Bus Tour Newsletter #28 – January 2023

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Portland

The civil rights movement in Portland was directly influenced by the larger national movement and the work of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., along with other notable civil rights leaders of the time.

In 1961, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at the Vancouver Ave. Baptist Church in North Portland, known for its prominent role in the civil rights movement. The pulpit he spoke at is still used by the church today. That same day, he also spoke at a Civil War centennial event at Portland State University’s Lincoln Hall, formerly known as Old Main, giving a speech titled The Future of Integration. That afternoon he gave the same speech at Lewis and Clark College. 

Dr. King also met with community members at the home of Urban League President E. Shelly Hill. His final stop in Portland on that 1961 speaking tour was at Keller Auditorium, which was then known as the Civic Auditorium. There he addressed a crowd of 3,500 during the Urban League‘s Equal Opportunity Day, giving a speech titled Facing the Challenge of a New Age. In his speech, he said that segregation was “slavery covered up with nothing but the niceties of complexities.” He also stated that the choice Americans faced was stark: it was “between nonviolence or nonexistence.” 

Martin Luther King, Jr., visits Vancouver Ave. First Baptist, 1961. (Source: Oregon Encyclopedia/ Oregon Hist. Society Research Lib.)

The civil rights movement had a major impact on housing rights issues in Portland at the time. In 1963, the NAACP protested the Housing Authority of Portland (HAP) at Portland City Hall to draw attention to racist housing policies in Portland. Members of the NAACP distributed flyers on September 4 and October 30, 1963. The first five grievances listed on them included HAP’s history of planning racially segregated housing projects, and the second five points addressed the news media’s portrayal of the NAACP as being primarily responsible for the cancellation of a planned September 27 visit to Portland by President John F. Kennedy.

On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Though his life was taken in Memphis, Tennessee while supporting striking sanitation workers, his premature death caused ripples that spread across the nation, sending shockwaves all the way to Portland. His violent death caused Portlanders to pause and reflect on issues of racial discrimination, and especially galvanized activists in Portland’s Black communities to demand that city leaders address issues of racial discrimination.

Two months later, on June 14, 1968, the Portland City Club posted a bulletin titled, Report on Problems of Racial Justice in Portland. The report exemplifies the push to address racial issues in Portland during the civil rights movement. It details issues related to employment and economic opportunity, education, public welfare, housing and urban renewal, police and law enforcement, discrimination of private organizations, and citizen participation in local government.

In 1989, Portlanders honored Dr. Martin Luther King’s memory and influence by renaming Union Avenue Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Bernie Foster, passionate changemaker and editor of The Skanner, led the charge to rename the street. Although the Portland City Council approved an ordinance to change the name on April 20, 1989, a group of opponents called Citizens for Union Avenue attempted to stop the change through a campaign that brought the issue all the way to the Oregon Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court ruled that the city commission vote was an administrative decision, not a legislative one, and not subject to change through an initiative.

In 1998, the artist Michael Florin Dente sculpted a statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. titled, “The Dream,” dedicated to his legacy. The statue depicts Dr. King with an immigrant, a worker, and a child. Dr. King saw the connections between these oppressed groups of people, a theme of solidarity.