BLACK SOCIAL HISTORY : AFRICAN AMERICAN " HORTENSE CANADY " WAS A CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER, THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN ELECTED TO THE LANSING BOARD OF EDUCATION : GOES INTO THE " HALL OF BLACK HEROES "

 BLACK           SOCIAL          HISTORY                                                                                                                                          Hortense Canady

Hortense Canady
Born	Elizabeth Hortense Golden August 18, 1927 (age 87)[1] Chicago, Illinois
Died	October 23, 2010 (aged 83)[2]
Organization	Delta Sigma Theta sorority
Spouse(s)	Clinton Canady, Jr.[1]

Hortense (Golden) Canady (August 18, 1927 – October 23, 2010) was a civil rights leader, the first African American elected to the Lansing Board of Education.^[3][4] She served as national president of Delta Sigma Theta sorority from 1983-1988.

Biography

Canady was born Elizabeth Hortense Golden on August 18, 1927 in Chicago, Illinois.^[1] At age 16, she enrolled in Fisk University, where she met her husband. The two were married on her 18th birthday, prior to his deployment during World War II.^[1] She continued her education at Fisk, and later received Bachelor's of Science in Zoology.^[1] Later in life, she went back to school and received a master's degree in higher education from Michigan State University.^[1]

Her daughter Alexa Canady was the first African-American woman to become a neurosurgeon.^[5]