Avel Gordly, Oregon’s first Black woman state senator, dies at 79

 On Feb. 16, Avel Gordly, who made history as the first Black woman elected to Oregon’s state senate, died of natural causes at 79.

Communities in Oregon are grieving the loss of local trailblazer Avel Gordly. Gordly, who was widely recognized for becoming the state’s first Black female state senator, died peacefully of natural causes in her home on Monday, February 16, 2026. 

“She was a good friend, an Oregon treasure, and a history maker,” Oregon Historical Society Executive Director Kerry Tymchuk said in a statement, per KGW 8 News. “She asked me to come see her a few weeks ago. She just wanted to say goodbye and to tell me how proud she was of the work of OHS. Needless to say, it was an emotional day.”

Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Gordly became a pillar of the community. In 1991, she joined the Oregon House of Representatives, where she served three terms. In 1996, she made history as the first Black woman to be elected to Oregon’s state senate. Gordly would go on to hold her seat for 13 years, where she championed civil rights, mental health reform, and the environment. 

“Her presence was regal and distinctive,” U.S. Rep. Janelle Bynum, a Democrat from Oregon, wrote on Instagram reflecting on Gordly, whom she described as her friend and mentor. “I knew I was standing on the shoulders of a giant. Sadly, her tenure as an elected Black Oregonian was so rare that many in the chamber thought she was a relative rather than the esteemed public servant who had dedicated and delivered so much to Oregon.”

“She loved her friends and she loved, loved, loved her community,” Gordly’s friend and the first Black woman elected to Oregon’s Legislature, Margaret Carter, said, per Oregon Public Broadcasting.

During her tenure in the state senate, Gordly pushed to remove Oregon’s Black exclusion laws, which banned Black people from settling in the territory, from the state constitution. Similarly, she pushed for the state to recognize Juneteenth as a holiday and advocated for the creation of Harriet Tubman Middle School. 

“She worked really hard to get Tubman Middle School into our neighborhood. [Now kids can say] ‘We went to Tubman, this school that Senator Avel Gordly and other community members dreamed up for us,” Lakeitha Elliott told KPTV Fox 12. “Ms. Avel was a mother, a mentor to me. She modeled what it was like to be from this neighborhood, to grow up surrounded by community, and to have an impact.” 

“I believe that education is the way forward,” Gordly said in a 2025 interview with KATU News. “I think right now the world is in need of more women leaders and women who focus on bringing forward peace and, bringing forward what Dr. King described as the beloved community.”

However, her activism extended beyond the state senate floor. Gordly reportedly served as the director of the American Friends Service Committee, traveled to South Africa and other countries as part of the Free South Africa Movement and was part of Portland’s Black United Front in the 1970s and 1980s. 

In 2009, Gordly retired from public office and began working as an associate professor in the Black Studies Department at her alma mater, Portland State University. She was later awarded an honorary doctorate of letters by the institution in 2017.

“She was committed to doing what was right and, in that regard, she was like a lighthouse for everyone else to observe and follow,” Darrell Millner, a Black Studies professor at PSU, said of Gordly. 

Now, her legacy lives on through the various centers in the city that bear her name, like the OHSU Avel Gordly Center for Healing and the Albina Early Head Start – Avel Gordly Center.

“She is an inspiration to the next generation of social justice warriors,” Michelle Burch, Gordly’s niece, concluded, reflecting on her aunt’s legacy.