February 3, 2010
The
Portland Observer Black History Month
Page 9
Vancouver’s First Families Remembered
Black community reaches back generations
African Am erican families
who settled in Vancouver during
World W ar II will tell - a n d hear
-th e ir life stories in the voices o f
today’s young people at 7 p.m.
on Thursday,. Feb. 4 at the Clark
County Historical Museum, 1511
Main St in Vancouver.
Four local high school stu­
dents will read a script created
from original family interviews
by Jane Elder Wulff, who helped
organize a historical project called
“First Families o f V ancouver’s
African American Community:
From World War II to the 21st
Century.” The event is free and
open to the public.
W ulff and project director
Cometta Smith will introduce the
program, and family members
will be available to answer ques­
tions after the reading.
Project volunteers have been
busy identifying and contacting
black families who sought jobs in
V ancouver’s war-related indus­
tries and stayed to make their
î
homes here. W ulff is writing a
book based on her interviews
with family members.
The project’s main sponsor,
N A A C P V ancouver B ranch
#1139, expects to release the
book for sale early in 2011. Digi­
tal recordings o f family inter­
views will be archived at the
museum after the book’s publi­
cation.
“What w e’re finding is that
after the war, in spite o f efforts to
make them leave, these young
area, rather than all in one place.”
Because o f that decision, she
said, “Most people today don’t
realize we have this strong black
community here that goes back
decades. The courage and per­
sistence o f these families helped
Vancouver to be ahead o f its
tim e.”
H u m a n itie s W a sh in g to n ,
Black United Fund o f Oregon,
Cometta Smith
Clark C ounty’s historical pro­
families stayed in Vancouversim- motion grant program, and nu­
ply because they liked it here,” merous individual donors have
W ulff said. “What’s more, they c o n trib u te d fun d s to w ard
deliberately settled throughout the completion o f this work.
•
We stand together, richer for our differences
We celebrate the wisdom of collaboration and the strength in diversity.
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PORT OF PORTLAND
Possibility. In every direction.