A Force for Change: Beatrice Morrow Cannady and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Oregon, 1912-1936

Chapter Three: The Best Talent

62 CHAPTER THREE The Best Talent The pulse of the Negro Race in Portland beats in harmony with The Advocate, and its program. — “Representative,” the Advocate, April 12, 1930, 2 A few weeks before the noted tenor Roland Hayes performed in Portland in 1919, the Telegram noted: “With the firm purpose of establishing generally a bigger demand by her own people for classical works and to create a better relation between the two races, Mrs. E. D. Cannady has been untiring … in her efforts to present to Portland audiences the best talent of the colored race.”1 In particular, she “believed that it was necessary to present” gifted singers, poets, musicians, politicians, and speakers to Portlanders in order “to offset the unjust propaganda disseminated … by the newspaper press of the country” and counteract “front-page stories of Negro crime.”2 Cannady “was one of the very first to call attention to the talent of” Roland Hayes—typically described by the white press as “the negro tenor”—who enjoyed a successful career in Europe as well as the United States. But she recalled that she had to persuade Mayor George Baker, former Senator Robert M. Stanfield, and others to attend his first concert in 1918. “I had the dickens of a time trying to convince people … that [he] was a great singer,” she told a Journal reporter. She ended up closing her office so she could go “from individual to individual” to tell them about the “great discovery” she had made. About a thousand “white and colored people” ultimately attended the concert at the Masonic Temple and Auditorium on Yamhill Street.3 After all of the bills were paid, Cannady cleared $150— about $2,200 today—just enough to pay Hayes, his accompanist, and their expenses. “I thought then, what a shame that such a beautiful voice couldn’t command a larger fee,” she said.4 But after he performed for King George at Buckingham Palace in 1923, “then Portland believed” the tenor was “great.”5 Hayes was scheduled to return to Portland in March 1925 as part of the Elwyn Artist Series, which featured the “most talked-of artists of the day.” Cannady began advertising the concert months in advance; she assured people that ticket prices were “popular and well within reach of the most modest purse,” but urged them not to delay because the event 63 chapter three: The Best Talent was sure to sell out.6 Three days before his concert, the Advocate featured a front-page story about the tenor and a striking two-column photograph of Hayes. Cannady wrote that the “secret” to his success was his “wonderful spirituality.” He had managed to keep “his hand in the hand of the Great Conductor of the Universe” and still remember his Georgian roots, despite fame and wealth. She also praised his ability to sing away “the prejudices of a lifetime against his race” and instill “a practical interpretation of the Brotherhood of Man” in his audiences.7 She had another opportunity to promote Hayes in 1931, when he began the “season’s tour in the Northwest” rather than in the East, as she had previously reported.8 As the October date drew nearer, she observed that many “in music circles” were looking forward to the concert by the “world renowned tenor.”9 She published a short editorial as well as a brief review following the Saturday-night event. “I thought Mr. Hayes’ concert the loveliest he has ever given here with the possible exception of the two or three times which I had the pleasure of presenting him before he became renowned,” she wrote in her review. “At the close of the program the audience lingered for a good many minutes in an effort Beatrice Cannady, second from right, dreamed of being an opera singer when she was young. Music remained an important part of her life and she incorporated performances into her interracial teas. A Force for Change 64 to induce the singer to sing just one more number.”10 She praised his performance in her editorial, too, and then noted that he continued “to be the same fine, unspoiled, lovable personage he was before he ever crossed the ocean.”11 Hayes spent the following day with Cannady and was her special guest at a dinner party for seventeen at her home; her sons were there, as were George Orr Latimer; her sister and...