February 24, 2021
Page 13
Oregon’s Struggle
for Racial Equity
C ontinued from P age 7
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Observer
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the National Council of Ne-
gro Women (NCNW) and
Women In Community Ser-
vice (WICS), Hart inspired
others to serve as agents of
change. She helped oper-
ate Portland’s first Black-
owned cab company and
was the first African Amer-
ican nurse to work at Port-
land’s Physicians and Sur-
geons Hospital.
Harriet “Hattie” Red-
mond (1862-1952)
Harriet “Hattie” Redmond
was a leader in the long
struggle for Oregon woman
suffrage, especially during
the successful campaign
of 1912. The right to vote
was especially important to Redmond as a Black woman living in
a state that had codified Black exclusion laws in its constitution.
Redmond’s work for vot-
ing rights helped lay the
groundwork for the Black
civil rights movement of
the mid-20th century.
Thelma Johnson Streat
(1912-1959)
Thelma Johnson Streat
was a multi-talented Af-
rican American artist who
focused on ethnic themes
in her work. Streat began
painting at the age of sev-
en and received art train-
ing at the Museum Art
School in the mid-1930s.
In 2016, Streat’s mural,
Medicine and Transpor-
tation, became part of the
Smithsonian’s National
Museum of African Amer-
ican History and Culture’s permanent collection and is currently on
display in Washington, D.C.
DeNorval Unthank (1899-1977)
DeNorval Unthank received his M.D. in 1926 from Howard Univer-
sity College of Medicine in
Washington, D.C. James A.
Merriman recruited him to
work care for Black workers
of the Union Pacific Rail-
road in Oregon, and upon
Merriman’s move to Arizo-
na, Unthank became the only
Black physician in Portland.
He was a co-founder of the
Portland Urban League and
was active in the passage of
Oregon’s 1953 Civil Rights
Bill.
Lizzie Weeks (1879-
1976)
Lizzie Koontz Weeks was
an African American activ-
ist in Portland in the years after women in Oregon had achieved the
right to vote in 1912. She organized Black women to empower them
to be successful voters and was an early candidate for local party
office. Weeks was the first female African American social worker
employed by Multnomah County.
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Theotis Cason
503-287-0855
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Portland, OR 97211
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