B LAC K H IS T O R Y M O NTH
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Established ¡n 1970
^ ea(J back issues of the Portland Observer at www.portlandobserver.com
‘City iV Roses'
Volume XXXXI, Number 5
Wednesday • February I, 2012
Committed to Cultural Diversity
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service
Phillis Whitmore gives praise to God with the touch of
her musical talents as First A.M.E. Zion Church Pianist
and Minister of Music. The oldest black church in
Portland is celebrating its 150th anniversary.
P hqtos by C ari H achmann /T he P ortland O bserver
4s it has for 150 years, a recent Sunday service draws local residents to the pews of First A.M.E. Zion Church,
the first black church in Portland. When it first opened as the ‘People's Church’ in another location in down
town Portland in 1862, the congregation was the first African-American church north of San Francisco.
Living History
First Church turns 150
C ari H achmann
T he P ortland O bserver
by
This year marks a significant milestone for the oldest
African-American church in Portland and one of the oldest
black congregations in the Pacific Northwest.
In April, Portland’s First A.M.E. Zion Church, located on
the comer of North Vancouver Avenue and Skidmore Street,
will celebrate its 150th anniversary.
When it first opened in 1862 on "A" Street, downtown,
which is now Ankeny Street, the church’s birth was just three
year* after Oregon reached statehood.
At the time, it was called the “People’s Church,” the first
African-American congregation north of San Francisco,
though connected nationally to its mother and sister churches,
the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.
Later, the church became known as “First Church,” which
many local residents refer to it as today. Several relocations
moved the congregation to the east side of the Willamette
River. Then on April 21, 1968, hundreds from the black
community marched to its present location from a church on
North Williams. The march will be re-enacted during the
weekend anniversary celebration, April 12-15.
Generations of First A.M.E. Zion members have wit
nessed and survived some of history's most pivotal move
ments: the Civil War, slavery and its Emancipation; world
wars and the wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan; the
Columbia River Vanport Flood; the Civil Rights Movement;
and the Inauguration of President Obama.
"First Church has been a beacon of hope for many, many
years," said The Rev. Robert N. Probasco Sr., First A.M.E.
Zion’s senior pastor, and a local pastor for 21 years.
Today, there are about 120 members of the church, for
which about 70 attend service every Sunday. Most of the
members are elders, and some are house-bound and receive
regular visits from the ministry, which includes Bishop Rev.
Dr. Dennis V. Proctor, Presiding Elder Rev. Robert F. Kemp,
The Rev. Edie Jolly-Bryant, and preacher Maury A. Sails.
Gentrification has stretched thin the once largely African-
American population residing in the vicinity of the church.
Bars and restaurants have replaced familiar homes around
the comer. Funerals for victims of gang violence are nearly
continued
on page 5