Oral history interview with Constance Beaty

Collection

Identifier: SR4003

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This oral history interview with Constance Beaty was conducted by Rick Harmon in Portland, Oregon, on February 7, 1986. In this interview, Beaty discusses her family background, her early life in Portland, and her childhood vacations in Seaview, Washington. She talks about the Golden West Hotel, which the first hotel in Portland to accommodate black people and was owned by her father, William Duncan Allen. She describes the interior furnishing of the hotel and talks about the clientele the hotel catered to. She discusses playing piano and organ; talks about her recreational and social activities as part of Portland’s black community; and discusses her education in Portland. She closes the interview by talking about racial discrimination she experienced, and the impact her mother’s death in 1924 had on her family.

Dates

Creation: 1986 February 7

Creator

Beaty, Constance (Nellie Constance), 1910-1996 (Interviewee, Person)
Harmon, Rick (Interviewer, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following statement: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.

Biographical note

Nellie Constance Beaty, nee Allen, was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1910. Her father, William Duncan Allen, owned the Golden West Hotel, and later the Hotel Medley, both in Portland. In 1951, she and Hugh B. Beaty were married. She was a pianist and organist, and she also taught music in Texas. She later lived in Northern California. She died in 1996.

Extent

.1 Cubic Feet (1 audiocassette (40 min., 5 sec.))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Oral history interview with Constance Beaty conducted by Rick Harmon on February 7, 1986. Beaty discusses the Golden West Hotel in Portland, Oregon, which was owned by her father, William Duncan Allen.