A little-known piece of Bend history, nearly lost in oblivion, has been recovered and pieced together. The project was inspired by one tiny newspaper article from 1925 titled, “Colored Men Form Club for Betterment of Race.”
“I have no idea how long ago I found that story and printed a clipping of it for future research,” Kelly Cannon-Miller, executive director of the Deschutes County Historical Society, told the Source Weekly. Years passed until she met LeeAnn O’Neill from Allyship in Action. Cannon-Miller secured a grant from St. Charles’ Health Systems to pay for research and gave O’Neill the clipping to see what she could discover.
The patience and persistence paid off with details emerging about The Colored Men’s Business Club, which came together May 15, 1925. It’s unclear how large the club was but O’Neill found names for nine male club members and women who supported them.
The organization was founded during a time of Prohibition, Ku Klux Klan threats and Black exclusion laws in Central Oregon. Club members owned or worked a variety of jobs including at a shoeshine stand, barber, cigar vendor and cleaners.
It was a time of activism around the state. A similar club launched in Salem and influential Black leaders from Portland played a significant supportive role. Rev. J.W. Anderson, a Baptist minister, made several trips to Bend. He was a leader in the social justice movement throughout the Pacific Northwest. Beatrice Morrow Cannady also made several visits to support and guide the local Black community. She was a civil rights leader and editor at The Advocate, the state’s largest Black newspaper at the time. She also became the first Black woman in Oregon to practice law and successfully advocate for the passage of civil rights bills in the Oregon state legislature.
Bend’s Colored Men’s Business Club had a significant impact on society. During that time, the city had Jim Crow signs dictating where Black people were allowed. In 1925, Black business club members successfully lobbied the city council for removal of those signs.
“One of the interesting dynamics that came up during that, was talking about, you know, the embarrassment of having those signs up and that folks knew where they weren’t welcome, right? Basically, what the rationale that city council had was, you know, we have a social agreement that there are certain places where Black folks won’t go, and they are kind of concerned about how they would look to outsiders. Especially folks who are more newly immigrated to the U.S.,” O’Neill explains.
The club ended up disbanding after only a few years, when some members moved away, followed by the beginning of the Great Depression.
O’Neill’s findings were recently unveiled during a Black History month event at Central Oregon Community College. The presentation, which can be accessed online, includes reaction from Kenny Adams with The Father’s Group. He says “The uncovering of this history has hit home in many ways for both me and The Father’s Group. Observing the parallels between today’s work in this city and the club’s formation 100 years ago is a blatant reminder that while times change, the barriers to progress, equity, and equality remain significant hurdles.”
Ricardo Waites with WeBlack Radio said, “This historical rediscovery is a teeter totter of emotions for me and others of compatible mindset.”
In honor of the 100th anniversary of the Colored Men’s Business Club on May 15, a special ecent will be held at the Redmond library which will include learning stations and a history scavenger hunt.
Identified members of Bend’s Colored Men’s Business Club:
- R.C. Cameron: valet at Pilot Butte Inn
- Mrs. R.C. Cameron
- Mrs. Combs: Mrs. R.C. Cameron’s mother
- Walter Green: owned B-B shine stand
- George Rencher: owned De Luxe cleaners
- R.J. Johnson: worked at Altamont Hotel
- Louis Epps
- Ed Simmons
- Chester Terry
- Owen H. Thompson: owner of shining parlor and cigar stand
- Henry Burton: janitor at Central Oregon Bank
100th Anniversary of Bend’s Colored Men’s Business Club
This article appears in Source Weekly May 8, 2025.
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