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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 2005)
p ^ ai 2_____________________ B lack H istory M Pauline Bradford: continued from Front m eans the last. A s in other cities, real estate agents m ade m oney by playing the races o ff against each other. “T here w as a m ass exodus by w hites,” B radford recalls. “They w ere told th e ir property values w ould go dow n - and then the houses w ere sold to blacks at in flated prices. Som e older w hites © stayed until they died, but then they w ere alw a y s re p la c e d by people o f color.” She said som e hom es fell into the hands o f speculators w ho "never d id repairs. T hey knew people w ould rent them no m atter what because they co u ld n ' t go anyw here else.” T h e B ra d fo rd s’ ex p e rie n c e d more discrim ination w hen they tried to get a m ortgage from First Inter onth __________________________ ^ ^ 2 3 . 2 0 0 5 Albina PlORCCr state Bank. T hey could buy a house in the suburbs, they w ere told, but the bank w o u ld not lend them money on their A lbina hom e, d e spite having a good credit rating and a savings account in the bank. T o add insult to injury, after they refinanced their hom e through Ben jam in Franklin Savings and Loan and took a c ash ier’s check to First Interstate to cash, they w ere asked, “ Is this check any good?” St. Andrew Nativity School 'Educating For Excellence, Transforming Lives ” © OPEN HOUSE, SATURDAY, MARCH 12, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Stanford Achievement Test results have verified for 3 consecutive years that St. Andrew students INCREASE ACH IEVEM ENT B Y 2 GRADE LEVELS EACH SCHOOL YEAR! Do you want to send you middle school student to a school with small classes and high expectations? A c ro ss th e s tre e t fro m the She later got a jo b w ith the D e Bradford hom e was the F arm er’s partm ent o f Agriculture when it was D airy, now know n as the Standard discovered th ey ’d been bypassing Dairy complex housing Billy Reed’s civil service candidates and using R estaurant. A t that tim e it w as a tem porary w orkers for perm anent w orking plant where em ployees jobs. She w orked part-tim e, w hile reported at 4 a.m ., and not quietly. raising her three children, in the old “ Y ou adapted to the noise and federal courthouse on southw est w hatnot,” B radford says. “It was Broadway. part o f the neighborhood.” In 1964, taking advantage o f U nion A v en u e (now M artin new ly-available program s, she be Luther King Jr. Boulevard) w as a gan going to c lass part-tim e at Port vibrant, busy place with banks, land State U niversity, eventually departm ent stores, insurance o f graduating in 1970. She relinquished fices, barbers, a five and dim e, all years o f seniority and the pay that served by an electric streetcar. The w ent w ith it to start a second career, Egyptian T heater was in operation, teaching at P eninsula School until as was the Palm er Bakery in w hat is she retired in 1989. now the Bardy Trophy building at All that w as m erely her profes N ortheast Brazee Street. sional career. Since 1945, she has Things changed with urban re been active in Im m aculate H eart newal and the rem oval o f com m u- C ath o lic C hurch (“ M y children t Some people who have St. Andrew Nativity School Offers: Classes with 12 students or less Extended day for homework help Individual tutoring Summer Program moved here recently don Y have a sense o f the history o f this place. Its okay that they don't, hut they should be aware o f what came before before making judgments. Field Trips, Weekend and Sports Programs Laptop Computers and Wireless Network for stu dent use Parent Workshops and Support St. Andrew Nativity School is a tuition-free Catholic, Jesuit middle school open to students o f all faiths Eligible families must qualify for the Federal free and reduced lunch program CALL 503-335-9600 xlO for details 4925 NF. 9th, Portland OR, 97211 - www.nativityportland.com m em ber, a m em ber and chair o f the land use com m ittee, delegate to the N ortheast C oalition o f N eighbor hoods w here she served a term as chair. T hese days, she says, the neigh borhood “has im proved, but there are also a lot o f problem s.” O ne she sees is new people m oving in w ho have no sense o f history or under standing o f the people w ho lived here before. She is upset, for instance, when new com ers speak disparagingly o f what has been done to older houses. They may sneer at the artificial sid ing that covers som e structures, but “w ithout it the houses probably w ouldn’t have survived this long. People lowered their ceilings to cut their heating bills, and redid w ood work and put in linoleum because it - Pauline Bradford, longtime Portland resident and community leader. nity housing, at M emorial Coliseum, the 1-5 Freew ay, and the aborted Emmanuel Hospital expansion. The loss o f housing and local custom er base caused local businesses to w ither and die. In 1979, the Bradfords’ m oved to N ortheast First A venue, im m edi ately south o fh e r au n t’s o ld house. It w as the only suitable one-story house she could find that w as avail able, she says, and because o f its location it was “like com ing hom e.” At that tim e, nearby N ortheast Broadw ay contained m ostly small local businesses. M uch o f the ch ar ac te r o f the n eig h b o rh o o d w as g rad u a lly p u sh ed asid e by ca r dealerships. M eanw hile, with John w orking at the Post O ffice, Pauline at first did “a little o f everything” - includ ing w ork as a w aitress, as a m aid at Em m anuel H ospital, and later as a clerical w o rk erfo rth e Internal R ev enue Service. w ent there, so naturally I w as in volved in the PTA , fundraising, the w hole bit.” ). She w as also active in the N A A C P, Urban L eag u eo f Port land, and the H arriet T ubm an Club o f the O regon A ssociation o f C o l ored W o m en ’s C lubs, the oldest A frican-A m erican w o m en ’s o rga nization in the U.S. She ro se to p resid en t o f the clu b ’s N orthw est Region, and was responsible for bringing the group’s national conference to Portland. She is a m em ber o f the A lpha D elta K appa sorority, and a past officer o f D elta Sigm a Theta. A lso, since the m id -19 8 0 s— she c a n ’t re m e m b e r ju s t w h en — B radford has been active in the Eliot N eighborhood A ssociation. As with m any others, an issue drew her in: a proposal to put a school fo r d elin q u en t youth on W illiam s, w hich she considered a very bad idea. U nlike m any others, she stayed on, serving as a board Jh was easier to keep clean. It’s a matter o f style. There should be more ac ceptance o f different cultures. “B ecause m oney w asn ’t avail able for im provem ents because o f (financial) red lining, people here did things for them selves. N ow , because o f o u r w ork to elim inate red lining, new com ers are able to take advantage o f that.” A s for com plaints about noise g e n e rate d by som e b u sin esses, “T h a t’s the price you pay for an urban setting. Increased density, bringing people closer together, will bring its ow n p ro b lem s. S om e people w ho have m oved here re cently d o n ’t have a sense o f the history o f this place. It’s okay that they d o n ’ t, but they should be aw are o f w hat cam e before before m aking ju d g m en ts.” Fortunately, the neighborhood has Pauline B radford to advise it on such things and hopefully will have for m any years to com e. Celebrating 223 Years of Life A b irth d a y d in n e r p arty w as h eld on S atu rd ay at the C h in a M oon B u ffet on S o u th w e st M a c ad a m B o u le v a rd in h o n o r o f A lth e a R o setta R a n d -H a rd e n o f P o rtlan d , J e a n e tta H a rd e n -L a u d erd ale o f W illiam sburg, V a., and H erm an H. H ard en Sr. o f P o rt land. F am ily m em b ers, clo se frien d s an d o u t-o f-to w n g u ests ca m e o u t to ce le b ra te th e trio : a m o th e r at 84, d a u g h te r at 63 an d son at 56. M rs. L a u d e r d a le ’s d a u g h te r , F e lic ia L a u d e rd a le -J o n e s a n d so n -in -la w R o b e rt V. Jo n e s o f W illia m sb u rg , V irg in ia , h o ste d th e e v e n t an d a g o o d tim e w as h ad by all. Herman H. Harden Sr. and his sister Jeanetta Harden- Lauderdale (from left) and their mother Althea Rosetta Rand- Harden (right) all celebrated their birthdays together during a family reunion last week. photo by M ark W ashington / T he P ortland O bserver Be known as one of 'America's Finest.' Become an FBI Special Agent. HU at wort In tha community Foreign Language sMs are an especially critical need h r the FBI. perticularty I you hold a Bachelor's degree n any sihtect area and have a native fluency it any ol tie Today's FBI d a n e n k flint we become more dtarae and e e are worhng harder than ever lo be nckaae — tor al oenpe. regard^» 01 color, rare, retgon natural ortgn poWcal alWatton. menial status. tatxW y age. sax, or sexual orlentaaon To ttxs and. we are nedouHng o ir dSarsKy ettars w # » the FBI and «daman» with such organealtons ae Hoys and fSrts C U s ol America. 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School Cuts Draw Massive Protest (A P) — A m assive crow d o f parents, students and teachers from around O regon traveled to the state Capitol in Salem on M onday to protest state funding cuts for local schools. The education boosters decried Gov. Ted K ulongoski’s $5 billion funding proposal as inadequate to prevent larger class sizes and a shorter school year in som e places. O rganizers said the rally drew more than 2.000 people to the front steps o f the C apitol, although Rusty I W olfe, a state police trooper as sig n e d to th e C a p ito l, said he thought the num ber w as clo ser to 1,000. V arious speakers said it will take a sustained lobbying effort to per su a d e le g isla to rs to b o o st the am ount o f state aid to schools. O ther speakers called on the O r egon Lottery Commi ssion to i ncrease m oney available for school support by slashing the rates bars and tav erns arc paid to offer video games. D em ocrat K ulongoski, in issu ing his $5 b illio n proposal for schools, said the state m ust live w ithin existing tax revenue. Republican House Speaker Karen Minnis said M onday that Oregon voters’ rejection o f tw o tax increase proposals in the past two years has made it clear that people want gov ernm ent to live within its means. “ If w e g iv e m ore m oney to schools, it m eans you have to take it from som ew here else in the bud get. W h ere'sitg o in g to co m efro m ?" the W ood Vi 1 lage Republ icans said.
