African American Black Education Experience in Portland

Loretta Hunt, Jay Harden, Orly Cowin, Erin Corzine, Louis Avden, Julie Westgard, and Chelsea Needs

History of African Americans in Portland Metro Area-1800s

• Civil War–era anti-black policies (exclusion laws) kept the state of Oregon's black population small and established segregation traditions that characterized the 1890s.

• The state constitution (1857) banned residence, voting, using the courts, or making contracts by blacks

• Historically, employment for Blacks was relegated to providing service for White society, railroads, hotel, and domestic work

 

Darrell Millner "Oregon"  Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present. Paul Finkelman, Editor in Chief. Oxford University Press 2009.  Portland State University.  12 October 2010  <http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t0005.e0932>

http://old-photos.blogspot.com/search/label/Black%20Americana

Slide by Julie Westgard

History of African Americans in Portland Metro Area-1900s

• During the early twentieth century, few blacks were attracted to Oregon because of Oregon's geographically distant location, the absence of a cosmopolitan cultural reputation, and the lack of employment opportunities. 

• Oregon's attractiveness was also compromised by Ku Klux Klan activity that climaxed with the election of a Klan member as governor in 1923.

• Significant expansion of the black population came with a surge of wartime employment opportunities in the 1940s

Darrell Millner "Oregon"  Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present. Paul Finkelman, Editor in Chief. Oxford University Press 2009.  Portland State University.  12 October 2010  <http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t0005.e0932> slide by Julie Westgard

History of African Americans in Portland Metro Area 

Banking practices presented further challenges to minority home buyers. Banks created a process called "redlining,"

which designated certain areas of the city too risky for investment. The term is said to have received its name by

referring to bank officials that would hang up maps and draw red circles around minority neighborhoods to avoid

investing in.

http://www.ccrh.org/center/posters/nepassage/history.htm

In the thirties, the real estate industry began to define the meaning of a white segregated

neighborhood as one that did not have a black-occupied residence within four blocks.  The result of such racial actions was a physical boundary dividing blacks from

whites. By the early 1940s Albina, traditionally a white and working class

neighborhood, was one of the communities in Portland in which blacks could reside.

History of African Americans in Portland Metro Area-1950s

• Post war unemployment soars to 66% among African Americans in Oregon

• Not until the 1950's did Oregon begin to adopt Civil Rights Legislationo Fair employment (1949)o Public accommodations (1953)o Fair housing (1957)

• Official judicial approval of segregation in public accommodations came in 1906 in the Taylor v. Cohn case. This legal precedent prevailed until 1953.

Signing Oregon's Civil Rights Bill, 1953 // OrHi 44402

Darrell Millner "Oregon"  Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present. Paul Finkelman, Editor in Chief. Oxford University Press 2009.  Portland

State University.  12 October 2010  <http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?

subview=Main&entry=t0005.e0932

History of African Americans in Portland Metro Area (cont.)

• The small size of the black population negated black political power.

• No blacks served in local or state elective positions when the civil rights legislation of the 1950s was passed.

• The first black was elected to the state legislature in 1972. Four others have served since. Tow blacks have served on the Portland City Council. The only black elected to statewide office was the treasurer in 1992.

• Gradual black population growth occurred in the 50's 60's and 70's, owing to both natural increase and immigration. Oregon's traditional industries (lumber, agriculture) employed few blacks. 

• The state economy diversified in the 1980s–1990s, and blacks found opportunities in emerging high-tech industries.

• In the 1990s Oregon became the designated homeland of racist skinhead organizations. Racially motivated beatings and murder tainted Oregon's reputation much as the Klan activity of the 1920s had done.

Darrell Millner "Oregon"  Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present. Paul Finkelman, Editor in Chief. Oxford University Press 2009.  Portland State University.  12 October 2010  <http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t0005.e0932>

Historical Spotlight: Beatrice Morrow Cannaday 1890-1974

• Her and her husband founded The Advocate,(1903-1936)

• She helped found the Oregon Chapter of the NAACP (1914)

• She worked to repeal Oregon's notorious, "black laws"

• She  used The Advocate to reach out to the small community of African Americans in the Portland area  to become known as an agent of change.

                    http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/_files/_doc_files/Beatrice

%20M%20Cannady%201929%20FSDM_md.jpgWritten by Cain Allen, © Oregon Historical Society,

2002.http://www.ohs.org/education/oregonhistory/historical_records/dspDocument.cfm?doc_ID=157052FF-D3DD-1D8B-701B7FABCC173E81

 Beatrice Morrow Cannady and "The Advocate": Building and

defending Oregon's African American community, 1912--1933

by Mangun, Kimberley Ann, Ph.D., University of Oregon, 2005, 511 pages; AAT 3181108

Erin Corzine 

Historical Spotlight: Walter Marcus Pierce 1861-1954

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_M._Pierce Erin Corzine

• Was elected governor in 1923 with a strong endorsement from the Ku Klux Klan.

• Was elected into office with the largest margin of victory in Oregon history.

• The Governor's political views were just one of many reasons the population of African Americans remained low in Oregon.

Essential Knowledge - gaps span numerous educational indicators such as test scores, grades, graduation and dropout rates, college entrance and

completion rates

Competing for jobs -only 1 in 100 African American teens are able to read and understand the types of text that are common in the modern office

compared to 1 in 12 white 17-yr-olds. This leads to less opportunity in the workplace. 

Barriers Faced by African Americans in Our Schools

Adequate yearly progress reports (AYP) for Portland Schools show students of black ethnicity are not meeting achievement in

Language arts, math or graduation. 

Huggins, Elise. "A Seamless P-16 System of Education" OregonDepartment of Education. Retrieved October 11, 2010, from www.ode.or.us/teachlearn/specialty

www.ode.or.us/data/reportcard/reportsLoretta Hunt

Barriers Appear at the Secondary Level

Language Arts

Mathematics (Math)

Further barriers for African Americans are standardized exams for college entrance such as the ACT (American

College Testing Program).

Significantly lower rates of college readiness for African American Students have been reported in Oregon....

     The average score is 21.5 % while African American's is 5%       

Melton, Kimberly. "Oregon Students Scored Higher on the ACT this Year, but few are Considered Ready for College." Oregon Live.com, Retrieved October 11, 2010, from www.oregonlive.com/education

African American students

have been consistently left

behind on the road to success in schools

since the 1970s

Oregon Department of Education Office of Educational Improvement and Innovation. "Closing the Achievement Gap." Retrieved October 11, 2010 from http://www.ode.state.or.usLoretta Hunt

Barriers to Moving Forward

• Graduation Rates - 13% of African American youth have dropped out of school by senior year

• Post-secondary Education - African American students plan to and successfully attend some form of post-secondary education but completion rates remain significantly low.

• College Counseling - inequalities in college preparation course offerings and connections with local post-secondary institutions

• African American students are not given the same access as their white counterparts to the personal and social skills required for success beyond high school.

Huggins, Elise. "A Seamless P-16 System of Education" Oregon Department of Education. Retrieved October 11, 2010, from www.ode.or.us/teachlearn/specialty

Venezia, Andrea, Kirst, Michael W., Antonio, Anthony. "Betraying The College Dream:How Disconnected K-12 and Post-secondary Education Systems UndermineStudent Aspirations." Stanford University Bridge Project. Retrieved October 11, 2010, from www.Stanford.edu/group/bridgeproject/betrayingthe collegedream 

Loretta Hunt

Breaking through the barriers

"Obviously, we have a lot of work yet to do," Susan

Castillo, state superintendent of schools, said. "That's why I'm committed to the high school diploma work and increasing the rigor of the

curriculum we expose to all students. We need to remain committed to that no matter what challenges we face now

because we need to get these kids the knowledge

that they need." 

Melton, Kimberly. "Oregon Students Scored Higher on the ACT this Year, but few are Considered Ready for College." Oregon Live.com, Retrieved October 11, 2010, from www.oregonlive.com/education

Loretta Hunt

Where Do African American Students Attend School?

The majority of African American students in the Portland area attend schools in North Portland and

Northeast Portland.These schools include (but are not limited to):

• Jefferson High School • Benson High School• Grant High School  • Vernon K-7 • George Middle School• Boise Elliot Elementary • Woodland Elementary• Rosa Parks Elementary• King Elementary

African American School Population

School Population Distribution• Multnomah County has

about 9,000 African American Students

• 6,200 of those students attend Portland Public Schools

• The 3,600 of these students go to schools in North and Northeast Portland. 

• The Schools in these areas have 28-57% African American students

• Most other schools in the Portland Metro area have only 0-12% students who are African American.

Orly Cowin

"In Portland, all three nonwhite populations recorded by the (2000)

census are heavily concentrated in one area, north of Northeast Broadway between North Interstate Avenue and Northeast 39th

Avenue."A Visual Representation of Segregation in Portland, by Ben Waterhouse: Willamette Week 

Portland Map

Of the 561,698 students who entered the 2009/2010 Portland school year,

only 15,485 were black, or about 2.8%.

Six of the seven Portland public

schools with a black student body over 50% are located

within 10 blocks of one another. All

seven are located in North East Portland.

Map 1

21 of 23 Portland public schools with a black student

enrollment over 25% are located

in North/Northeast

 Portland.

Google Maps

Map 2

What are schools doing?   

The school districts in Portland have made a commitment to disaggregate data in order to isolate race when evaluating performance on

literacy benchmarks

The Black Parent Initiative group, which focuses on data and improvement strategies linked to African American student performance, contracts with PPS at Faubion and Woodlawn elementary schools to

provide parent advocates.

Core Values and Beliefs of Oregon School Reform, Oregon Department of Education

What are schools doing? (cont.)

Some students have barriers to provision of opportunity, such as, limited English proficiency, poverty, historic discrimination, racial and ethnic

bias, etc.The state and local districts, therefore, face a moral

and legal responsibility to provide an instructional program that assists all students in learning to the same standards and does not deny opportunity on the basis of race, language of origin, handicapping

condition, poverty, gender or ethnicity.

What are schools doing? (cont.)

• PPS honored 13 high school students with a “Young, Gifted, and Black” tribute

• While not specifically for African American or Black students, the Step Up program provides extra support for students who are struggling during the transition to 9th grade

• Apart from non-specific programs for African American students, PPS is setting “targets” that aim to close “gaps”