Please click here to view a student eulogy for Ivan Cannady recorded at Los Angeles National Cemetery in 2026: https://youtu.be/mPevSnShdT8

Biography

Early Life 
On October 7, 1915, Ivan Caldwell Cannady was born to Beatrice Morrow Taylor and Edward Daniel Cannady in Portland, Oregon. He grew up along the Willamette River, raised by a mother who founded Portland’s first branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and a father that founded The Advocate, Portland’s second oldest Black newspaper. Ivan and his older brother, George Cannady, challenged racial expectations throughout their childhood.

Ivan Cannady and George Cannady were the first Black students to attend and graduate from Portland’s Grant High School. At Grant High School, the brothers participated in numerous school activities. George played football, and Ivan was a member of the Grantonian newspaper staff. 

During the summers, the Cannady brothers spent time as the first Black attendees at the Spirit Lake Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) Camp. At the YMCA Camp, the brothers engaged in baseball, track, and swimming. Ivan also immersed himself in the arts by participating in singing, dancing, and theater. Ivan eventually became a camp counselor at the YMCA Camp.

Ivan delayed his education at Willamette University when he could not register for the journalism and commercial art courses he was interested in. However, he returned to Willamette University to complete his bachelor's degree.

In the 1930s, Mr. Cannady sailed between Seattle and San Francisco as a busboy on the H. F. Alexander ship. He eventually left Portland, earning his law degree at Lincoln University in San Francisco. After moving to Los Angeles, he worked as a mail carrier. In his new home, Mr. Cannady started a family with his first wife, Annette Bell Cannady, and their daughter, Brenda Jean Cannady, who was born on November 2, 1938.

Homefront 
By the late 1800s, rapid growth in Oregon had attracted many groups, including European, Chinese, and Japanese immigrants, and African American migrants. However, Oregon’s statehood began with roots of White supremacy. The state was created as an anti-Black society, and was admitted to the union in 1859 with a racial exclusionary clause in its constitution, the only state to do so. 

By the 1940s, Ivan Cannady’s hometown of Portland was a center of wealth, population, and political momentum in Oregon. Defense industries offered steady work and income during wartime, and defense employment hit a peak of 140,000 workers during World War II. The Housing Authority of Portland quickly built homes for 40,000 defense workers and their families at 25 sites throughout the city, including Vanport. Though initially created as a diverse, wartime project, it became a focal point for housing discrimination and redlining. 

Defense Industries 

Kaiser’s defense plants and shipyard were among the largest homefront industries in Portland, employing 100,000 employees by 1943. Included in the shipbuilding workforce were 28,000 women and 14,700 African Americans, including 6,700 African American women. 

While employment opportunities expanded during World War II, anti-Black attitudes in Oregon persisted, demonstrated by discriminatory treatment towards African American workers who had migrated to Portland to join the shipbuilding industry. 

Executive Order 8802, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941, prohibited racial, religious, or ethnic discrimination in the defense industry and federal government. However, African Americans working in the Kaiser Shipyards in Portland, Oregon, worked in segregated spaces. Unions partnered with the shipyards, including the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, refused to admit Black members. Instead, skilled Black workers were reduced to working municipal jobs and admitted into lesser "auxiliary" unions, resulting in lower pay and fewer benefits. 

In response, Black workers boycotted unions and protested against discrimination in the workforce, leading to the firing of 345 Black workers from Kaiser shipyards in Portland in 1943.

Military Experience 
Ivan Cannady enlisted in the United States Marine Corps on October 25, 1943, in Los Angeles, California. He was assigned to the 2nd Marine Headquarters and Service Company, Headquarters Battalion, Montford Point, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Montford Point was significant as it was the segregated training facility for America’s first Black Marines. The segregated camp gave African American Marines the opportunity to use their service as a way of showing their capabilities for elite combat and paved the way for full military desegregation. 

At Montford Point, Ivan Cannady worked as an assistant Navy mail clerk, where he performed various duties in a post office, such as receiving, sorting, and distributing all classes of mail, insuring and registering mail, and selling stamps. He attended seven weeks of Postal Training School and completed the course “indoctrination.” Cannady raised morale by keeping information flowing between the homefront and the front lines. He was promoted from private to private first class on December 31, 1944. He was honorably discharged on May 1, 1946, and promoted to corporal upon his discharge.

Veteran Experience 
After Ivan Cannady completed his military service, he had a successful real estate career in Los Angeles. He founded the Consolidated Realty Board (CRB), the largest Black real estate group in the nation, which fought redlining and encouraged Black investment in local communities. He was also the vice president of the Southern Division of the California Association of Real Estate Brokers. As a real estate professional, Cannady spoke out against housing discrimination in Los Angeles and was a member of the Urban League, NAACP, and Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. Cannady married several times and had one child, Brenda Jean Cannady.

Commemoration 
On December 14, 1987, Ivan Caldwell Cannady Jr. passed away at the age of 70 after an extended battle with cancer. He is buried at Los Angeles National Cemetery in Los Angeles, California, with his wife Jewell, mother Beatrice Taylor, and stepfather Reuben Taylor. Mr. Cannady is remembered for his service to the Montford Point Marines and his contributions to the Civil Rights Movement through his fight against housing discrimination.

This profile was researched by Chloe Boston, Nandini Chhibber, Grey Doshi, and Elijah Gubisch, mentored by Van Nuys High School teacher Mrs. Aditi Mehta Doshi, as part of a Veterans Legacy Grant Program led by National History Day in the 2025/2026 academic year.

This profile was funded by a grant from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. The opinions, findings, and conclusions stated herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.


Bibliography
Primary Sources

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Ivan Caldwell Cannady, Official Military Personnel File, Department of the Navy, National Archives and Records Administration - St. Louis.

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Horton, Kami. “120 years ago, ‘The Advocate’ became a voice for Black Oregonians.” Oregon Public Broadcast. Accessed October 14, 2025. https://www.opb.org/article/2023/09/05/the-advocate-oregon-black-newspaper/.

Imarisha, Walidah. "Why Aren’t There More Black People in Oregon? A Hidden History." PDXTalks, Portland State University,  2015. https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/34187.

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Linder, John. “Liberty Ships and Jim Crow Shipyards: Racial Discrimination in Kaiser’s Shipyards, 1940-1945.” Oregon Historical Quarterly, winter 2019. https://www.ohs.org/oregon-historical-quarterly/back-issues/upload/09_Linder_Liberty-Ships-and-Jim-Crow-Shipyards_OHQ-Winter-2019_web.pdf.

Mangun, Kimberley Ann. Beatrice Morrow Cannady: A Force for Change. Oregon State University Press, 2010.

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Van Nuys High School students visited Mr. Cannady’s grave, March 27, 2026.

The Consolidated Board of Realtists, founded by Ivan Cannady in the 1940s, continues to work towards “Democracy in Housing” today. Consolidated Board of Realtists of Southern California, September 13, 2025.

An advertisement for Cannady's company promoting home ownership.

Ivan Cannady’s death was marked in the Black newspaper, the Los Angeles Sentinel, December 17, 1987.

Ivan Cannady participated in civil rights activism, including attending the 1961 Freedom Rally with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Los Angeles. California Eagle, June 21, 1961

Ivan Cannady and others marched in a civil rights protest with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

As a founding member of the Consolidated Realty Board, Ivan Cannady worked to provide equal housing opportunities for all Angelenos. Los Angeles Sentinel, October 18, 1979.

Ivan Cannady operated a successful real estate business in the heart of Black Los Angeles until his death in 1987. This advertisement was published in the Los Angeles Sentinel, June 25, 1959.

A newspaper ad for Ivan Cannady's real estate business.

Ivan Cannady served as a mail clerk with the United States Marine Corps from 1943 to 1946. This is his report of separation, May 1, 1946. Portions are redacted for privacy reasons. National Archives and Records Administration - St. Louis.

Ivan Cannady's report of separation, detailing his military service.

Ivan Cannady was among the first African Americans to serve with the United States Marine Corps in Montford Point Camp, adjacent to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. This official photograph was taken in October 1943.  Portions are redacted for privacy reasons. Official Military Personnel File, National Archives and Records Administration - St. Louis.

A young African American man in a Marine Corps uniform.

Many African American Marines, such as Ivan Cannady, served in support roles during World War II. National Archives and Records Administration (NAID: 218517624).

Two young African American Marines operating a telephone switchboard.

Ivan Cannady's parents and brother George, in the Portland Observer, October 9, 1980.

Ivan Caldwell Cannady’s mother, Beatrice Morrow Taylor, ran for State Representative of Multnomah County, Oregon in 1932. The Advocate, May 14, 1932.

An advertisement for Cannady's mother's campaign for state representative.

Ivan Cannady’s 1932 yearbook photo at Grant High School, Portland, Oregon.

A young African American man in a jacket and tie.

IVAN C CANNADY

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