Harriet Redmond

Harriet Redmond (born circa 1862 – June 27, 1952), also known as Hattie Redmond, was an African-American suffragist who lived and worked in Portland, Oregon. She moved to Oregon at a young age where she then became an active member of the suffragist movement.

Redmond is best known for her efforts as secretary and then president of the Colored Women’s Equal Suffrage Association.

LaVinia, who went by Vina, had a brother who lived in California, and their intention as a family was to always remain on the West Coast. LaVinia stayed at home and also worked partly as a domestic servant.

Early life Redmond was about 9 years old when the family moved to California and about 18 when the family settled in Portland. Later, she became secretary, then president, of the offshoot Colored Women’s Equal Suffrage Association formed in 1912. This committee united suffrage efforts from around the state and worked to foster cooperation between the different factions of the movement.

Ultimately, the suffrage movement succeeded and Oregon voters ratified women's right to vote on November 5, 1912. Redmond registered to vote as a Republican during April 1913. Redmond's work on campaigning for women's right to vote also laid a foundation for the civil rights activism which became prominent in early-20th century Oregon.

During the 1914 election season, Redmond and other activists who helped gain Oregon women the right to vote worked on the campaigns of several Republican candidates. At other times, she worked as a department store cleaner, a domestic servant, and lastly, as a janitor for Oregon's U.S. District Court. She served as a janitor for twenty-nine years until her retirement in 1939.

In July 2018, the president of Oregon State University, Ed Ray, announced that three campus buildings would be renamed due to their namesakes' racism. One of these buildings, formerly known as the Benton Annex, became the Hattie Redmond Women and Gender Center. The building was previously named for Thomas Hart Benton, an antebellum United States Senator from Missouri.