The Advocate (Portland, Oregon)

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The Advocate
The Advocate newspaper article, 1924
TypeWeekly newspaper
Founded1903
Ceased publication1933
HeadquartersPortland, Oregon, U.S.

The Advocate was a four-page weekly newspaper in

Montavilla).[6] The Advocate covered a variety of topics for both the white and black communities in Portland. The Advocate covered segregation, lynching, employment opportunities and other issues at the beginning.[7] Microfilm of the paper is available through 1933,[8]

Founders

The Advocate arose in connection with an effort to launch a black newspaper, headed by C. B. F. Moore, pastor of Zion A.M.E. church in Portland. The newspaper described its purpose in its first issue:

With this issue The Advocate makes its initial bow to the Portland public as an independent, non-partisan, non-sectarian weekly newspaper for the intelligent discussion and authentic diffusion of matter appertaining to the colored people, especially of Portland and the State of Oregon.[7]

The founders consisted of J. A. Merriman, J. C. Logan, Rutherford, E. D. Cannady, Bob Perry, Howard Sproules, C. F. B. Moore, Edward Hunt, McCants Stewart, W. H. Bolds, and A. Ballard,[5] most of whom worked for The Hotel Portland at the time.[7]

Edward Rutherford claimed in a lawsuit to have loaned $10 to Moore in 1903, and that the money was never repaid. The 1906 lawsuit revealed several details of the inception of the Advocate. Cannady, who was at that time head waiter at the Hotel Portland, also invested $10, along with several others, in that early effort. By May 1904, Moore had renounced his editorial role, and in that month the staff of the paper reorganized; Cannady became managing editor at that time. That lawsuit ultimately absolved Cannady of any obligation to repay the debt.[9]

Many of the founders dropped out of the newspaper project after the first couple of months due to demanding work load and already working multiple jobs.[10] After a few years, E. D. Cannady was running the newspaper alone and regardless of working many hours at the hotel he made sure The Advocate came out every Friday.[10]

Cannady and Sproull were sued for libel in 1907 by John Logan, who had served as a witness in the Rutherford case,[9][11] and Cannady was the subject of separate libel accusations the following year.[12]

In 1919, Merriman, then serving as editor of the competing Times, published an attack on Beatrice Cannady; The Advocate filed a civil suit, resulting in a "handsome" retraction by the Times and dismissal of the suit.[13][14][15]

Beatrice Morrow Cannady

Oregon Constitution.[16] She was finally successful in 1927.[16] She continued her work in Oregon through the 1930s, when she moved to California.[16] Cynthia Cannady, Beatrice's granddaughter, remembers her grandmother as a woman of many talents and a strong political conscience.[18]

She was a tireless civil rights leader at a time when the Klan was active in Oregon and exclusion laws prohibited African-Americans from even residing in the state. She was a feminist at a time when women's suffrage was new and sexism was the norm. She was a believer in the equality of cultures and religions at a time when cultural arrogance and religious zealotry were common.[18]

About

The Birth of a Nation, a racist movie Beatrice Morrow helped protest against.

Portland's African American community cited The Advocate as the city's most influential newspaper. The Advocate is known for creating conversation around interracial relations in Oregon and the rest of the country in the early 1900s. Printed weekly, the news paper featured birth and death announcements, hotel and society news, and general good news about the African American race.[7] Articles and editorials about segregation, lynching, employment opportunities and other issues kept the realities of Jim Crow laws and the pressing need for civil rights on the local, state, and national agenda.[7]

On the 22nd birthday of the newspaper, E. D. Cannady awarded "the lion's share of credit" to Beatrice for "her intrepid courage, faith in the loyalty of the people she serves and her self-confidence."[18]

In 1936, The Advocate worked with the

Harmon Foundation's collection of paintings, watercolors, and sculptures by black artists.[20][21]

Original issues

In February 2019, original issues of The Advocate, among other newspapers, were anonymously donated to the University of Oregon Library. Issues of The Advocate dating from October 1924 to December 1933 are now available in the library's Historic Oregon Newspaper online resource.[18] The online resource as well as the contributions from the donor allows the legacy of African American journalism in Oregon be more accessible than it has been before.

Other newspapers with the same name

In May 1981, the Portland Black United Front started a monthly newspaper called The Portland Advocate. Its inaugural issue contained a map showing killings of black people in Portland. It ran through at least November 1981.[22]

In the 1870s, there was a paper called the Portland Pacific Christian Advocate.[23]

See also

References

  1. ^ "About The advocate. (Portland, Or.)" – via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
  2. ^ "The Advocate. (Portland, Or.) 19??-19??, December 02, 1933, Image 1". December 2, 1933 – via University of Oregon, Knight Library.
  3. ^ "Advocate | Historic Black Newspapers of Portland | Portland State University". pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu.
  4. ^ Albert S. Broussard, "McCants Stewart: The Struggles of a Black Attorney in the Urban West", Oregon Historical Quarterly 89 (1988), 157-79; requires access to JSTOR, which is available either by subscription or via free access through a number of academic institutions.
  5. ^ a b "The History of Portland's African American History (1805 to the Present)" (PDF). sos.oregon.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 11, 2023.
  6. ^ "African American Newspapers Published in the Pacific Northwest". University of Washington Libraries. June 11, 2011. Archived from the original on June 11, 2011. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  7. ^ a b c d e Mangun, Kimberley (January 22, 2007). "The Advocate, Portland, Oregon (1903โ€“1936)". Retrieved March 2, 2020.
  8. S2CID 159457134. Archived from the original
    on October 29, 2009.
  9. ^ a b "Cannady Wins Case". Oregon Journal. September 25, 1906.
  10. ^
    ISBN 978-1-62584-667-9
    .
  11. ^ "Colored People Appear in Court". Oregon Journal. May 7, 1907.
  12. ^ "Threatens to Sue". Oregon Journal. February 29, 1908.
  13. ^ "Negroes Turn to Court". The Morning Oregonian. October 9, 1919. p. 9.
  14. ^ "The Editor and Publisher 1919-10-30: Vol 52 Iss 22". Duncan McIntosh. October 30, 1919.
  15. ^ "Negro Editors Sign Armistice". The Editor and Publisher. January 29, 1920.
  16. ^
    ISBN 978-0-88192-899-0
    .
  17. ^ a b "Beatrice Morrow Cannady (1889 - 1974)". oregonencyclopedia.org. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
  18. ^ a b c d e "New collection helps preserve the legacy of a civil rights trailblazer". Around the O. March 27, 2019. Retrieved March 2, 2020.
  19. ^ a b Taylor, Quintard (March 17, 2018). "Beatrice Morrow Cannady (1889โ€“1974)". The Oregon Encyclopedia.
  20. ^ "Exhibit of Negro Art at Museum". Oregon Journal. May 17, 1936.
  21. ^ "The Negro in Art". Oregon Journal. June 9, 1936.
  22. ^ "Portland Advocate-May 1981" (1981). Portland Advocate. 1. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/portlandadvocate/1
  23. ^ Victor, Frances Fuller. "2" . In Hubert Howe Bancroft (ed.). History of Oregon.

Further reading

  • Johnson, Clifford F. An Analysis of Negro News and Non-News Matters Appearing in Four Oregon Daily Newspapers During the Years 1931, 1936, 1941, 1945 and 1948. M.A. Thesis, University of Oregon, 1949.
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