February 16. 2011
The
Page 19
Portland Observer Black History Month
Proud Diversity Etched in Stone
$500,000, paid for by tax increment
funds from the Oregon Convention
The Oregon Convention Center Center Urban Renewal District,
has pledged to provide ongoing
Phase Two will be smaller mark-
maintenance for the gateway. The ers at six strategic locations on the
cost of the first phase will be avenue, each providing text about
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the historic significance of the loca­
tion or the structures upon it.
The project started in 2007 when
PDC formed an advisory committee
and established a web site to get
public input for the designs. The
results were “tons of interesting
stories,” said project manager Irene
Bower.
Panels will discuss the first major
migration of the African-Americans
to Portland; first from a small neigh­
borhood around Union Station in
the 1920s, later to the east side near
Broadway and Williams Avenue and
later from people disclosed from the
flooded Vanport housing project
after World War II.
There will be descriptions of the
native populations before the great
western migrations; and how earlier
immigrant groups, including people
from Ireland, Poland, Germany and
the Scandinavian countries were
drawn to the old Albina neighbor­
hood in the 1880s after the comple­
tion of transcontinental railroads.
Other panels will discuss the
cultural institutions of the area, past
and present. The community cen­
ters, including the Williams Avenue
YWCA completed in 1926. The
churches, including the Mount
Olivet Baptist Church, the first such
institution built for an African-
American congregation.
The civic organizations through­
out the area’s history will also be
honored, including African-Ameri­
can gro u p s like the C o lo red
Women’sCouncil who blazed a trail
for the inclusivity of racial and eth­
nic populations in the local neigh­
borhoods.
O ther panels will speak to the
historic struggles for equality,
both nationally and locally and
pay tribute to such organizations
as the N A A C P , the Urban League
of Portland, the Student Nonvio­
lent Coordinating Com m ittee, the
B lack P an th er Party and the
Albina M inisterial Alliance. The
heritage m arkers will pay tribute
to black com m unity leaders such
as the Reverends J.J. Clow, John
Jackson and O.B. W illiams, Dr.
and Mrs. Unthank, and Otto and
Verdell Rutherford.
Finally, there is a brief history of
the street itself. Once a footpath, it
was originally named Margaretta in
honor of pioneer developer Edwin
Russell’s wife. In 1891 it was re­
named Union Avenue together with
Grand Avenue as a tribute to the
Civil W ar’s Union army, then re­
named for civil rights hero Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Pauline Bradford, an advisory
committee member, and longtime
African-American community resi­
dent and activist, hopes the project
informs both visitors and local resi­
dents about the community. It could
bring more attention to the area,
which would be good for local busi­
nesses, she says.
“Other parts of town are always
tooting their own horns,” she told
the Portland Observer. “We should
do the same.”
Phase II of the project calls for
smaller markers, also accompanied
by text, at each of four locations
along the avenue: Northeast Knott
Street, where there will be two mark­
ers, Northeast Fremont, Failing and
Ainsworth Streets, and one at the
Vanport Square.
The accompanying texts will dis­
cuss nearby “buildings, events,
people who lived or worked here,
but all will be about the neighbor­
hood,” Bowers says. “What tran­
spired here, what were the stories?”
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violin at age four after watching him
perform on Mister Rogers’ Neigh­
borhood.
A year later, she landed a spot in
The Chamber Music Society of Or­
egon, a community orchestra open
to both children and adults. She stud­
ied at the Northwest Academy when
PSU professor Hamilton Cheifetz en­
couraged her to enroll in the school’s
music program. She was awarded a
scholarship and enrolled at age 16.
She studied at the school for a year
before moving to Berklee College as
a student. She became a teacher at
the school at age 20.
“Even at 16 she was a very level­
headed person with a strong sense of
herself and purpose,” Darrell Grant,
who teaches Jazz Improv at PSU, said
Monday. "And while we loved hav­
ing her here, we encouraged her to
look at the East Coast, where she
could be connected with the highest
level of professional opportunities in
Boston or New York.”
In
2008,
H e ad s
Up
Internnational released her first
album, Esperanza, and it remained
atop B illboard’s Contem porary
Jazz chart for 70 weeks. It also
earned her appearances on the
Late Show with David Letterm an,
Jimmy Kimmel Live, Austin City
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PORTLAND TltBjand
Esperanza Spalding
Limits, and a perform ance at the
W hite House.
S palding won the JazzW eek
A w ard for R ecord o f the Y ear in
2009 and the Jazz Jo u rn alists
A sso c ia tio n ’s 2009 A w ard for
Up and C om ing A rtist o f the
Y ear. The su ccess o f E speranza
as well as C ham ber M usic S o c i­
ety and the num erous subtle,
public ap p earan ces, earned her
the G ram m y nom ination and h is­
toric win.
During her acceptance speech,
she also thanked her mother as well
as her teachers.
“Esperanza’s story highlights the
strength of our music department in
Jazz,” said Barbara Sestak, dean of
fine and performing arts at PSU.
“W e’re all very happy for her,”
said Cheifetz.
Spalding also plans on some
other perform ances while in town
for Black History M onth and the
Portland Jazz Festival. For more
inform ation, visit her web site,
esperanzaspalding.com .