Blacks in PDX (Portland, Gresham, Beaverton: transplants, apartment complex, leasing agent)

[rass33]

Originally Posted by ckhthankgod

Blacks are still in relatively large numbers in Northeast Portland, with some in North and Southeast Portland. Some has moved to Gresham and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think many live in the Powellhurst/Centennial area. You have a couple(percent) in Beaverton. Some live in Vancouver WA as in notable/decent numbers. For evidence, look at demographics at high schools like Benson Poly, Grant, Roosevelt, Jefferson, Madison and even Parkrose or David Douglas for examples of schools with decent to high Black student populations.

I think it is an issue in San Francisco due to the Black population/percentage shrinking. Seattle gets it a little bit too. What is different is that the communities with higher Black percentages in those areas are certain suburbs. In Seattle, the communities south of Seattle and up to Tacoma have decent to even high percentages. In the Bay Area, the East Bay in and around Oakland have communities with higher percentages, with some exceptions in other parts of the area.

The population of blacks here in Portland appears to be shrinking with gentrification. They even had a few articles come out discussing this reality. A guy I know was telling me growing up in North Portland there were many black families living in the area but now it is virtually all white. There's only 35,000 of us black folk dispersed across the Portland area with the higher percentage residing in Northeast but even there were still in the minority. Some are now moving to Gresham, Beaverton and Vancouver which will surely decrease the black population in the Portland area. The black student body at those high schools hover at around 20 percent which is decent based on our relatively small numbers in the Portland community. The only exceptions would be David Douglas and Parkrose with a 9% and 12% black student body. Percentages aside. I think the difference between San Fran, SD and Seattle is that they are larger cities with slightly larger black populations. Portland is a smaller city with an even smaller black population.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by rass33

The population of blacks here in Portland appears to be shrinking with gentrification. They even had a few articles come out discussing this reality. A guy I know was telling me growing up in North Portland there were many black families living in the area but now it is virtually all white. There's only 35,000 of us black folk dispersed across the Portland area with the higher percentage residing in Northeast but even there were still in the minority. Some are now moving to Gresham, Beaverton and Vancouver which will surely decrease the black population in the Portland area. The black student body at those high schools hover at around 20 percent which is decent based on our relatively small numbers in the Portland community. The only exceptions would be David Douglas and Parkrose with a 9% and 12% black student body. Percentages aside. I think the difference between San Fran, SD and Seattle is that they are larger cities with slightly larger black populations. Portland is a smaller city with an even smaller black population.

That is a stretch if the percentages aren't any different. There just has never been a sizable population of Black Americans in the Northwest in general. I am sure it could be attributed to migrations, as Black Americans migrated to setting northern cities rather than more unsettled west coast cities. Also, if you add that to the fact that west coast cities long ago were extremely racist and didn't want blacks migrating to their west coast cities, they probably didn't feel as welcomed as they did with the more developed northern cities.

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by urbanlife78

That is a stretch if the percentages aren't any different. There just has never been a sizable population of Black Americans in the Northwest in general. I am sure it could be attributed to migrations, as Black Americans migrated to setting northern cities rather than more unsettled west coast cities. Also, if you add that to the fact that west coast cities long ago were extremely racist and didn't want blacks migrating to their west coast cities, they probably didn't feel as welcomed as they did with the more developed northern cities.

Cities in the Northeast and Midwest were just as racist as any city on the West Coast historically(places from Detroit to Boston all had race riots targeted at blacks at various points)--the West Coast was just much further away from the South during the Great Migration period and had less of an industrial base at the time outside of a few places. It's not that far from the South to Chicago or New York or Philadelphia, but to Portland or Seattle was a long way in those days.

In part I think that the fact that the African American population was smaller in Portland and Seattle and not as much "white flight" took place as the Midwestern cities, basically is in part why these cities were gentrified so easily and quickly(and almost completely in their inner neighborhoods).

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by Deezus

Cities in the Northeast and Midwest were just as racist as any city on the West Coast historically(places from Detroit to Boston all had race riots targeted at blacks at various points)--the West Coast was just much further away from the South during the Great Migration period and had less of an industrial base at the time outside of a few places. It's not that far from the South to Chicago or New York or Philadelphia, but to Portland or Seattle was a long way in those days.

In part I think that the fact that the African American population was smaller in Portland and Seattle and not as much "white flight" took place as the Midwestern cities, basically is in part why these cities were gentrified so easily and quickly(and almost completely in their inner neighborhoods).

That is true, distance probably played a bigger role than anything else.

[Nell Plotts]

There were a lot of Blacks who migrated from the south employed in the shipyards in Portland during WWII. At the end of the war the shipyards shut down and there were lots of jobs that needed their skills in the automobile industry. The moved to the mid-west where they actually earned more money and had better working conditions than the whites who had local ties so didn't move and worked in wood products.

[oldtintype]

And a lot of it is shot in the north Pearl--a very high crime area (not!).

[ckhthankgod]

Originally Posted by rass33

The population of blacks here in Portland appears to be shrinking with gentrification. They even had a few articles come out discussing this reality. A guy I know was telling me growing up in North Portland there were many black families living in the area but now it is virtually all white. There's only 35,000 of us black folk dispersed across the Portland area with the higher percentage residing in Northeast but even there were still in the minority. Some are now moving to Gresham, Beaverton and Vancouver which will surely decrease the black population in the Portland area. The black student body at those high schools hover at around 20 percent which is decent based on our relatively small numbers in the Portland community. The only exceptions would be David Douglas and Parkrose with a 9% and 12% black student body. Percentages aside. I think the difference between San Fran, SD and Seattle is that they are larger cities with slightly larger black populations. Portland is a smaller city with an even smaller black population.

I believe that Jefferson is about 60% Black actually, Benson Poly is in the 25-30% range and Grant is around 25%. I think that Roosevelt is around 22% and Madison is around 20%.

[Carpentergirl]

Originally Posted by greenlite

Is there any African American influx to the Portland area? or black people who wanna move to Pacific NW typically choose Seattle? Seems like black pop. is shrinking in Portland?

Interesting question and there are certainly many opinions/statistics that having been said I have some experience with being part of a black family....
I grew up in a mostly white area. I married a man from on of the the three black families and we have lived in California, Bellingham WA, and settled in the Portland area.

With the exception of Lake Oswego aka (Lake no Negro) we have felt what is meant when people say they move here because people are nicer than anywhere else.
Imagine traffic merging in a safe manner as opposed to taking your life into your hands when entering a freeway......
Here any member of my family can ask salespersons, police officers, or they guy walking in the park for help or directions and most every time we are greeted warmly. Recently my son had his iphone stolen and a Gresham officer actually grabbed an ipad and using tracking software helped my son locate the thief and the officer retrieved the phone as well!

I have also experienced the usual racist nonsense in Wilsonville at a big name electronics store I no longer visit where I wrote a check for a 200 item and was not asked for ID while hubby ran back for batteries and was checking out at the register next to me and was asked for ID when using a debit card and his police ID was clearly visible in his open wallet on the counter!!

In Lake Oswego my son was detained by an officer for what I can only call "jogging while black" We were staying with a friend over christmas while my son was home from college and he decided to go for a run on Christmas eve. He was clearly underdressed but he was accustomed to cold as he was in his junior year at college in Minnesota. About 20 minutes after he left he called me to come get him because an officer was threatening his arrest for failing to provide ID. I drove up to the parking lot of a tire store to find my son , now shivering, standing in the headlights of a police car. I pulled up behind the car and told my son to get in my car and the officer warned me to get back in mine. Of course I refused I asked the officer why she was detaining him. She said he looked "suspicious" running around after dark and when she asked him for ID he refused to provide it. I told her she could either arrest him or leave and I took my son home. She did not follow us.
PORTLAND is awesome but like anywhere else there are pockets of idiots.

[Winnyard Bletch]

It's quite funny how defensive some people get when told they have a racist history. Oregon has catered specifically to White protestants for it's entirety. Don't buy that? Ask a mormon. Can't find one? Thats because we drove them out. Blacks immigrated in so small of numbers to portland not because it was "too far", but because of the local's legendary disdain for them. Portland has been said to be "The worst city outside the south for blacks". Despite a city wide campaign to convince the population that they live in a diverse, open minded utopia, Portland has lower diversity and experience segregation more profound than that found in Omaha, Nebraska.

[Nell Plotts]

Segregation??? Minorities can live anywhere they can afford the housing, just like the rest of us.

You may be correct that Mormons were pushed out in the early years of that faith's founding (which was the case in many areas of the country) but let me assure you that we have many Mormons living in our community today. Portland Oregon LDS (Mormon) Temple District (Map View) hardly supports your contention that they are not well represented. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Oregon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Religion in Oregon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Oregon Pioneers predominantly came from Missouri, a slave state at the time, and had been in the US for generations. They didn't want Blacks because slavery created economic competition for the white working class (at that time almost all Blacks were slaves). I wouldn't say that there was no discrimination in the modern era, southern Oregon had a nasty reputation. But in Portland, particularly after WWII, there was a concerted effort to eliminate that behavior. The Portland PTA walked out of a luncheon at the Portland Hotel when they didn't want to serve Black members. The Portland Hotel henceforth served all guests.

Missourians were Protestants, many of their leaders were hung up in the Reformation and were of the opinion that Roman Catholics pledged allegiance to the Pope, not the nation. Robert Kennedy had to address that when he ran for president.