Thelma Johnson Streat – a painter and dancer, who used her art to promote racial equity and education.
The Register
Five minute biographies of figure’s from Oregon’s Black history, produced for KMUN in collaboration with Oregon Black Pioneers. Learn more about OBP and how to support their work at oregonblackpioneers.org
J.A. Merriman – a physician, civic leader, newspaper publisher, and Portland’s first Black doctor.
Aaron Brown – a lawyer, mentor, and Oregon’s first Black judge.
Geraldine Hammond – a long time Salem educator and the first Black school principal in the Salem-Keizer school district.
A biography of Ahmad Rashad – a Portland native, a University of Oregon football star, an NFL-Pro Bowler, and a sports broadcasting icon.
A biography of Charles Jordan – Portland’s first Black city commissioner, and a longtime director of Portland City Parks.
A biography of Lyllye Reynolds-Parker – an educator and one of Eugene’s most important civil rights champions.
A biography of Grafton Tyler Brown – the first Black professional painter in the Pacific Northwest.
A biography of America Waldo – a former slave and the matriarch of a northwest Black pioneer family.
A biography of Carrie Halsell Ward – the first Black graduate of Oregon State University.
A biography of James Monroe Jones – an American expatriate who became one of the most celebrated gunsmiths in 19th century Canada.
A biography of Hiram “Hi” Gorman – a formerly enslaved Oregon settler who became a prominent figure in the Salem community.
A biography of Margaret Johnson Bailes – a legendary track athlete from Eugene.
A biography of Katherine Bogle – a journalist and a civil rights advocate for Black Oregonians.
A biography of Malvin L. Brown – a soldier and the first casualty of the US Forest Service’s smokejumper program.
A biography of Dr. Edwin Coleman Jr. – a University of Oregon professor, a musician, and prominent leader in Eugene’s African American community for decades.
A biography of Joe Lillard – an early Black athlete at the University of Oregon.
A biography of Daniel Drew – a Civil War soldier who became a minister and Chaplain of the Oregon chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic.
A biography of Alan and Louisa Flowers – the heads of a prominent Black family in early Portland, and the city’s first Black land developers.
A biography of Margaret Carter – an educator, activist, and the first Black person elected to the Oregon State House of Representatives.
A biography of Robert Deiz – a World War II fighter pilot and the likeness of one of America’s most famous wartime posters.
A biography of Elena Carter – a ballet dancer and choreographer who was one of the most recognizable figures in dance in the Pacific Northwest for a quarter century.
A biography of Adrienne Nelson – a justice of the Oregon State Supreme Court.
A biography of Abner Hunt Francis – an abolitionist, social activist, and business owner in early Portland.
A biography of McCants Stewart – an influential scholar and the first African American to practice law in Oregon.
A biography of George Washington Bush – an early black homesteader who challenged the racial exclusion laws of the Oregon Territory.
A biography of Jackie Winters – an Oregon State Senator, restaurateur, and cofounder of Oregon Black Pioneers.
A biography of Mary Jane Holmes Shipley Drake – one of Oregon’s the first African Americans to live nearly their entire life in Oregon and was the matriarch of a large family of early Black residents.
A biography of Moses “Black” Harris – a legendary mountain man, who became one of the most sought-after guides of the overland wagon trains to Oregon in the 1840s.