Vanport received constant attention throughout its sort lifespan. Vanport's tenants willingly knew that they would be succeeding in a mixed culture society. At its peak, the population was around 42,000 (which is about the same size as Tigard). Vanport became a safe haven to those who were trying to escape racial prejudice.
Before Vanport was built, Oregon was home to few African Americans - only 2,600 in 1940. But Vanport was a promising land to those of color with great pay to anyone who wanted it and expanding housing. During, this era people were getting hung just for their skin color.
And this city did exist in Oregon, one of the largest Klan states. We had riots and marches down Portland streets and avenues. How could these two things in harmony?
The truth of the matter is that it Vanport was not the Portland we see today. The citizens of Vanport were not openly in mixed colored groups but they still had this sense of being a community. From the documentary I watched on OPB; they interviewed kids who attended the first integrated schooling program, "The children of Vanport who grow up together didn't see a difference in color". He goes on to say, "A Southern boy who was picking on a black boy on the school playground. But a white neighbor boy interfered and told the Southern boy that that's not tolerated here."
Vanport was a mere stepping stone that helped innovate an early movement towards Civil Right's in the Pacific Northwest. By the end of 1943, the African American population in Oregon's doubled to 6,000.
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