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.