And purpose. Being that portland wasnt a very welcoming place for African Americans in the 1940s and 50s, community and family and books really shaped her imagination, her sense of the past and of the future. And she has achieved many things on behalf of others. Shes been an advocate always for education and shes probably best known as the first africanamerican woman elected to the Oregon State Senate in 19 86. Avel gordly was my state representative, my state senator in northeast portland so i knew her name and her face and her work as a citizen of portland. In the 90s, and in the 2000 and in 2007, i was lobbying the state legislature on behalf of education, on behalf of Higher Education and we were visiting around in salem and talking to legislators in the last of our delegation of Portland State university with senator avel gordly and she was a great champion of positive education and as we were enjoying our conversation and wrapping up i said is an honor to meet you. You probably dont know me but i worked at psu and the librarian, the librarians there have told me that you gifted your personal papers, your personal archives to the university and the staff is a little overwhelmed right now but i wanted to thank you personally and also say that if you need help with that collection, i think i can give you a hand and she said yes, i would love some help with that. I got a call at my office and shes like, id like to meet with you. I said sure, i thought we were good. We learned so much, it was fabulous and she looked at me and said come on in, sit down. She said im ready to tell my story. Will you help me . And i was overwhelmed. I was extremely honored and i said i sure will try. It just seemed to me that the time has come to cause and reflect, to reflect and to do that in a way that what was important to me at that time was doing that reflection intentionally and in a way that would document something of my story, my families story. These two people, a hallway apart at the university, where both booklovers in history lovers. And writers and speakers. And yet our mothers came from different countries, spoke different languages, practice different religions. And yet here we were neighbors, colleagues, and we could share a language of scholarly language, literary language, political language that we had. We could connect in a way. It wouldve been challenging for our moms to connect so we always think that was kind of a team between us, although of course our time was really about cheerfully honoring her heritage and her family and the stories that shaped who she was. My parents, they were part of the great black migration. They came to portland, oregon on my mother side, her family came in the 1920s from alabama and texas. On my fathers side his family came out in 1937. My mom and dad met in portland and married. They were both young. My mom was all of 17, and dad wouldve been around 20. And they built a life together. They had 45 years together before my mom passed away in the 80s. So i remember home as being just that, a home with her mother and the father, a sister, an older brother. And where there were expectations, you know, my parents had expectations, especially my mom, that we would get an education, and that expectation resulted in mom making sure that my sister and i attended an all girls high school, girls polytechnic high school, which was known for its strong Academic Program but also college and vocational tracks, so to speak, on our block. There were black people who owned their homes and who worked very hard at more than one job to maintain their homes. During the civil rights. , that Civil Rights Era of the 60s, we watched a lot of television or anytime there was something on television about marches, demonstrations, we were watching. We were right there with my mom and my dad, if he was in town. We were very aware that there was this movement going on, and that the movement was national. And that we were a part of that. I think it also, i think that experience also opened up an understanding in my mind about what it means or what it was going to mean to be black and female. And to be vulnerable. Those seeds got planted during that time. Dr. Martin luther king junior had come to portland in the early 60s. There was a huge, huge gathering for him at vancouver avenue baptist church. I was not present for that but my grandmother on my mothers side, Alberta Louise randolph, i carry her middle name, grand mal randolph was present. In fact, she got, she came away with dr. Kings book, stride toward freedom, signed by him. And i now have that book in my collection. But that was a huge moment and event in the Portland Black Community that connected portlands black community to the movement. What stands out to me as a spark for her early activism was when she had her first job in the Oregon Division of corrections, and after sort of leaving home, leaving community, leaving campus, now out in the state, sort of the state apparatus, state structure and having to use your voice, both on the half of parolees and people in the system, and on behalf of her own behalf because of the treatment that you were given in that job. I dont know if thats the spark spark, but to me thats a crucial moment of transition. Because a lot of what has helped the poor and affirmed what you are seeking in education and a matching a good for yourself was now severely threatened by this institutional racism and corrections. Theres a moment in the interviews were you said i had to write these letters. I wasnt sure if anybody was going to do anything about them, bubut i had to write, you had to write those letters because you could not let the sort of intense layers of racism at every corner, every turn go undocumented and uncontested. So to me thats just a Pivotal Moment in using your voice and engaging beyond, beyond the supportive kind of accident the activism you grew up in, more unknown territory, you are on your own. I was, you know, one of the few African Americans and African American females to run for office in the state of oregon. There was one woman, margaret carter, who had successfully run for a seat in the house, and so i had her success in gaining a seat as an example of what was possible. What did surface in that campaign was racism, that did come up, some sexism, absolutely. That, too. But our issues, my issues were education, reform, public safe safety, and there was another one, Environmental Justice would become one of the issues that i championed as well. Im very proud of the work in Mental Health, around Mental Health, working to achieve Mental Health parity in the state of oregon, using my voice to champion the issue of Mental Health parity and speaking to the stigma against or around Mental Health using my voice and my lived experience with depression to help talk about those issues, and my sons experience with Mental Illness also to talk about those issues. I retired from the legislature, or step out of that role in january of 2009 after having served 17 years in the oregon state legislature. Last of my list, not lasting any defining senses, has to do with the changes in the legislature and the example and space that was created in the senate, the house, and in the halls of power in salem for black people, but maybe especially for black women, that its now, not normal yet, but its acceptable. Theres more room. Theres more tools and resources and affirmation of the importance of their voice, a black womans voice, and in some ways thats really symbolized by the beautiful portrait of the signing civil rights legislature, legislation in 1953 that hangs in the capital building, which was kind of hidden away in a corridor for many, many years but that avel gordly brought forward during her time in office to again highlight come to create the space, assign, a memory of civil rights accomplishment, which event is much more accessible and visible to anyone who comes into the capital, and to see that image and to be reminded of the particular oregon civil rights story i think is a very, very important legacy. Our visit to portland, oregon, continues with author james hite who provides a history of the office of the Vice President and the people who held the post. Mr. Chairman, delegates, friends and my fellow americans, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am deeply humbled by your confidence, and on behalf of my family, here and gone, i