Running Head: Decline of Portland Blacks

The Decline of Portlands Black Population

3/10/16
Portland State University
Professor Lo

Running Head: Decline of Portland Blacks

In this research paper I am going to be examining the causes amongst the chronic decline of
African Americans In the Portland area. I will be discussing the racist history and discriminatory
background Portland Oregon has long had towards African American people. The main goal for
this paper is to expose the systematic racism that has been forced upon African Americans within
the city of Portland. We always hear about the oppression black people face, but we rarely see
concrete examples of it. Leading it to become more of a myth than a struggle for equality, or so it
seems. Prepare to be blown away by the different statistics and governmental policies enacted
against African Americans since the Civil War to the present. Focusing on many of the Housing
and real-estate troubles many African Americans have been facing. As well as the cold blooded
gentrification that was implemented in the Portland area which led to the displacement of
majority of Portlands black population. We will also look at the interaction between the Portland
Police Bureau and the African American citizens of Portland, and the effect that it has had on the
black community.
History
People from all walks of life find themselves traveling to different parts of their own country as
well as other countries in order to find a means of supporting themselves financially. This is what
occurred in the late 1700s in Oregon country. During this period, before Oregon Country
established a provisional government in the spring of 1843, it was common for African

Americans to come to Oregon on trading expeditions where they served as merchants, skilled
laborers, artisans, sailors, and personal servants. Inter marriages among Native Americans and
African Americans provided opportunities for blacks to serve as interpreters and guides in areas
occupied by Native Americans. (History of Portlands African American community pg. 1) By
1860 approximately 132 blacks and mulattos lived in Oregon country.
The state of Oregon has long been a hub for racial discrimination and oppression of black
people. At the end of the Civil War, we all know that racism did not cease to exist and grew
rampant all through out the country; however we often have pre conceived notions that the south
was the most racist part of the Country during these times, and that the north was accepting and
empathetic for blacks. The truth is, none of the country was accepting or empathetic towards
blacks. As a matter a fact, Oregon was also referred to as the Mississippi of the west for its
intolerable laws and treatment of black people. After the signing of the Emancipation
Proclamation and during the reconstruction period, African Americans began to advocate for full
citizenship and equality. However, Oregon went its own way in attempting to prohibit full
citizenship and equality for African Americans. Racist and oppressive legislation was passed in
1862 that prohibited people of color from voting, qualifying as witnesses in court cases and
prohibited marriage between whites and persons of one-fourth or more negro blood (History of
Portlands African American community pg.7) These oppressive laws hindered the development
of black people in every imaginable way. Development is what black people of this country
needed most after hundreds of years of slavery, but the white dominated and racist society that
was installed in this country did everything to stunt the growth of the black race. Fast forward to

the early 1940s and the same type of oppression was still being seen, except this time it was
directed towards the Real-Estate market.
Housing
The discrimination of housing towards black people attempting to buy homes in and around
Portland has lead to many adverse effects on the black community. To start, this discrimination
has lead to terrible economic positions for black families, because they were unable to own the
property in which they were living, renting was their only option in most cases. With mainly
housing projects and apartments for sale to black residences. And if you look at what renting
property does to people financially, you can see how troublesome living in many places could be.
When you own a home, that property is yours, which means you and your family can and most
likely will live there for quite some time, and be able to pass the property down generation upon
generation. Creating a legacy in that specific area. Its not too hard to realize that the reason the
real-estate and housing industries wanted most blacks to rent their property in a secluded part of
the city was so that blacks could not stay in the area permanently as well as be at the banks and
housing industries mercy and control. A means to financially own black people. Although this
sounds a lot like what is going on presently all across the country, this has been occurring since
the 1940s. During World War 2, housing was scarce for both black and white workers.
However, the black migrants were excluded from the housing market and confined to a very
small area along Williams Avenue, South of Russell Avenue, and a dormitory in Vancouver
Washington. Many of the new workers were tenants in spare rooms or renovated attics and some
had to sleep on billiard tables in taverns using clothes for blankets and pillows (History of
Portlands African American Community pg. 63) The housing discrimination lead to blacks

having to live in squalor and far below the poverty line. But that was not good enough for the
white people running Portland at the time, they wanted the blacks further away from them and
more secluded. So they constructed the Vanport housing projects. Most of the black defense
workers were confined to the Vanport housing projects (History of Portlands African American
Community pg. 66) Meaning that majority of Portlands Black population was living in Vanport,
completely segregated from the white residence. After the completion of Vanport, the
Housing Authority of Portland found themselves in the midst of another controversy-spot
segregation- which involves separating tenants according to race. This made it impossible to
serve people on a first come first serve basis. The Housing Authority of Portland was accused of
practicing spot segregation at Vanport and Guilds lake housing projects (History of Portlands
African American Community pg. 67) We hear similar stories of this happening in the deep
south, segregation and the division of the people based on their skin color. The fact of the matter
was, segregation was going on everywhere. The western states just attempted to hide their
atrocities more so than the southern states did. Overtime, due to financial neglect by racist white
city and government officials, Vanports Infrastructure began to fail. And Vanports Dam
eventually gave way, flooding the entire city and leaving almost all the residence homeless. The
largely black population of the area was forced to relocate. Working out all too well for racist
whites that wanted blacks out of the area and use the area in which they lived to create more
homes to sell to whites.
Gentrification
Another form of discrimination known as Gentrification goes hand in hand with the carelessness
of Oregons State government leading up to the flooding of Vanport. The difference is,

Gentrification deals with the increasing property values which leads to the displacement of low
income families and small businesses. Do to the financial neglect that the state government
purposely ensued on Portlands black population, it left many black families and black owned
businesses in a poor economic state. Leaving them very vulnerable to property value fluctuations
which could and would end up kicking them out of the area in which they lived. Gentrification is
an extremely cold blooded and un empathetic means for the already rich whites in the Portland
area to make more money through real-estate and newly made business all at the expense of
lower income black families. The effects of Gentrification on black people has left the black
population of portland very scarce. Forcing many black families to relocate to more affordable
locations. Such as; Gresham and Beaverton. However, there is still a black population in
Portland. The Black population of Portland as of April 2010 accounted for 6.3% of the entire
cities population. (Portland Census 2010) Other factors that lead to blacks moving out on their
own terms is the fact that often times black people were locked out of decent jobs, and it has
been extremely hard for many blacks to find work and obtain an adequate source of income to
support themselves and continue paying for the property in which they live on. Employment
opportunities for blacks were very limited. Jobs in the private sector were limited to service
personnel in hotels, restaurants and in office buildings as janitors, doormen, porters, bellhops,
waiters and cooks. Employment opportunities for African American women were severely
limited. Some companies would hire black women as maids or elevator operators. Many were
hired in private homes as domestic workers (History of Portlands African American
Community pg. 32, 34) Holding blacks down in the work force holds blacks down in day to day
life, and that is very important to understand. The jobs listed above are no means a way to

accumulate very much wealth and status in our capitalistic society. These jobs only allow blacks
and other minorities to make just enough to pay their rent and utilities, but rarely allows them to
move up in the social hierarchy which is determined by financial status.
Policing
The interactions between black people of this country and law enforcement has been documented
ever since police and black people crossed paths. Black people from all over the country have
long been the victims of bias at the hands of law enforcement and the criminal justice system.
The interactions between law enforcement and blacks almost always tend to be negative. So why
is that? The answer is in all of my points above. Be it the brutal history of black people in this
country, the housing discrimination experienced by black families, and the purposeful placement
of black people in ghettos. All of these factors lead to an un stable, non trusting, and violent
environment for any group of people, but in this case black people are the ones who are suffering
from these problems. When living in a highly capitalistic society, the goal in life is to accumulate
as much money and possessions as you can. When you and the people who look just like you are
quarantined into a specific area, with limited resources and job opportunities, people must find a
means to make money in order to survive. If black people have been locked out of decent jobs
and denied many opportunities that can be rewarded by money and financial status, the logical
thing to do would be to find an alternative way of making money. Often times these alternative
ways are illegal, and when you do something illegal there are police and law enforcement to
punish you. That is all fair until police begin disproportionately punishing black people as
opposed to any other race, such as what has been happening in Portland as well as all across the
country. If it is necessary to bring large numbers of negro workers, locate them on the edge of

the city, it would be much better for all concerned. If they are allowed to fan out throughout the
city it soon will be necessary to station a police man on every corner (History of Portlands
African American Community pg. 64) Fast forward 10-20 years from when this quote was said,
and you will see that is exactly what the city did. Police were put all over the streets of black
neighborhoods out on the prowl, not so much protecting and serving the black people but more
so finding faults in everything they did and at times inciting blacks to become violent or
resistive. However, these issues were not brought to statewide attention here in Oregon until
1994. During the supreme court of Oregons audit of racial bias. The audit concluded that people
of color are more likely to be arrested, charged, convicted, and incarcerated, and less likely to be
released on bail or probation (Communities of color in Multnomah County) After public
attention to the issues regarding un lawful policing of black people in Portland, one would think
that law enforcement and the criminal justice system could not possibly get away with any more
discrimination. Sadly this is far from the truth and far from what happened. Even with the
statistics and facts. Portland still saw wide amounts of police discrimination against minorities.
Including reports of slow responses to calls from black neighborhoods, police harassment,
rudeness, and abusive behavior (Communities of color in Multnomah County) The poor
treatment by the very people sworn to serve and protect you as a citizen of your city, would make
anybody feel un welcome and unsafe to be living where that kind of action is occurring. But thats
not all that drove black people out of the city, there were actual bills passed that resulted in the
direct displacement of blacks in the city of Portland. There is a pretty lengthy history of
policing practices in Multnomah County that treat people differently by race. In the past twenty
years, Portland law enforcement and real-estate had banded together to create a program called

drug free zones these were used to ban people from neighborhoods based on suspicion- not
conviction- of drug possession or sale. The exclusions were mostly enforced against blacks.
Black people represented nearly two-thirds of all violations and exclusions. In contrast, white
methamphetamine related arrestees were rarely exclude (Communities of color in Multnomah
County) That is direct proof of purposely attempting to get rid of the black population in
Portland. Unfairly displacing people of the black community to anywhere else but Portland.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are so few black people in Portland and most of them are all located in the
North East and North West part of the city, because they have been purposely targeted ever since
the people before them came here, to be expelled from the city one way or another. Many
different methods have been implemented in hopes of displacing Portlands black population and
all of these methods have been successful at doing so by holding us down socially and
economically. Black people must realize that we can never be held down mentally, and can never
be stripped of our knowledge. Through knowledge and love is how we will bounce back from
this oppression and exclusion.

References
City of Portland Bureau of Planning, (February 1993). the History of Portlands African
American Community (1805 to the present). Retrieved from http://multco.us/file/15283/
download
Portland Census. (2010, April 1). State & County Quickfacts: Multnomah County, Oregon
Retrieved March 9, 2016 from census.gov
Jackson, M. S. (n.d.). The Residue Years: A novel
Cornerstones of Community: Buildings of Portlands African American history. (n.d.). Retrieved
March 6, 2016, from http://www.worldcat.org/title/cornerstones-of-community-buildings-ofportlands-african-american-history/oclc/34261721