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