Black PSU alumni who shaped Portland’s history

From the founding of Vanport Extension Center to the current day, Portland State’s Black alumni have an important role in the history of Portland. Here are just a few of our alumni who have shaped our city. 

Richard “Dick” Bogle Jr. - the Northwest’s first Black TV news reporter

Richard “Dick” Bogle Jr. was born in Portland in 1930 to Richard Bogle, a businessman, and Kathryn Hall Bogle, a social worker and activist who made a point of taking her son and his friends to tour different workplaces around town—from a bakery to the Oregonian newsroom. As a teen he became passionate about jazz. 

Bogle attended Washington High School, Oregon State College (now Oregon State University) and the Vanport Extension Center (now Portland State University). Over the course of his career he wore many hats–insurance fraud investigator, police officer, sports reporter, jazz reviewer among them. In 1968, he was hired by KATU and became the Northwest’s first Black television news reporter. 

In 1984, Bogle became the second Black person elected to Portland’s City Council where he was known as a progressive voice. On his final day as commissioner he said: "I promised I would work to make Portland a city my grandchildren would be proud of. I have and it is."

Retirement didn’t slow Bogle down. He continued his interest in jazz—hosting a show on cable news and writing music reviews—and also delved into photography. In 2008, he volunteered for the Portland Police Cold Case Homicide Unit. Bogle died on February 25, 2010.

Sources:
Richard “Dick” Bogle (1930–2010) - Oregon Encyclopedia
Dick Bogle, pioneering African American journalist and Portland commissioner, dead at 79 - The Oregonian

Leodis McDaniel ‘57 - groundbreaking high school principal  

Leodis McDaniel grew up in Vanport. After the flood, his family moved to a public housing project in Northwest Portland. He attended Lincoln High School and graduated from Portland State in 1975. 

Despite his education, discriminatory hiring practices made it so he was unable to get a job with Portland Public Schools. For more than a decade he worked at Woodburn Boys Home (now MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility) before he became part of the first group of Black educators in the Portland Public School system. He began as a counselor at Adams High School and then Madison High School where he served as principal from 1983 and until his sudden death in 1987 at the age of 51. 

Besides being one of only a few Black principals in Oregon in the 1980s—with the challenging task of leading the school through desegregation and busing—McDaniel is remembered for his “kind demeanor, contagious laugh, absolute integrity, and his instinctual ability to deeply connect with all people.” 

When students advocated for changing the name of Madison High School, McDaniel was a clear frontrunner. The school was officially renamed Leodis V. McDaniel High School in 2021. 

McDaniel continues to touch people’s lives. Each year, Leodis V. McDaniel High School awards a $10,000 scholarship to a graduating Senior in need and hundreds of people who knew McDaniel attend a reunion in his honor that they call “The Gathering.” 

Sources:
His Good Name - Portland State Magazine
So long, James Madison. Hello, Leodis McDaniel High School - The Oregonian
Announcing Leodis V. McDaniel High School - Portland Public Schools

Gladys McCoy MSW '67 - first person of color elected to public office in Oregon

Gladys McCoy was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1928 and grew up in Tennessee. The first in her family to attend college, McCoy graduated from Talladega College in Alabama in 1951. She moved to Portland for a job at the YWCA where she met her husband. 

McCoy had seven children before pursuing a master’s degree in social work at Portland State. She graduated in 1967. She later worked at Head Start and taught at Clark College and Pacific College. 

In 1970, she made history by winning a seat on the Portland School Board, becoming the first person of color in elected office in Oregon. While on the school board, she worked to desegregate Portland elementary schools and helped working mothers extend their education. In 1987, she was the first Black person elected to the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners—and later she became its first Black chair. In these roles, McCoy focused on issues related to public health, social services, diversifying public workplaces and human rights. McCoy died on April 11, 1993.

McCoy’s legacy lives on. In 2018, the Gladys McCoy Standard was adopted by the Multnomah County Commission. The standard requires interviewing qualified candidates from underrepresented groups for leadership roles in county departments. Each year, the Multnomah County Office of Community Involvement presents the Gladys McCoy Lifetime Achievement Award for “volunteer service dedicated to improving the county community.” Several locations around Portland honor McCoy, including the Gladys McCoy Health Department Headquarters and McCoy park. 

Sources: 
Gladys McCoy (1928–1993) - Oregon Encyclopedia 
Gladys Sims McCoy oral history - Oregon Historical Society

Mel Brown - godfather of Portland jazz 

Mel Brown grew up in Portland and began soaking up jazz lessons from local musicians before joining the Portland Junior Symphony at age 15. By the age of 17 Brown was playing in local nightclubs. He later attended PSU on a music scholarship and took several classes but did not graduate.

Brown developed his own unique style of drumming.

“With the swing feel of classic drummers such as Jo Jones, colorful cymbal work, dramatic press rolls, and an entertainer’s sense of timing, Brown is a consummate extrovert modernist,” writes Lynn Darroch for the Oregon Encyclopedia.

As a house drummer for Motown Records, Brown played and recorded with several famous musicians, including the Temptations, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. In the 1970s and 80s he toured with Diana Ross.

In Portland, Brown has played a vital role in the jazz scene as a musician, drum shop owner and mentor for young musicians through his Mel Brown Summer Jazz Workshops. A stage at the famous Jimmy Mak’s jazz club was named in his honor, and he was named to the Jazz Society of Oregon Hall of Fame in 1999. Brown continues to be a mainstay in the Portland jazz scene and can be seen playing at the Jack London Revue. 

Sources:
Mel Brown (1944-) - Oregon Encyclopedia
Drummer and local legend Mel Brown endures as the humble godfather of Portland jazz - NPR
Meet Mel Brown, the Portland jazz legend who plays for something greater than himself - OPB

Margaret Carter '73 - first Black woman elected to the Oregon State Legislature

Margaret Carter was born in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1935. After graduating from high school as salutatorian, Carter attended Spaulding Business College for a year before having her first child. She worked evenings in an ammunition plant while her husband served in the military. 

In 1967, she fled her abusive marriage and moved her five daughters to Portland, following a call from a friend who told her about the “lush Willamette Valley.” She enrolled at Portland State and graduated in 1972 with an education degree, which was followed by a Master of Education degree from Oregon State.

For 27 years she worked as a counselor and faculty member at Portland Community College before she was recruited to run for a House District seat in Northeast Portland in 1983. She won both the Democratic primary and the general election to become the first Black woman in the Oregon Legislature. She served for seven terms. In 2000, she was elected to the Oregon State Senate where she became Senate President Pro Tempore in 2005. 

While in office, Carter led initiatives to make Martin Luther King Jr. Day an official holiday and to mandate divestment from apartheid-goverened South Africa. She also championed education programs and workforce training opportunities. 

After her time in the legislature, Carter served as Deputy Director for Human Services Programs at the Oregon Department of Human Services until her retirement in 2014. In 2020, USA Today named her one of Oregon’s Women of the Century. 

Sources:
Margaret Louise Carter (1935-) - Oregon Encyclopedia 
Margaret Carter Oral History Interview - Oregon State University Sesquicentennial Oral History Project
Margaret Louise Carter (1935- ) - BlackPast

Avel Gordly '74 - first Black woman elected to the Oregon Senate

Avel Gordly was born in Portland in 1947. Gordly graduated from Girls Polytechnic High School and worked at Pacific Northwest Bell until 1970. In 1974, she became the first person in her family to earn a college degree when she graduated from PSU with a degree in administration of justice. After graduation she worked as a women’s work-release counselor for the Oregon Corrections Division.

In 1991, Gordly was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Oregon House of Representatives and was reelected. In 1996, she became the first Black woman to be elected to the Oregon State Senate where her legislative initiatives focused on criminal justice, mental health and cultural competency in education. Gordly also championed the formation of the Governor’s Environmental Justice Task Force, which continues to advise the Governor and natural resource agencies on environmental justice concerns. 

Gordly also has had key roles in activist and public service organizations, including the Black United Front, the Urban League of Portland, the American Friends Service Committee, and Portlanders Organized for Southern African Freedom.

In 2008, Oregon Health and Science University unveiled the Avel Gordly Center for Healing, which provides culturally specific mental health care. After retiring from public service, Gordly published a memoir and also taught at PSU in the Black Studies department. Her papers are part of the library’s Special Collections. 

Sources:
Avel Gordly (1947-) - Oregon Encyclopedia 
Black United Front Oral History Project - Portland State University Library Digital Exhibits

Charles Moose MPA '84 PhD '93 -  Portland's first Black police chief

Charles Moose was born in New York City in 1953. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he joined the Portland Police as a patrol officer. In 1984, he earned a Master in Public Administration from Portland State and later earned a PhD in urban studies and criminology and taught courses at PSU. Moose became Portland’s first Black police chief in 1993. 

As chief Moose sought to expand the role of community policing. In his dissertation he argued for an expanded role for police to “promote the common good, serve as community social workers as well as law enforcers” and supported addressing societal issues like job training and gentrification as ways to prevent crime. He also worked with Mayor Vera Katz to incentivize Portland police officers to buy homes in Portland neighborhoods. Moose himself captured attention by buying a house in the King neighborhood. 

In 1999, Moose became Chief of the Montgomery County Police Department and was in charge of the Beltway sniper case. Moose died in his home in Florida on November 25, 2021 at the age of 68.

Sources:
Charles Moose Had a Radical Idea for What Portland Police Officers Should Do: Live Here - Willamette Week
Charles Moose - Wikipedia
The Theory and Practice of Community Policing: An Evaluation of the Iris Court Demonstration Project - Charles Moose’s PSU Dissertation 

Isaka Shamsud-Din ‘99 MFA ‘01 - artist, civil rights activist

Artist and activist Isaka Shamsud-Din moved to Oregon with his family in 1947 when he was in first grade. Shamsud-Din showed an early aptitude for art, winning a national art contest when he was 14. 

Shamsud-Din graduated from Jefferson High School and eventually made his way to Portland State where he studied art. Feeling alienated as the only Black art major, he left school before graduating and became an organizer for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, helping with integration efforts in Arkansas. He later moved to San Francisco where he continued his activism work—including organizing a conference on Black Power and Black Art—all the while continuing to paint about the experiences of Black Americans. Over time, his work gained critical acclaim and was featured in books and exhibits.

“My work is a message for African people,” said Shamsud-Din in a Portland State Magazine article, “At the same time I want my work to have aesthetic qualities that anyone can appreciate.”

Shamsud-Din returned to Portland where he was commissioned to do several murals and wall paintings across town including for the Portland Justice Center and McMenamins Kennedy School. He returned to PSU in 1998 and earned his bachelor’s at the age 57, followed by an MFA.

As a student, Shamsud-Din painted “Vanport,” a mural of the Vanport flood, which is featured in PSU’s Smith Memorial Center. The painting was personal for Shamsud-Din whose family was one of many to have lost their homes in the flood. Shamsud-Din later taught art and Black studies courses at Portland State.

In 2019, June 19 was declared “Isaka Shamsud-Din Day” by Portland City Hall, honoring both his social justice and artistic work. Shamsud-Din still lives in Portland where he continues to paint. The Isaka Shamsud-Din: Rock of Ages exhibition is currently on display at the Portland Art Museum and online. 

Sources:
A righteous man, a righteous artist - The Oregonian
Mural Master - Portland State Magazine