Located between Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon, Vanport was a temporary wartime housing project built in 1942 to support the workers of the Kaiser shipyards. Working class people of African, Japanese, European, and Indigenous descent came for its well-paying jobs and affordable housing.
Despite the fact that segregation was the norm in Oregon at the time, Vanport was a multicultural place where people felt a sense of acceptance and belonging. The city was built on a floodplain, but residents were assured the surrounding dykes would never break. However, in 1948, a wall of water totally and rapidly destroyed the community. Those who survived were left devastated and had to begin their lives from scratch. The ripples of Vanport’s destruction continue to be felt in Portland today.
For the past eight years, the nonprofit Vanport Mosaic has been collecting oral histories from Vanport survivors and descendants and putting on an annual festival to celebrate their memories. May 30 will be the 75th anniversary of the Vanport flood — and this Vanport Mosaic festival will not be one to miss.
We are collaborating with Vanport Mosaic to develop a podcast series about Vanport and the lessons it still teaches us today. The whole team is on planes to Oregon now, as we speak, and we would love to see you at the Festival, too. Admission is free! See you there? https://www.vanportmosaic.org/festival2023
Voices Heard in This Teaser (In order of appearance):
LaVeta Gilmore
Luther Avery
William Stacey
Chisao Hata
Janice Okomoto
Bea Gilmore
Ed Washgington
Credits:
Thank you to Laura Lo Forti, LaVeta Gilmore, and Chisao Hata. Your hosts are Deqah Hussein-Wetzel and Vanessa Quirk. This episode was edited by Vanessa Quirk and Connor Lynch and mixed by Connor Lynch. Our music is by Adaam James Levin-Areddy.
Visit Urbanist Media for more information.
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BONUS: Moving at the Speed of Trust (w/ Zahra Ebrahim)
BONUS: Rukaiyah Adams on Reimagining Community Wealth
Juneteenth Cincinnati Shorts: Marian Spencer
Juneteenth Cincinnati Shorts: Union Baptist Cemetery
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Juneteenth Cincinnati Shorts: Intersectionality at the Cotton Club
Juneteenth Cincinnati Shorts: Regal Theatre
TEASER: Sarah Thomas and the Clooneys
BONUS: Brent Leggs on Raising Millions for Black Heritage
BONUS: Revitalizing Urban Main Streets
BONUS: Preservation Through Podcasting
BONUS: Supporting Resilient Communities in Texas
BONUS: Preserving Black Heritage in L.A.
BONUS: Forging a Path for Preservation-Based Economic Development
BONUS: Reflecting on HAANDS and the future of our pod
BONUS: Bringing "HAANDS" Together to Preserve Black Neighborhoods
BONUS: Institutional Investors & Housing
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