The Oklahoman
E. Melvin Porter, Oklahoma’s first black state senator, died Tuesday.
He was 86. Porter’s cause of death was not immediately known.
Born in Okmulgee in 1930, Porter was a member of the first class including blacks at Vanderbilt University Law School. He went on to become president of the Oklahoma City chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in 1961.0
Porter unsuccessfully ran for the state House as a Republican in 1962 and was defeated. As a Democrat, he was elected to the state Senate in 1964.
In office, Porter introduced the state’s Anti-Discrimination Act, Oklahoma’s equivalent of the federal Civil Rights Act. He held the office for 22 years.
Porter’s state political career came to an end in 1986, when he lost his seat to Vicki Miles-LaGrange.
