Tina Smith: “each year I come to the floor during the month of February to celebrate Black History Month and to discuss many of the…”

“each year I come to the floor during the month of February to celebrate Black History Month and to discuss many of the contributions made by Black Americans to my home State of Oregon. Today, at the beginning of this year's celebration of Black History Month, I would like to begin another series of floor statements with a short discussion of a significant event in Oregon's history, the Vanport flood. In 1929, Dr. DeNorval Unthank moved to Portland, OR from Pennsylvania, becoming one of the city's first black physicians. When he moved into a segregated, nearly all-White neighborhood, he and his family were greeted by rocks thrown through the windows of his home. When he replaced those windows, more rocks were thrown. Phone calls threatening his family were also common. Ultimately, Dr. Unthank was forced to move to another part of town. The city of Portland was highly segregated in its early history, and, although experiences like Dr. Unthank's were not uncommon, there were very few Black Portlanders. World War II changed all that. Between 1941 and 1943, the African-American population in Portland increased tenfold, from roughly 2,000 to over 20,000. People came from all over the country to work in Portland's shipyards, and to accommodate this influx of labor, the city of Vanport--a combination of the names Vancouver and Portland--was built. At the time, it was the largest public housing project in the Nation, and it became home to thousands of Black Oregonians.”