Beatrice morrow cannady tea parties womens health

"County Circuit Court Judge Mercedes Deiz swearing in Commissioner Charles R Jordan"

With Women’s History Month upon us, let’s examine Oregon’s earliest African American women in law – Beatrice Morrow Cannady andJudge Mercedes Deiz. The two women’s work advanced not only African Americans but women and other minorities.

Born in Littig, Texas in 1889, Cannady pursued education and racial equality with passion.

She graduated from Wiley College in 1908 and went on to study music at the University of Chicago, before moving to Oregon in 1912 to marry Edward Daniel Cannady.

Together, Edward and Beatrice Cannady ran the Advocate – an African American newspaper with "3,000 subscribers, including influential people such as the Oregon governor and other government leaders." Beatrice Cannady used the platform to improve African American rights in