[8] The Advocate arose in connection with an effort to launch a black newspaper, headed by C. B. F. Moore, pastor of Zion A.M.E. church in Portland.

A. Merriman, J. C. Logan, Rutherford, E. D. Cannady, Bob Perry, Howard Sproules, C. F. B. Moore, Edward Hunt, McCants Stewart, W. H. Bolds, and A. Ballard,[5] most of whom worked for The Hotel Portland at the time.

By May 1904, Moore had renounced his editorial role, and in that month the staff of the paper reorganized; Cannady became managing editor at that time.

[13][14][15] Beatrice Morrow, Oregon's most prominent civil rights activist in the 20th century, moved to Portland and married The Advocate editor Edward Cannady in 1912.

[17] At the time, Portland had an African American population of barely 1,000, and Beatrice Morrow Cannady quickly became involved in civil rights issues, including protesting the showing of The Birth of a Nation, a commercially successful silent film that portrayed the KKK as heroes.

[18] She was a tireless civil rights leader at a time when the Klan was active in Oregon and exclusion laws prohibited African-Americans from even residing in the state.

[7] Articles and editorials about segregation, lynching, employment opportunities and other issues kept the realities of Jim Crow laws and the pressing need for civil rights on the local, state, and national agenda.

[7] On the 22nd birthday of the newspaper, E. D. Cannady awarded "the lion's share of credit" to Beatrice for "her intrepid courage, faith in the loyalty of the people she serves and her self-confidence.

"[18] In 1936, The Advocate worked with the Portland Art Museum to exhibit the New York–based Harmon Foundation's collection of paintings, watercolors, and sculptures by black artists.

Issues of The Advocate dating from October 1924 to December 1933 were made available in the library's Historic Oregon Newspaper online resource.