Presented by Dr. Carmen Thompson

African Americans who lived in Portland during the twentieth century built communities that provided connection among family and friends, as government policies, realtors’ practices, and beliefs expressed by dominant Whites often restricted where and how Black people could live. This panel of Black Portlanders will offer first-hand reflections on ways their families and neighbors built and sustained the meaning of home and community across the decades of the twentieth centuries.

African Americans who lived in Portland during the twentieth century built homes and communities that provided connection among family and friends, and space for growth and learning as government policies, realtors’ practices, and beliefs expressed by dominant Whites often restricted where and how Black people could live. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 challenged some of those discriminatory practices. This panel of Black Portlanders, who were all youths during this time period, will offer first-hand reflections on ways their families and neighbors built and sustained the meaning of home and community across the decades of the twentieth centuries, despite the local and national blocks that sought to prevent them from doing so.

Dr. Carmen P. Thompson is an adjunct instructor of Black Studies and African American History at Portland State University and at Portland Community College.  Since 2009, Dr. Thompson has taught a wide range of courses on the Black experience, including American slavery, Black feminism, and race and racism.  In 2004, Dr. Thompson obtained a Master’s of Arts from the Institute for Research in African American Studies at Columbia University in New York and her PhD in U.S. History from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.  Her research interests include the history of slavery and the slave trade in the New World and Pre-colonial West Africa, early African American history, race and ethnicity in early America, and the Great Migration.

These monthly, free events are open to everyone interested in Oregon and Pacific Northwest history. Co-sponsored by like-minded historical and civic organizations, we bring you experts, scholars, first-person experiencers and historians who expound on topics from Lewis and Clark to shipwrecks, hop growing to women pioneers and far, far beyond. It's like being back in the classroom - except this time you get to settle into comfortable seats and enjoy a drink or two with dinner while you listen and learn.

This event is eligible for a History Pub Stamp