[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Page 1672]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          BLACK HISTORY MONTH

  Mr. SMITH. Mr. President, each Congress I rise to honor February as 
Black History Month. Each February since 1926, our Nation has 
recognized the contributions of Black Americans to the history of our 
Nation.
  This is no accident; February is a significant month in Black 
American history. Abolitionist Frederick Douglass, President Abraham 
Lincoln, and scholar and civil rights leader W.E.B. DuBois were born in 
the month of February. The 15th Amendment to the Constitution was 
ratified 132 years ago this month, preventing race discrimination in 
the right to vote. The National Association for the Advancement of 
Colored People was founded in February in New York City. Last Tuesday, 
February 1, was the 45th anniversary of the Greensboro Four's historic 
sit-in. And on February 25, 1870, this body welcomed its first black 
Senator, Hiram R. Revels of Mississippi.
  In this important month I want to celebrate some of the contributions 
made by Black Americans in my home State of Oregon. Since Marcus Lopez, 
who sailed with Captain Robert Gray in 1788, became the first person of 
African descent known to set foot in Oregon, a great many Black 
Americans have helped shape the history of my State. Throughout this 
month, I will come to the floor to highlight some of their stories.
  Beatrice Cannady moved to Oregon in 1910. Soon thereafter she married 
E.D. Cannady, who was the founder of the Advocate, Portland's only 
African-American newspaper at the time. Beatrice Cannady quickly became 
one of the most important civil rights activists in Oregon. Just 4 
years after her arrival, she helped found Portland's chapter of the 
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, NAACP. She 
eventually became the chief editor of the Advocate, and often used the 
newspaper as a pulpit from which to protest the State's discriminatory 
policies.
  In 1922, Beatrice Cannady became the first African-American woman to 
be admitted to the Oregon Bar. She helped craft Oregon's first civil-
rights legislation providing full access to public accommodations 
regardless of race or color. Although this legislation was ultimately 
defeated, she was successful in leading a drive to repeal the ``Black 
Laws'' of Oregon which excluded African-Americans from residing in the 
State.
  Through the NAACP, Beatrice Cannady was instrumental in ending school 
segregation in Vernonia, OR and Longview, WA. She traveled throughout 
Oregon to give lectures in schools about African-American history, and 
hosted parties in an attempt to alleviate tensions between white and 
black members of communities. In 1932, she launched a campaign to 
represent Oregon's 5th Congressional District in Congress.
  Although Beatrice Cannady moved away from Oregon in 1934, she will be 
remembered as one of Oregon's most influential civil rights pioneers.
  She is only one example of the black men and women who changed the 
course of history in Oregon and in the United States. During the 
remainder of Black History Month, I will return to the floor to 
celebrate more Oregonians like Beatrice Cannady, whose contributions, 
while great, have not yet received the attention they deserve.

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