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Portland State University PDXScholar Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Nohad A. Toulan School of Urban Studies and Publications and Presentations Planning Fall 2018 Small Steps on the Long Journey to Equality: A Timeline of Post-Legislation Civil Rights Struggles in Portland Leanne Claire Serbulo Portland State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/usp_fac Part of the Public Policy Commons, Social Policy Commons, Urban Studies Commons, and the Urban Studies and Planning Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Citation Details Serbulo, L. 2018. Small Steps on the Long Journey to Equality: A Timeline of Post-Legislation Civil Rights Struggles in Portland. Oregon Historical Quarterly, 119:3, 376-399. This Article is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. Small Steps on the Long Journey to Equality: A The effectiveness of anti-discrimi- ary among the city, federal agencies, nation legislation depends on robust and the community-based groups in Timeline of Post-Legislation Civil Rights Struggles in implementation and enforcement. many civil rights struggles. Portland Without outside pressure, local gov- The MHRC began as a mayoral ernments did not aggressively pursue advisory committee in 1949. Initially by Leanne Serbulo a dismantling of discriminatory poli- called the Intergroup Relations Com- cies. At times, the implementation and mission (IGRC), the committee had ten enforcement of civil rights legislation members appointed by Mayor Dorothy THIS TIMELINE BEGINS where Employment Practices Act barred was spurred from above by federal McCullough Lee and helped push for Richard Rothstein’s The Color of Law discrimination in hiring, promotion, mandates or more often from below by a measure barring discrimination in ends — with the passage of landmark and working conditions, but civil rights grassroots organizations. In Portland public accommodations. In 1966, the civil rights legislation. Oregon’s first legislation was simply the first step in after the legislation was in place, the IGRC was awarded a professional staff statewide anti-discrimination legis- a long and unfinished journey toward Metropolitan Human Relations Com- person, and it became known as the lation was passed in 1949. The Fair equality. mission (MHRC) acted as an intermedi- Human Relations Commission (HRC). In City of Portland (OR) Archives, Fair Housing, A2001-022, 1958 City of Portland THE URBAN LEAGUE OF PORTLAND published this pamphlet titled “Don’t be Misled” in 1958 in an attempt to curb white flight from neighborhoods. The pamphlet confronts myths that integrated neighborhoods reduce property values, and the Urban League advises homeowners to “be wise, sit tight, don’t sell in panic.” 376 OHQ vol. 119, no. 3 Housing Segregation and Resistance in Portland, Oregon 377 1969, the commission was renamed the Civil rights groups and the MHRC nance to voters. During the campaign, business owners in favor of the Metropolitan Human Relations Com- were most effective at changing public ordinance post signs in their windows stating “We Reserve the Right to mission to reflect its expanded charge institutions. Dismantling racial discrimi- Serve All Respectable Patrons,” in an effort to counter and draw atten- to improve race relations throughout nation in the private sector was a far big- tion to the “Whites Only” placards that are displayed in some Portland Multnomah County. ger challenge. As a Housing and Urban businesses. Voters reject the measure by a vote of 77,084 to 60,969, The MHRC kept one foot firmly Development (HUD) study on housing and discrimination in public accommodations remains legal.6 within the community and another in discrimination noted, “every routine, the halls of power, but it was a delicate every bit of ritual in the sales or rental 1953 The Oregon Legislature adopts a law banning discrimination due to balance. In a 1968 memo, the HRC of a dwelling unit can be performed in a race, color, national origin, or religion in the use of any public accom- affirmed its role as an “advocate” for way and calculated to make it either dif- modation.7 While the initial bill would have made it a criminal offense minority communities, not an “apolo- ficult or impossible to consummate the to discriminate, the final version only allows for a civil penalty. gist” for the city.1 Still, commission deal.”2 The MHRC and other civil rights members often felt “powerless” and organizations had little influence over 1958 The City Commission on Intergroup Relations and the Urban League recognized that much of their work the myriad of diffuse transactions in the organize a conference on housing discrimination at a Portland church.8 would go “unpublicized,” because they housing market, and the public agencies The governor, mayor, and representatives from the Home Builders As- made “internal recommendations” to that were empowered to regulate those sociation, Federal Housing Authority, and Portland Realty Board speak city agencies in an effort to avoid racial markets were reluctant to aggressively alongside civil rights leaders. The Urban League publishes a pamphlet conflict in the streets. police the private housing industry. aimed at stopping block-busting and white flight, and confronting the pervasive myth that racial integration lowers property values. It encour- ages whites in the Portland metro area to “be wise, sit tight, and don’t sell in panic,” if a non-white neighbor moves in, and to instead, “know the truth and be free from the bondage of prejudice.” 1949 The Oregon Legislature passes the Fair Employment Practices Act, 1959 The Oregon Legislature passes a fair housing law that prohibits dis- barring discrimination due to race, religion, color, or national origin by crimination in the “sale, rental or lease of private housing.”9 Brokers employers with more than five workers or by labor unions.3 The bill who practice discrimination could lose their real estate license. During passes the House on a 53-to-4 vote and the Senate by 27-to-2. Oregon the hearings on the bill, the Urban League testifies that it is common is the sixth state to pass an employment anti-discrimination bill. practice for real estate agents to refrain from selling homes to Black families in white neighborhoods without first gaining consent from ev- 1949 Mayor Dorothy McCullough Lee establishes an advisory committee on ery white resident. inter-group relations, after the Citizens’ Committee for Civil Rights sub- mits to City Council a proposed ordinance that would ban discrimina- 1960 The Albina Neighborhood Improvement Committee is established tion in public accommodations.4 The all-volunteer committee consists by a group of residents wanting to clean up their neighborhood and of ten men and women appointed by the mayor. improve their homes.10 This multiracial effort originates at an Urban League meeting and gains support from the Portland Development 1950 The Portland City Council unanimously approves Ordinance 91214, Commission (PDC), which agrees to seek federal funding and help prohibiting racial discrimination in public accommodations.5 The or- with planning for the project. dinance does not take effect immediately. After the vote, the city is recognized by the National Conference of Christians and Jews for its 1961 The League of Women Voters conducts a study of Black and white improvement in the area of race and religious relations. Portlanders living in integrated communities.11 Black families have The Civil Freedom Committee, an organization spearheaded by higher educational levels than their white neighbors and are twice as the Oregon Restaurant Association, which opposes the ordinance, likely to have two wage earners in the family. Surveyors conclude that collects enough signatures to refer the public accommodations ordi- “the problem is one of economics as well as of prejudice and discrimi- 378 OHQ vol. 119, no. 3 Housing Segregation and Resistance in Portland, Oregon 379 seller’s wishes, they might lose business. The two Black brokers in- terviewed suspect there are “too many evasions and dodges” of the law and that white brokers and sellers get away with refusing to show homes to Black families because of lax enforcement. 1962 The Albina Neighborhood Improvement Project (ANIP) begins in a zone bordered by North Fremont and Skidmore streets between Van- couver Avenue and Mississippi Avenue.14 The neighborhood rehabili- tation project provides low-interest loans to residents to make home repairs. The population in this area is roughly evenly split between Blacks (54 percent) and whites (46 percent). The program also works City of Portland (OR) Archives, ANIC Files, A2010-003 City of Portland on cleaning up streets and plans to create a park near Shaver and Kerby. Meanwhile, the PDC releases the Central Albina Study, which calls for a “unified plan” phased in over a decade to condemn, de- molish, and rebuild the neighborhood directly south of the ANIP area from Fremont to Broadway, extending from the freeway to Northeast Seventh Avenue. The Central Albina area is home to 7,000 residents, 70 percent of whom are Black. City of Portland (OR) Archives, ANIC Files, A2010-003 City of Portland PORTLAND DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION representatives meet with residents at the Albina Neighborhood Improvement Center in April 1963. nation,” citing limited employment opportunities as one of the major barriers to housing integration. One Black family interviewed in the survey comments, “if there was adequate employment, a Negro could purchase the kind of house he wants.” In the post-war era, Blacks occupy only 2 percent of newly con- structed housing.12 The older homes Black families reside in are of- ten bought on contract with limited homeowner’s insurance policies.

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