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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 18, 2012)
Page?______________________ -____________ ^Ìnrthutò (Observer_____________________ Aprii is. 2012 Center in Florida just after dawn, and fraud, the attorney general said then up the east coast to Washing Tuesday. Amanda Clayton, 25,col ton. Discovery, the fleet of NASA’s lected thousands of dollars in state three surviving shuttles, took its last assistance for months after she won spaceflight in March 2011. $1,000,000 in the Make Me Rich" game sponsored by the Michigan Lotto Winner Charged lottery. A M ichigan w om an who Gas Prices Up won a million- Oregon's average gas price, which do llar lottery, is higher than the national average, Discovery’s Final Flight but continued to stands at $4.06 a gallon, up from Thousands gather to witness the fi receive welfare $3.84 a year ago. According to the nal laps of NASA's Discovery on benefits, is now website Oregongasprices.com some Tuesday, when the space shuttle took ch arg ed w ith of the cheapest gas in the state is in its final mission from Kennedy Space LWeek ¡n The Review Ontario, where a gallon is $3.75. Oregon Represents Timbers Prepare Although the Portland Timbers have scored only eight goals this season, the Timbers have begun to prepare to break their slump on Sat Voicesof First Families c o n t i n u e d f r o m fron t whom accompanied her to the inter views with the families, she said, “They spoke to me like it made per fect sense for me to be there.” A ccording to W ulff, the m ajor ity of the fam ilies m igrated to V ancouver to work in the ship yards, and then after the war— they stayed. The larger V ancouver popula tion often doesn’t realize this com munity exists, she said. “This book is not only for Vancouver, but also for the com m unity itself.” Before World War II, Vancouver was practically an all-white town. There were too few African Ameri cans to even count within the city at the time,” she said. As more men left for the war, and more people m igrated into W ashington to work in the ship yards, old time residents began to get used to having more diversity around them. “The war took over, and every body was suddenly working on the same thing,” she said. “But Jim Crow was still in force after the w ar,” she said. “A l though they d idn’t want to leave, they felt shut out.” W ulff said there were 9,000 Af rican A m ericans in Vancouver at the end of the war. “But that went dow n rea lly q u ick ly b ecau se Vancouver didn’t make it easy to stay,” she said. Still, she said, African A m eri can m igrants saw som ething spe- cial about the surrounding city. It was individual determ ination for a better and more ju st future th at c a ta ly z e d them to m ake V ancouver their home, she said. “I found out it was their persis tence, inventiveness, optim ism and their sense o f com m unity and family.” Wulff said, however, the African American community deserves to be recognized for their brave ac tions, which are responsible for growing tolerance throughout his tory. “They gave up the comfort of close association,” she said. “And they decided to live anywhere they could find a house and convinced neighbors diversity is a good thing.” Although she said there were urday, April 21 at Jeld-Wen Field, where they will go up against the league's only undefeated team. Sporting KC. several roadblocks throughout the writing process, which felt some times extremely difficult, in the end she believes the book turned out great. At C lark C o lleg e, N A A CP Vancouver Branch #1139 hosted a reunion event on Saturday for the narrators to speak and celebrate the publication. Assistance from the priginal fami lies, as well as from Clark County Historical Museum, Clark College, Washington State University, Clark County YWCA, USDA Coalition of Minority Employees, and several local churches, contributed to the project’s success. “We hope this book will encour age o th e rs, e sp e c ia lly young people, to preserve their cultural The 27,000 runners in M onday’s 2012 Boston Marathon included Central Oregon residents, who com pleted the physical challenge. First to fin ish from O regon was R edm ond’s M onty G regg, 40, whose time over the 26.2-mile course was 3 hours, 20 minutes, 2 seconds. Gregg finished 1,818th overall. heritage for the benefit of future generations,” said Cometta Smith, First Families project director and original family member. W ulff agreed. She said part of the initial mission of the project was to create a model for other communities to tell their stories through. “These families stayed here af ter the war because this place felt like home to them,” W ulff said. “T heir d eterm ination to settle throughout the city, rather than all in one place, was a compliment and a gift to Vancouver. It’s time this gift was acknowledged.” First Families of Vancouver’s African American Community: From World W ar II to the 21st Century will be available through several local volunteer distributors and online. For m ore inform ation, visit n a ac p v an c .o rg or em ail naacpvancouver@gmail.com. IF's one o-P Uev -fivsF big sFeps 'mFo 1 w<nnF iF Fo b e s<n-Pe FvusFe^A one. WOMEN’S HEALTHCARE ASSOCIATES LLC We a r e WOMEN'S HEALTHCARE ASSOCIATES. w w w .w h allc.co m RECOMMENDED BY MOMS AND DAUGHTERS ALL OVER THE PORTLAND METRO AREA— INCLUDING EASTBANK & TABOR *