■ r . Frances Schoen-!.'e»,pa p9r Roob
n v e r a t ty o f Oregon L tb r c r y
tu g ? n e ,
POR TLA ND
AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER
Volum « 3, N o . 19 P o rtland, O regon
THE ONLY
NEWSPAPER IN
THE WHOLE
WIDE
WORLD
O re g o n
97403
OBSERVER
THAT REALLY CARES ABOUT
Thursday February 15, 1973 1<X per
per copy
PEOPLE
When the Kian rode in Portland
In the early 1920’s Ore
gon was one of the strong
holds of the Ku Klux Kian,
with the Kian wielding mor-
power in Oregon than any
where outside the S o u t h .
Beginning in 1921 an anti
Catholic campaign was waged
by several groups including
the Masons.
A t the same
time an attempt was made to
drive all OrienUls, especially
the Japanese, from the state.
The two f o r c e s , the anti
Catholic and the anti-Japan
ese, joined with the group
attempting to abolish the
private schools.
E a s ily
adapting to this social cli
mate, the Kian subordinated
its anti Black and anti Jewish
appeals in Oregon and tv-
come strongly anti-Catholic
and anti-Oriental.
The Kian came into Oregon
in the summer of 1921 and
soon was organized in Port
land. Salem, Hood River.
Medford, Eugene, The Dalles.
Roseburg, Pendleton, Condon
and Tillamook. It was esti
mated the following spring
that there were 5,000 mem
bers.
There was little opposition
to the Kian with only two
new spapers. T h e C apito l
Journal and the Medford Mail
Tribune standing against it.
The Kian was involved in
scattered arts against Blacks.
Six men, including the
county judge, a former coun
ty judge, a former jailor took
a Black man from his car in
Medford,
placed
a
ro«-.
around h » neck ana threat-'*
ened him. The police chief of
that city was a member of the
Kian. Klansmen drove Sam
Johnson, a boot black, from
Roseburg.
ayor
Baker
of
U95ti, (rom lhe ()rrK on SUU- „ " M '“
' “J George
— y
»
« r r «.
M
e
d
lrl,
Society,
Citizen
of
the
______ Society
and attended its functions,
, „.
,P,Paw tUrn
p,ge 8 C° ' 61
although he might not have
Dr. Unthank earns Brotheihood Award
D r . D e N o rv a l U n th a n k , includes and A.B. degree from
Portland physician, will re the University of Michigan in
1920, and graduate work at
ceive the B'nni B'rith's 20th
the University of Kansas from
Annual Brotherhood Award
1922 to 1924. He received his
on February 21»t. Dr. Un
thank will be the first Black M .D. degree from Ha ward
to receive this award. The University in 192« to 1928,
award will be presented at a and received his certificate in
dinner to be held February "Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat"
21st 7:30 p.m. at The Jewish in 1928.
His medical affiliations in
Community Center. «651 S.W.
clude the American Medical
Capitol Highway.
D r. Unthank was Oregon's Association (A M A ). The Ore
first Black doctor, arriving in gon Medical Association, the
Portland in the late 1920's. He National Medical Association,
opened an office in the Albina and the Multnomah County
area and spent much of his Medical Association. He was
time with infants and children. medical examiner
for
the
Portland Terminal
Railroad
D r. Unthank retired from Company until July of 1968;
private medical practice on as well as for the Golden
November 30, 1970. He now State Life Insurance Compa
ny. Billy Webb Lodge # 1050,
works for the SUU« Compen
the Benefit Association of
sation Board in Salem, Ore
gon. D r. Unthank was born Railway Employees, and the
in Alentown, Pennsylvania, on United Benefit and Omaha
Mutual Wabash Life Insur
December 14, 1899. He atten
ded Garrison Grade School in a nee Company.
Kansas City, Missouri, and
Lincoln High School in Kansas
C ity, Missouri. His training
Arc you planning to buy or build a home and
have a lot of questions? Oct the answers at one
of our free Wednesday evening clinics. Promi
nent Builders and Realtors will speak on home
construction and home buying. Benj. Franklin
officers will talk on financing, followed by a
question-and-answer period. To registers call
248-1361.
Wednesday*—7:00-9:00 p.m.
Franklin Bldg., S.W. 5th at Stark
l l e n j . O F ra n k lin
SMmMa a i a u
Robert H Haian. Pros • 21 ORIcaa • Shona 24» 1234
Homo Otllca Franklin Bldg . Cortland Oragon »7204
been a member. He actively
opposed the mixing of the
races in public places and
attempted to have a law
passed to prevent such activ
ity-
The City Commission stat
ed it would stand behind any
police action taken to prevent
"race mixing". The Portland
Police Vigilantets were or
ganized in 1922.
One hun
dred strong, armed, and car
rying police commissions, the
vigilantees were responsible
to the leader of the Kian and
were approved by Mayor
Baker. The Black Patrol was
a body of nine men, commis
sioned and armed by the city
and used to compel loyalty of
Klansmen.
The Kian controlled the
election of 1922, electing its
candidate. Governor W alter
Pierce. I t controlled a ma
jority of both houses of the
Legislature and the adminis
trative branch of government
It claimed 25,000 members in
1922. with about half in
Portland.
The Legislature passed a
law forbidding p r i v a t e
schools, of which 90 per cent
were Catholic, and which was
later declared u n c o n s t i-
tutional by the United States
Supreme Court. They were
not able to pass the proposed
legislation excluding Japan
ese from the state. The Kian
began to loose its power and
by 1923 was not a major
political force in the state.
An attempted revival in 192«
failed.
The Kian came earlier to
Oregon than to other states
outside the South.
Oregon
was a rural state, with only
one population center, which
was itself not an urban area.
The Kian promised to solve
problems which it blamed on
the few Catholics and racial
minorities, who were an un
known quantity to most Ore
gonians.
Saturday ’s souled
by Rick Mason Jr.
la s t Saturday started out
to be just another morning of
routine weekend activities for
many Black brothers
and
sisters until suddenly about
10 a.m.. when dynamic "soul
ful sounds" started shattering
the 1550 dial on the radio.
The E. C. SO UL E X P E R
E N C E had hit the airwaves,
hosted by the outstanding
talent of Elliott Condor (bet
ter known as E.C. Soul).
Executive Producer Director
and D.J. of The E.C. Soul
Experience.
Condor, a young Black
man. originally form Milwau
kee, Wisconsin, previously
had started broadcasting his
“E C. SO UL E X P E R IE N C E "
at 12:15 p.m. every Saturday.
He recently worked out a
coo perative
a rra n g e m e n t
with
Roy Harris
(better
known as Roy J.) Executive
Producer and D.J. of "SOUL
CO NTROL", another
new
Black oriented radio show
that premiered on KGAR,
and has expanded the pro
gramming to begin at 10 a.m.
every Saturday morning.
Some of the special awards
D r. Unthank has received in
clude Doctor of the Year
Free Clinic
for
HOME BUYERS
The Ku Klux Kian marches near Vancouver, Washington.
A new innovation to the
predominately soul-rock pro
gramming produced by Con
dor and Harris are interm it
tent guest from the North
west's Black-Minority Com
munity. Harris said that
"E.C. and myself hope to
continually expand the pro
gramming hours due to pop
ular demand by both the
Black and W hite listening
audience in the metropolitian
area". Condor emphasized
that another addition to the
shows soon will be job oppor
tunities announcements to be
broadcast under their public
service programming commit
tment. Anti-drug, Anti-crime
promotions are to be included
on a regular basis as well as
history heritage and other
activities. Harris indicated
that at the present time, they
are working on implementing
“BLACK C O N S O L ID A T E D
N EW S S E R V IC E " as a reg
ular feature providing listen
ers with information about
local, regional and national
(Please turn to II-3 col 2)
Haas speaks to NAACP
Harl Haas, District At-
to rn e y
for
Multnomah
County, will speak to the
general membership meeting
of the N A A C P on Sunday,
February 18th at 4:00 p.m.
According to Ellis H. Cas-
son. President, M r. Haas
will speak on the subject,
"The New D.A. - W hat
He's Al! About."
Harl Haas was elcted Dis
trict Attorney in November
1972.
He has long been
active in the area of Civil
Rights, h a v i n g sponsored
and carried the N A A C P bills
in the 1971 legislature. He
was instrumental in the Civil
Rights h e a r i n g s involv
ing the necessity of diligent
prosecution of Civil Rights
complaints by the Attorney
General.
M r. Haas was admitted to
the Oregon State Bar in
1961, following graduation
from W illamette University
College of laiw in the same
year.
M r. Haas is a member of
the Oregon State Bar As
sociation, the American Bar
Association and the Mult
nomah County Bar Associa
tion.
He was instructor at
Northwestern C o l l e g e of
la w at le w is and Clark,
and lecturer at W illamette
University College of Iraw.
He was selected as an arbi
trator and member of the
(Please turn to I I 3 col. 1)
Model Cities Plan
ready for review
The rough draft of the concerning the Model Cities
Comprehensive Plan for Mo area. The working committee
del Cities is now available for meetings will deal with poli
review and comment by Mo cies appropriate to their area
del Neighborhood residents.
of concern. Neighborhoxl As
Before the Citizens Plann sociations will be given a
ing Board makes a final reco
general description of the
mmendation on the policies
Plan and specific examples of
contained in the Plan, citizens
policies which relate to their
will have a chance to examine
neighborhood. A ll meetings
the policies and suggest
are open and the public is
changes where they are need urged to attend.
ed.
The policies in the Plan will
For further information re
bo adopted by City Council. garding the meeting schedule
They will serve as guidelines call the Model Cities office
for future planning decisions 288 8261.
Rowan visits Oregon
Carl Rowan, syndicated col
umnist with the Chicago Da
ily News since 1965, will
address the closing session of
the current “America: 1984"
conference at Portland State
University.
Rowan spoke on "America,
1984" - Which Prejudices,
Passions and Poverties?".
Since he began his journal
ism career in 1984, Rowan
has won numerous awards for
his reporting of major na
tional and world events. In
add itio n to w ritin g
his
column. Rowan is a roving
editor for The Reader's D i
gest, a television comments
to r
for
Post N ew sw eek
Broadcasting stations and
host for a trice weekly radio
show carried in 40 cities.
Rowan left his journalism
career for public service from
1961 to 1965. He served
under the Kennedy adminis
tration as deputy assistant
secretary of state for public
affairs, a member of the U.S.
Delegation to the United
Nations and as ambassador to
Finland. The late President
Lyndon B. Johnson named
Rowan to succeed the late
Edward R. Murrow as direc
tor of the United States
Information Agency, a post
tion Rowan held from 1964
65.
Judge Mercedes Diez acted
as special moderator of the
final conference session with
Rowan.
Rowan will go to the
University of Orgon to speak
at the Oregon Press Confer
ence Friday, February 16,
sponsored by the University
of Oregon School of Journal
ism and The Oregon News
paper Publishers Association.