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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (April 13, 2011)
church Vancouver Ave. Baptist Re-enacts Palm Sunday Procession grown extensively following the Vanport Flood in 1948. “And this was an area that was redlined, alf a dozen local congregations will so they were very limited in what they could join together in recreating an his- actually acquire and so when they were able toric march celebrating the to purchase the building it was huge — Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church number one, because of the cost of the 60th anniversary. structure, and two, the size of the structure,” The Palm Sunday Procession, Sunday, he says. April 17, marks the 1951 community event So the congregation rallied together, in which the church congregation paraded found the funds to buy the church, and down Vancouver Avenue to officially open chose Palm Sunday as the day to commem- their new church. orate this milestone in the community. “It’s huge,” said event coordinator and “And they marched up Vancouver Avenue church historian Raymond Burrell. “And by the hundreds and people from every- it’s an event that’s etched in a lot of peoples’ where joined in,” Burrell says. minds.” The Oregonian article from that day “This year marks the 60th anniversary of includes pictures showing Vancouver that historic march, and so we’re going to Avenue filled with two straight lines of con- gregants in choir robes and Sunday clothes. Beloved Rev. O.B. Williams – looking youthful at the beginning of his many years of service there – is pictured at the pul- pit. Ten years later Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., spoke at that Raymond Burrell III same pulpit, in his only visit to Oregon. The April commemoration starts with breakfast at Albina be celebrating it in the same fashion that Park on North Flint Street from 9 - 10 a.m. they did back in 1951,” he said. The procession will depart from the park at The Vancouver Avenue First Baptist approximately 10:15 a.m. Church congregation was able to purchase Shuttle buses are being provided at the their historic building at Vancouver Avenue church to bring people to the march loca- and North Fargo in 1950. tion. “It was of huge significance because at “So people can park at the church and ride the time the African American community the bus down to the starting point, have resided in the lower south end of North breakfast, catch up with old friends and Portland, which is now known as Jump have a great time in terms of fellowship- Town, and they were in a makeshift con- ping, and then join the procession,” Burrell demned rooming house,” Burrell said. said. The congregation’s membership had Wheelchairs are available for seniors and by Lisa Loving Of The Skanner news ‘And they marched up Vancouver Avenue by the hundreds and people from everywhere joined in’ PHOTO bY JerrY fOSTer H Thelma M. Sylvester, Ora L. Brown-Nunley, Marage white (Cannon), Margaret J. Payne-isaacs and Olharyn E. Rand met at the Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church last weekend to share memories of the original Easter Sunday Procession in 1951. watch videos of their testimony on The Skanner News YouTube Channel. the disabled, which can be reserved by call- ing 503-320-4592. Also participating are: Woodlawn United Methodist Church, New Covenant Baptist Church, Calvary Christian Center, Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church, and the Greater Mount Gilead Missionary Baptist Church. The breakfast is being hosted by the Links women’s association. Also participating are the Prince Hall Masonic Lodge is involved in the celebration, as is the St. Joseph’s Grand Lodge. “So there’s a host of religious and civic organizations that are joining forces to real- ly celebrate this,” Burrell says. april 13, 2011 The Portland Skanner Page 7
