Black Loggers Near Maxville, Oregon (Image Courtesy of Maxville Heritage Center) Maxville, in Wallowa County, in northeastern Oregon, was home to African American loggers in the early years of the 20th Century. Maxville had a population of about 400 residents, 40 to 60 of them … Read MoreMaxville, Oregon (1923-1945)
During the late 1980s the Northwest Black Pioneers (NWBP) was conceived by participants of the Roots Festival, an annual African American cultural gathering in Seattle. In the summer of 1987, a steering committee formed in that same city to discuss strategies to encourage The Bon … Read MoreNorthwest Black Pioneers (1987- )
Derrick Bell, legal scholar and teacher, was the first black law professor at Harvard Law School to achieve tenure and one of the first African American deans in a non-historically black law school. Bell was also a founder of an academic model called critical race … Read MoreDerrick Albert Bell Jr. (1930-2011)
In the following article historians Bruce Glasrud and Cary Wintz discuss their new book, The Harlem Renaissance in the American West which argues that the literary and artistic outpouring by African Americans during the third decade of the 20th Century was a national phenomenon which … Read MoreThe Harlem Renaissance in the American West
Few Americans realize that the institution of slavery reached the Pacific Northwest in the two decades before the Civil War. A small number of the white settlers who followed the Oregon Trail from Independence, Missouri to Oregon City brought bondservants. Oregon historian R. Gregory Nokes, … Read MoreSlavery in Oregon: The Reuben Shipley Saga
Image Ownership: Wisconsin Historical Society Attorney Lloyd Augustus Barbee was born August 17, 1925 in Memphis, Tennessee. He was the youngest of three brothers from Earnest A. Barbee and Adelina Jenkins Gilliam, both from Mississippi. Barbee attended LeMoyne College in Memphis and later went to … Read MoreLloyd A. Barbee (1925-2002)
Image Courtesy of Oregon Department of Transportation Margaret Louise Carter, the first African American woman elected to the Oregon State Legislature, was born in Shreveport, Louisiana on December 29, 1935. Carter and her eight siblings were raised by Reverend Hilton Hunter, her Baptist minister father, … Read MoreMargaret Louise Carter (1935- )
Image Courtesy of arthuralex (CC BY-SA 2.0) Avel Louise Gordly was the first African American woman elected to the Oregon State Senate. In addition to a public service career in politics and criminal justice, she has been an educator, advocate for mental health services, and … Read MoreAvel Louise Gordly (1947- )
The Albina Ministerial Alliance is an umbrella group that represents 125 churches in North and Northeast Portland, Oregon. It was founded in the early 1960s by two ministers, Rev. John Jackson and Rev. O.B. Williams. The majority of churches represented in the Albina Ministerial Alliance … Read MoreAlbina Ministerial Alliance (ca. 1964- )
Mayfield Webb, a lawyer, civil rights leader, and social activist was born on November 10, 1927 in Baltimore, Maryland. As a member of the U.S. Army, he served during the Korean War. Upon his return, he eventually attended Morgan State University in Maryland and Howard … Read MoreMayfield Kelvin Webb (1927-1996)
