Mark O. Hatfield Birthday & Civil Rights Tour

Every summer, the Hatfield School of Government celebrates Senator Mark O. Hatfield's birthday on July 12th with one of its most enriching events, the Civil Rights Tour. Led by prominent Portland historians Ron Silver (former U.S. attorney) and Ed Washington (Vanport Survivor & retired PSU staff), they bring to life the rich and often untold history of Portland, guiding participants through locations where this history was made.

The tour stops at iconic sites including the Golden West Hotel, Irving Park (the heart of the Albina Civil Unrest), and Vanport, the historic community that served as the birthplace of Portland State University, among many others. The tour also celebrates the profound contributions of Japanese and Black communities to the growth and culture of Portland, offering a deeper understanding of the city we know today.

 

Description

The Golden West Hotel

Discuss the beginnings of Black Portland 1880–1920 as well as the Asian American experience in Portland

Inside the Portland Expo Center

Discuss the Japanese Internment at the Portland Assembly Center

Heron Lake Golf Club

Discuss Vanport. Henry Kaiser.

Irving Park

Ed will talk about the Albina Civil Unrest.

Albina District, Dawson Park, and site of Fred Hampton Free Clinic. 

Discussion of redlining in Portland

SE 31st & SE Pine in the Laurelhurst Area

Discuss the murder of Mulugeta Seraw

Lone Fir Cemetery 

Discuss how Multnomah County Board issued a heartfelt apology to Portland's Chinese American Community for the County's role in permitting the desecration of hundreds of graves of Chinese men and women who had been buried there in the 19th Century 

 


Additional Resources

Podcasts
Almost Home JAPANESE HISTORY IN THE HOOD RIVER VALLEY In 2015, Min Yasui was the
first Oregonian to ever receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom - our nation's highest civilian
honor. Min was a first generation Japanese American, born right here in Hood River. This story
includes FBI spying, unexpected death, the largest mass incarceration in U.S. history, and a
small town in Oregon struggling with newfound notoriety. This is an immigrant story turned
national narrative, one still relevant more than a century later.


Tribal Fishing in the Pacific Northwest THE FISH WARS In this episode you’ll hear one piece of
a much larger history. It considers a fight for civil rights that is uniquely connected to the Pacific
Northwest, and the ensuing violence – the Fish Wars - that took place. It shares the story of
fisherwoman, Terrie Brigham, her family - and the salmon in the Columbia River.


Books and Articles
Baker-Gard, S., Freiling, M. J., & Takikawa, S. (Eds.). (2023). They never asked : senryū poetry from the WWII Portland Assembly Center. Oregon State University Press.


Berg, L. (Ed.). (2007). The first Oregonians (Second edition.). Oregon Council for the Humanities.
 

Biel, J. (2022). The enduring legacy of Portland’s Black Panthers : the roots of free healthcare, free breakfast, and neighborhood control in Oregon. Microcosm Publishing.

Kessler, L. (1993). Stubborn twig : three generations in the life of a Japanese American family (1st ed.). Random House.
 

Langer, E. (2003). A hundred little Hitlers : the death of a black man, the trial of a white racist, and the rise of the neo-Nazi movement in America (1st ed.). Metropolitan Books.
 

McLagan, E. (2022). A peculiar paradise : a history of blacks in Oregon, 1788-1940 (Second edition.). Oregon State University Press.
 

Moreland, K. S. (2013). African Americans of Portland. Arcadia Publishing.
 

Wong, M. R. (2004). Sweet cakes, long journey : the Chinatowns of Portland, Oregon. University of Washington Press.
 

Yasui, B. (2023). Passing it On: Preserving and Sharing the History of the Yasui Brothers Store. Oregon Historical Quarterly, 124(4), 392–421.

Community Resources
Voices of Remembrance
Expo Futures Project
The Vanport Mosaic - The Living Archive
Albina Community Archive
Albina Music Trust
Albina Soul Walk