
everyone deserves access to quality education.
  She sat on the state's Women's Commission, served as the first 
executive director of the Lansing Community College Foundation, and 
helped found a debutante club in Lansing to fill in a void for young 
Black women who, at the time, were not permitted to share in this 
tradition.
  Hortense founded the Lansing alumnae chapter of her sorority, Delta 
Sigma Theta, and served as its national president from 1983 to 1988. 
She was inducted into the Michigan Women's Hall of Fame in 2002 and was 
named as one of Ebony magazine's Most Influential People. Hortense 
Canady died in 2010 at age 83.
  Not only was Hortense Canady impressive in her own right, but her 
children have continued to blaze their own trails. Her daughter, Alexa 
Canady, is the first African American woman in the nation to become a 
neurosurgeon, and served as chief of neurosurgery at the Children's 
Hospital of Michigan from 1987 until her retirement in June 2001. She 
devoted her brilliant mind and her numerous talents to the healing and 
welfare of thousands of young patients over the course of her career, 
and, like her mother, is an inductee in the Michigan Women's Hall of 
Fame. She was also named a Michigander of the Year by the Detroit News 
in 2002.
  All three of Hortense Canady's sons became attorneys, including the 
Honorable Judge Clinton Canady III. Before ascending to the bench, 
Canady practiced law for 37 years. He was a founder of the Lansing 
Black Lawyers' Association, director of the Ingham County Bar 
Association, a commissioner for the Lansing Board of Water and Light, a 
member of the NAACP, and served on the board of the Lansing Symphony 
Association, Central Michigan Legal Aid, and many other organizations. 
Elected to the Ingham County Circuit Court in 2010, Judge Canady served 
through his retirement in 2022, but returned on assignment to help 
address the backlog of cases from the pandemic.
  He and his wife, Rita, have two children who are continuing the 
Canady tradition of service, one as an administrative law judge in 
California, and the other with the United States Department of State.
  The Canady family is part of the very fabric of the Lansing 
community, a fabric stitched with their incredible work ethic, 
commitment to breaking new ground, and to clearing a path for others to 
follow.

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