Avel Gordly Book Signing

A quick reminder off this week's cover story excerpting the memoir from Avel Gordly, the first African-American woman elected to the Oregon Senate. Tonight, April 4, Gordly will be signing her memoir at Powell's City of Books (1005 W. Burnside) at 7:30 pm.

Remembering the Power of Words (Oregon State University Press, $18.95) recounts Gordly's childhood in Portland in the 1950s and '60s, her work pressing the Oregon Legislature for divestment in South Africa and then her nearly two decades in the Legislature.

Gordly, a 64-year-old associate professor of black studies at Portland State University, collaborated on her memoir with Portland State University associate history professor Patricia Schechter.