Remembering Harriet ‘Hattie’ Redmond the Election Day

BIOGRAPHY: The famous African-American suffragist from Oregon, Hattie Redmond, was born Harriet Crawford in 1862, or 1863. Her parents were slaves, Reuben Crawford, her father, was a rope-maker and later a ships’ caulker, and her mother was Vina Blue. Hattie, being the oldest of eight children, helped her mother in caring for her siblings, as the family made frequent moves from the East Coast, then to St. Louis, San Francisco, and finally settled down in Portland, Oregon around 1880.

Mrs. Redmond’s records of her efforts to win womens’ right to vote in Oregon were rediscovered in 2012 by the Century of Action committee in Oregon,and highlighted in the special ceremony held at Lone Fir on July 21, 2012, attended by more than two hundred people including Gov. Barbara Roberts.