‘City
of
Roses’
In the Eye of
the Storm
Terrorism
in England
Plays speaking
to issues of
displacement
Deadly
bombing
at Grande
concert
See Metro, page 9
See story, page 2
Established in 1970
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • May 24, 2017
Volume XLVI • Number 21
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Explore the Vanport Mosaic
Festival brings
history to life
C hrista M C i ntyre
t he p ortland o bserver
The Vanport Mosaic Festival is a celebration to ex-
plore, educate and remember the history and impact of
those who lived and died in a community that was de-
stroyed by floodwaters 69 years ago this month while
also illuminating stories of struggle and resilience that
illuminate Portland’s African American history.
A large line up of events told through film, theater
and historical exhibits are planned for this Memorial
Day weekend beginning on Friday, May 26 and con-
tinuing through Monday, May 29. The second annual
festival is collaboration between artists, churches, ed-
ucators and community groups who have worked for
years to preserve the memory of this lost city.
The festival presents a thoughtful, thorough and
fresh look at one of Oregon’s most tragic events while
also exploring issues of housing discrimination, migra-
tion and displacement that continue today.
Vanport, a combination of the names Vancouver and
Portland, was built in 110 days, was the second largest
city in Oregon for five years, and destroyed in less than
one day. The town was created as a short term answer to
a 1943 housing crisis that was brought on by thousands
of people moving to Portland to work in the shipyards
during World War II. It was the largest war-time hous-
ing development in the United States. The population at
its height was 42,000 with residents who came from 46
of the then 48 states.
The migration of people to work building liberty
ships swelled the African American population of Ore-
gon by five fold. One-third of Vanport’s population was
black and represented the largest migration of black res-
idents to Oregon up to that time.
Though the walls of Vanport’s buildings were not
built to last, the city left an incredible legacy. Vanport
was uniquely designed to serve both black and white
residents as an integrated community where residents
went to the same schools, community centers, movie
theater and stores.
Vanport College which later became Portland State
University was built for and first served homecoming
veterans who lived in Vanport. It was the students and
teachers of the school who sent out an emergency warn-
ing to residents to flee the flood of May 30, 1948, when
a levee broke and a ten foot wall of water from the Co-
lumbia River began to swell.
There was little time for people to reach safety. The
by
C ontinued on p age 5
photo by C hrista M C i ntyre /t he p ortland o bserver
Marge Moss, a former resident of Vanport had a positive experience living in the city as a child.
of
Memories Vanport
Survivor recalls flood
and the aftermath
C hrista M C i ntyre
t he p ortland o bserver
Marge Moss, a retired nurse and former employee at the
Urban League of Portland, has been involved with the Van-
port Mosaic Festival since its inception last year.
She was 12 when her family moved from the small town
of Tallulah, Louisiana, to Vanport in 1944. Both of her par-
ents worked in the shipyards and her father made extra mon-
ey on Saturdays by giving haircuts for 25 cents a person. Her
father, Ural Pete Moss was a church deacon at Vanport and
also at the Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church, one of
the Portland area’s historic African American congregations.
by
On some Sundays after church, Moss and her family went to
Vanport’s popular 750 seat movie theater.
The family made a home in a standard Vanport apartment
on a street called Broadacres, close to Denver Avenue. For
Moss, who had lived most of her life in the South, Vanport
was a positive and eye opening experience.
In the South, where segregation and Jim Crow Laws
imposed a social and economic rule akin to the vestiges of
slavery, Vanport offered the young Moss the experience of
acceptance for all races. At school, in the community centers,
grocery stores and movie theater people could move and sit
where ever they liked.
In an interview with the Portland Observer, Moss remem-
bered her Vanport interactions as riendly. No one had to sit at
the back of the bus and no one had to drink from a designated
C ontinued on p age 4