Nellie Franklin Hall?
The University of Oregon Board of Trustees has voted unanimously to rename Deady Hall, the first building on campus, named after Matthew Deady, a politician and jurist in the Oregon Territory. He served on the Oregon Supreme Court but unfortunately, held racist views considering that Oregon would become a "free" state.
As a delegate to the Oregon Constitutional Convention, he was influential in shaping the new state constitution, which outlawed slavery but excluded African-Americans from settling in the state. Deady also advocated for discrimination towards Chinese immigrants and was actually in favor of slavery in the State of Oregon.
So what to do about a new name? I suggest Nellie Franklin, BA, Music '32, the third grade teacher at Ascension Catholic School in Portland. She was also the music teacher for all the grades at the school. "Miss Franklin," as she was known, was the first African-American to graduate from the UO and led the way for black women to join sororities. She was noted as one among the 100 Ducks Who Made a Difference.
3 comments:
Nellie Hall it tis💪🏻
I'm with you, Butch.
The photo is actually of Mabel Byrde the first documented Black student at the UO in 1919 and after two years left and graduated from the University of Washinton in1923. Nelllie was the first Black female to graduate from UO. William Sherman Savage, a black male earned a masters from UO in 1925.
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