Practicing law at the century's turn_____
by Kathryn Halt Bogle
We know (hat h iito ry it being
made every day by each of us, (he
humble and (he great, by black and
white, and that tome of the history
it recorded, tome o f it it over
looked. tome of it it twitted out of
recognition, and a great lot o f it just
blendt into the tandt of time leaving
no trace.
A ttorny John Toran, J r., never
met A ttorney M c C a n tt Stewart,
but, if it could be arranged, a con
versation would be illuminating on
the subject o f “ How it it to be a
black attorney in Oregon— then and
now.”
John Toran, Jr., in 1983, the pre
sident of the Attocia**on of Oregon
Black Lawyers, an organization
formed in December, 1978, counts
13 attorneys at charter members.
The group, incorporated in 1980,
now has 29 active members most of
whom live and practice in Portland.
A few live and practice in Salem and
Forest Grove. One member. Derrick
Bell, of national renown, is head of
the l.aw School at the University of
Oregon. Toran, with degrees from
the U. of O. and Northwestern Col
lege of Law, is in private practice.
Some of the others are public de
fenders, some are attached to cor
porations, others are judges and
there are others in private general
practice or in offices of state or na
tional government.
It was different back in 1902.
McCants Stewart passed the Ore
gon Bar Examination that year, ac
cording to his daughter, Katherine
Stewart Flippin, of San Francisco.
When this black attorney opened
his office in (he Abington Building
in downtown P ortland, McCants
Stewart was the lone black attorney
in the state of Oregon. He became a
controversial figure: a black man
with a white man’s education in a
town with a very small black popu
lation.
When he came to P ortland,
McCants Stewart came with a heri
tage of legal brilliance passed to him
directly from his father. Attorney
Thomas McCants Stewart, a gradu
ate o f South Carolina University,
who had done graduate work in
philosophy at Princeton from 1882
to 1884.
McCants Stewart came to P ort
land garlanded with the admiration
and praise o f his legal peers at (he
Univeristy of Minnesota. “ He was
the first colored person to finish any
post-graduate course in the history
o f the U . o f Minnesota“ — so says
The Forty Years o f the University o f
Minnesota. Stewart was a graduate
o f Tuskegee in 1893, received his
bachelor’s from U. of Minnesota in
1899 and his master's degree in
1901. He was secretary o f his day
law class there in 1899. He was 25
years old, brimming with health, vi
tality, and enthusiasm.
McCants Stewart brought a beau
tiful bride, Mary Delia Weir, from
Minneapolis to share his life in Port
land. Their wedding had been a cer
emony among palms, asters and
roses with all their friends gathered
at the Church.
The newlyweds settled into a
home on Dixon Avenue (now called
U nion Avenue) at Brazee Street.
T heir first and only ch ild, M ary
Katherine, was born at that address.
McCants Stewart became the first
black attorney to take a case (and
essentially, to win the case) before
the Supreme Court of Oregon when
he won his appeal from Multnomah
County Court in the case of Oliver
T a y lo r versus S. M o rto n Cohn.
Taylor, according to the Oregonian
o f Feb. 28, 1906 and the Telegram
of Feb. 27, 1906, had purchased box
seats for the Star Theatre. “ A fter
Taylor and his party were seated, he
was requested to leave, the reason
given being his c o lo r,“ said the
Telegram
A ll the ingredients for succes
seemed present, but adversity as
sailed, as sometimes it does. The
fact that the black population o f
those times did not need legal ser
vices to the volume that could sup
port the attorney and his family, to
gether with the hostile environment,
eventually discouraged this brilliant
man. He moved with his family out
of Oregon to a more accepting a t
mosphere.
McCanta Stewart. Secretary, and other officera of graduating law
claaa, 1899. University of Minnesota.
McCants Stewart. Carlotta Stewart Lal. Harriet Anna Weir. Kath
arine McCants Stewart f» Teddy. Mary Delia Weir Stewart.
M V
A salute to Black History
"Aunt" Clara Brown
The People at Pacific
Power are proud Io be part of
the progress of Oregon. From
helping customers fin d wavs
to save energy, to seeking new
sources«»! power, to p roviding
Bom a slave in Virginia in 1803, she and her mother were sold, in 1806, to a
family that headed west. Carefully saving every penny she could, she was able
to buy her freedom in the 1850s. In 1859, while in St. Louis, she hired on as a
cook to a party of prospectors, and the 30-wagon caravan ended in Denver.
Brown then opened a laundry in Central City, Colorado and she began to save
money to purchase the freedom of her family. W ith the money from her
laundry, mining investments and nursing jobs, she accumulated ten thousand
dollars in seven years. Although unable to locate but one daughter, she found
thirty-four other relatives. Mrs. Brown encouraged and sponsored wagon trains
of blacks to move west. Aunt Clara organized the first Sunday School in Central
City and aided many organizations. She was buried with honors by the
Colorado Pioneers Association. She has also been commemorated by a brass
plaque in the St. James Methodist Church, and a chair in the Opera House is
dedicated to her.
you w ith reliable electric
service, we re a team you can
count on.
At Pacific Power, yo u ’ll find
people you know, people w ith
the power to help.
THE PEOPLE AT PACIFIC POWER
— A Friend
Portland Observer, February Z3,
section tit rage r
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