Page 6
The
Portland Observer Black
History Month
February 18, 2015
Easter Sunday in 1949 at Bethel AME Church in northeast Portland.
A Community on the Move
Exhibit
produced by
Oregon Black
Pioneers
The Oregon Historical Society
has opened A Community on the
Move, the third exhibition in a series
produced by the Oregon Black Pio-
neers.
This groundbreaking show at the
Oregon Historical Society explains
how the World War II shipyards,
migration from the South, the
Vanport Flood, and urban renewal
projects impacted Portland’s black
families and businesses of the 1940s
and 1950s
The Oregon Black Pioneers
partnered with the Oregon Histori-
Houses and other buildings are ripped from their foundations
when Vanport is washed away by floodwaters in 1948. A large
African-American community was displaced.
cal Society to create and open the
exhibit for Black History Month.
Scheduled to continue through
June 28 at the Oregon Historical
Society museum, 1200 S.W. Park
Ave., the event will include interac-
tive displays, associated public pro-
grams, and educational tours have
been designed to engage visitors of
all ages and backgrounds and re-
veal the courage and persistence of A historical photo from Portland’s 10th annual Les Femmes
black families who lived during this Deputante Ball.
tumultuous era.
Designed in partnership with
A photo from city of Portland archives shows Ninie Mae Locke,
one of the thousands of African-American laborers who went to
work in the Portland shipyards during World War II building Victory
ships.
Alchemy of Design, this original
exhibition draws on personal pho-
tographs, historic artifacts, and
hands on experiences to illuminate
Portland’s vibrant black community,
which thrived despite a larger cul-
tural and legal context of discrimina-
tion and displacement.
As present-day gentrification in
Portland impacts historically black
neighborhoods, the importance of
acknowledging and understanding
this little-known history is critical to
our collective future. With this in
mind, A Community on the Move
has been designed so that visitors
can connect and compare past con-
ditions to our modern realities.
Throughout the exhibition’s run,
community members will be invited
to participate in special conversa-
tions with leaders and elders from
Portland’s African American com-
munity. These community conver-
sations will take place throughout
Portland, and a full list of these
programs as well as other associ-
ated events can be found at
oregonblackpioneers.org and
ohs.org.
General admission is $11, and
discounts are available for students,
seniors, and youth. Admission is
free every day to residents of
Multnomah County and members
of the Oregon Historical Society.