LANSING, Mich. — Although Hortense Canady didn’t grow up in Lansing, she decided to put down roots here and left an indelible mark.
Canady grew up in Chicago but after graduating from Fisk University in Nashville Tennessee, she and her husband Clinton came to Lansing and started a family. Clinton was a well-known dentist but Hortense had a passion for education, civil rights and policy making.
“I would say she is part of the fabric of Lansing Michigan. There are a lot of firsts with her,” said Willie Davis Jr. of the All Around the African World Museum.
In 1968, Canady ran for a seat on the Lansing School Board of Education.
“She was the first African American woman elected to the Lansing School Board of Education. Although that vote was recalled but what she stood firmly on was the integration of schools,” said Natalie Hall of Michigan Women Forward.
During her tenure, she voted in favor of desegregating the schools, a decision that triggered a successful recall campaign.
But she didn’t let her removal keep her from working to put people of color on a level playing field by making sure they had access to quality education like everyone else.
Hortense went on to co-found the Les Meres et Debutantes Cotillion Club, sit on the state’s Women’s Commission and was instrumental in educating students at Lansing Community College.
“She really sought to educate and was completely committed to policy. She knew that if policy was established, the process would stand," said A’Lynne Dukes. "She wasn’t about lip service. She was about, get it done."
Not only was Canady impressive in her own right, but her children have made notable accomplishments.
Her daughter, Alexa, is the first African American woman to become a neurosurgeon. All three of her sons became attorneys.
One is an Ingham County judge, while another served on the Lansing City Council.
Hortense died in 2010. She was 83.
She is a Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame inductee and was named as one of Ebony magazine’s Most Influential People.
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