VITA 
NAME OF AUTHOR: Bernard Raymond La Plante 
PLACE OF BIRTH: Fergus Falls, Minnesota 
DATE OF BIRTH: March 13, 1924 
UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: 
University of Minnesota 
University of Oregon 
DEGREES AWARDED: 
Bachelor of Arts, 1965, University of Minnesota 
Master of Arts, 1967, University of Oregon 
AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: 
History of Education 
Social Factors of Education 
Supervision of Practice Teachers 
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: 
A Commissioned Officer, United States Navy, on active duty 
from 1944 to 1965. As a designated Naval Aviator, 
instructed in technical/vocational subjects for approxi-
mately ten years. 
Teaching Assistant, Department of Educational Foundations, 
University of Oregon, Eugene, Summer Term, 1969. 
Teaching Assistant Fellow, Department of Curriculum and 
Instruction, University of Oregon, Eugene, 1969-1970 • 
. . 
THE NEGRO AT JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL: A HISTORICAL STUDY 
OF RACIAL CHANGE 
by 
BERNARD RAYMOND LA PLANTE 
A DISSERTATION 
Presented to the Department of Educational Foundations 
and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon 
in partial fulfillment 
of the requirements for the degree of 
Doctor of Philosophy 
September 1970 
iii 
APPROVED: ______~ Cc.°. JA~.~B-;;o;w;e;;:-r;s _______  
iv 
ACKNOWLEDGMENT 
Many persons and agencies have assisted me in the prepara-
tion of this study. 
Dr. Harold Kleiner, Deputy Superintendent of Portland 
Schools, granted me access to the school district records and files 
and also discussed the problems of Jefferson High School from his 
vantage point. The staff in the administrative offices was most 
cooperative, especially those in the Administrative Research and 
Measurements Department and the Curriculum Library and Archives. 
Dr. William Proppe, Principal of Jefferson High School, and 
his staff were very helpful. Dr. R. William Clark deserves special 
mention for cheerfully answering my many questions and responding 
to my telephone calls. 
I am particularly grateful to those persons whom I interviewed, 
whose names are listed in the Sources Consulted. They freely gave of 
their own time to contribute information that was not available in 
written accounts. 
Mr. E. Simpson Hill and the staff at the Portland Urban 
League were generous both with information and in granting access 
to their files. 
V 
I thank my dissertation committee, Dr. C. A. Bowers, 
Dr. Grace Graham, Dr. Edwin Bingham, and Dr. Keith Acheson. 
Dr. Bowers, my advisor, aroused my interest in this topic and has 
given me invaluable criticism and appraisal of my efforts. 
Dr. Graham rendered much assistance by scrutinizing the working 
manuscript and offering constructive advice. Both have my sincere 
appreciation. 
To my wife, Carol, for typing numerous drafts and for her 
unfailing confidence and encouragement, thank you. 
All errors and omissions are solely my own responsibility. 
vi 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
LIST OF TABLES . vii 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS viii 
INTRODUCTION 1 
Chapter 
I. ALBINA: LOCALE OF JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL 5 
II. SOCIAL AND POLITICAL FACTORS AFFECTING JEFFERSON 
HIGH SCHOOL 1900-1940 22 
III. NEGRO PIONEERS: ANTECEDENTS OF ALBINA'S 
BLACK COMMUNITY 38 
IV. THE INFLUX AND HOUSING PATTERNS OF THE NEGRO 
POPULATION . 7 4 
V. JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL DURING WORLD WAR II 
. AND TO 1954 112 
VI. JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL 1954-1960: ACADEMIC 
EXCELLENCE AND· "COLOR-BLINDNESS" . 130 
VII. ENVIRONMENT AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT 149 
VIII. THE SIXTIES: A DECADE OF CHANGE 167 
EPILOGUE 209 
SOURCES CONSULTED 216 
APPENDICES . 233 
-
vii 
LIST OF TABLES 
Table Page 
1. Pacific States Negro Population 76 
2. Percentage of Negroes to Total Labor Forces in 
War Plants 82 
3 . Albina Population 10 6 
4. Percentage of Negro Enrollment in Elementary Schools 
in the Jefferson Attendance Area 109 
5. Negro Enrollment at Jefferson High School 170 
viii 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
Figure Page 
1. Age Distribution of Population 10 
2. Location of Portland's High Schools: 1913 13 
3. Elements of Portland's Population: 1910 . 17 
4. Jefferson High School Courses of Study, 1912-13 _25 
5. Areas of Negro Concentration: 1945 88 
6. Distribution of Negro Population: 1940 102 
7. Distribution of Negro Population: 1950 103 
8. Distribution of Negro Population: 19 60 104 
9. Jeffersc;m High School Attendance Area 110 
INTRODUCTION 
In recent years minority groups have become more vocal in 
focusing the attention of the American people upon their social and 
economic problems. The Negroes, Afro-Americans, or blacks have been 
the vanguard of this movement. In addition to civil rights, black 
Americans demand equal opportunity to share materially and esthetically 
in the "American way of life." Equal opportunity means, in part, educa-
tion to equip themselves and their children adequately to assume roles 
as first-class citizens. Black parents charge that their children are not 
being given an equal opportunity to learn. 
In 1954 when the United States Supreme Court reversed the 
"separate but equal" philosophy that had governed Negro education 
since the Flessy y_. Ferguson decision in 1896, most Americans believed 
that the problems of Negroes and Negro education existed solely in the 
South. The fallacy of that reasoning was soon dispelled. Civil 
disobedience, riots, and student unrest convinced the American people 
of major trouble spots in northern cities. Every social agency in large 
urban centers, particularly the school, was inundated with unsolved 
problems. The schools became targets of strong attack. The lit!a)rature 
of recent years abounds with bitter personal accounts written by black 
Americans telling of the inadequacies and cruelties that they 
2 
encountered within schools. Their denunciations are accompanied by 
monographs written by white teachers who attempted to teach in the 
inner-city school and experienced frustration and despair as they saw 
the futility of their efforts. These teachers contend that the endeavors 
of one or two individuals were to no avail when attacking a problem of 
such magnitude and complexity. The task of educating the disadvan-
taged looms large in academic circles and in recent years has received 
increased attention from psychologists, sociologists, anthropologists 
and educators, all seeking to apply the principles and methodology of 
their disciplines to solving the problems of educating the culturally 
disadvantaged. 
Since 1940 one of the most significant trends in population 
shifts has been the in-migration of Negroes to urban centers, especially 
in the North and West. Acute labor shortages during World War II 
initiated the movement and prosperity during the post-war period has 
encouraged the migration to continue. When the black population 
increased, the existing Negro communities became more congested 
and spilled over into previously all-white neighborhoods. The immi-
grants met many problems in the city: employment, housing, welfare, 
and education. These difficulties were not solely the concern of the 
newcomers, but the community in which they lived was also very much 
involved. One problem, that of educating the youth of the inner city, 
3 
has, especially in recent years, been of prime concern to the 
community. 
In this study no attempt will be made to offer a solution to 
the complexities of the inner city, or even to the problem of educating 
the culturally disadvantaged. The researcher's purpose is to describe 
the historical development of a secondary school in a working-class 
community as the student population shifts from almost all white to a 
half-white and half-black distribution. The school selected as the 
subject of the study, Thomas Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon, 
lends itself exceptionally well to such. investigation because the racial 
change occurred there within a relatively short period of time. The 
difficulties encountered at Jefferson High School by both the blacks 
and the school staff are similar to those encountered in the schools of 
large eastern cities. Because of the smaller number of people involved, 
however, the intensity and complexity of the problem is not as great as 
in the East, and consequently is easier to observe. 
Since the problem under consideration involves black-white 
race relations, it is fraught with emotionalism and prejudice. Paying 
particular attention to discriminatory practices against Negroes in 
Portland, the historical development of the Oregonians' attitudes 
toward Negroes is examined. 
4 
Closely tied to race relations are social and economic factors. 
Discriminatory practices in the social and economic sphere of com.-
munity life controlled where Portland Negroes lived and worked. These 
restrictive practices contributed to the change in racial composition at 
Jefferson High School. The socio-econ.omic conditions prevailing in 
Albina, the area into which the Negro community was allowed to expand, 
are scrutinized because social problems and school problems are 
closely interwoven. 
5 
CHAPTER I 
ALBINA: LOCALE OF JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL 
In 1908 construction began on Tl;lomas Jefferson High School in 
the Albina section of Portland, Oregon. When the work was completed 
two years later, the stark, three-story red brick building stood in the 
midst of open fields and newly constructed houses. Because the build-
ing site was above the street level, its <;)levation accentuated the height 
of the structure. The school, as a building, towered over the surround-
ing modest homes much in the same manner as the school, as an 
institution, towered over the people in the community. The uncluttered 
and severe architectural lines of the building's exterior were duplicated 
within by the strict discipline of the staff and their rigid teaching 
methods. 
Historically this imagery is typical of American secondary 
schools in the early 1900's. Since most working-class people had not 
attended high school and were unfamiliar with the school, they regarded 
it with a certain degree of respect, even awe. Adults in their daily 
work admired and deferred to the strong authoritarian figure. In like 
manner, parents and educators accepted the need for strict discipline 
6 
and conformity in the school. The scl}ool as an institution consequently 
reflected the attitudes and values of the community. 
The image Jefferson High School projects today contrasts 
sharply with that of sixty years ago. In the late 1950's the school 
building was re-designed and modernized. Lowering the profile of the 
structure aided in blending the school with the surrounding community. 
Slowly at first, but with mounting tempo, changes occurred within its 
walls. The school as an institution was responding to the needs of the 
community, to the needs of the people it served. Conditions demanded 
that the teachers begin practicing instructional methods that 
de-emphasized the teacher as an authoritarian figure. In place of 
teacher goals, educators stressed joint endeavor, emphasizing a 
common goal for both the student and the teacher. 
Jefferson High School had served the community of Albina for 
over sixty years. During these years, the manner in which the school 
responded to the needs of the people it served was influenced by the 
values, biases, and attitudes of the residents of the community. The 
history of the Oregonians' attitudes toward the Negro is especially 
pertinent because discriminatory practices against Negroes directly 
affected the transformation of Jefferson High School. To understand 
the biases and attitudes influencing the change, some examination is 
needed of the social and economic forces that helped to form the 
7 
character of the Portland people, especially those in the Albina 
section. 
Like East Portland, Albina was an independent town prior to 
1891, but in that year the two towns merged with Portland under one 
governing body. Portland, a rough, raw city at the turn of the century, 
was and still is the largest city on the coast between Seattle, Washing-
ton, and San Francisco, California. Its location at the junction of two 
navigable rivers, the Columbia and the Willamette, and its accessibility 
to sea-going vessels was ideal for a port city. The fertile Willamette 
Valley stretches south of the city for 150 miles. Up the Columbia River 
lies the heart of the great wheat producing "Inland Empire. 11 These rich 
agricultural lands, in conjunction with the lumbering industry, produced 
the exports needed for growth of the port city. The development of 
natural resources such as these, however, is a painstakingly slow task. 
Portland did not experience a sudden boom like many other western 
cities with the rapid influx of fortune hunters, prodigal men whose 
easily acquired wealth and free spending p.abits made possible the 
rapid development of a social and economic base for the city . 1 
Speculators, especially those interested in land and transportation 
facilities, represented only a small percentage of the early population. 
l1ee A. Dillon, "The Portland Public School System From 1873 
to 1913" {unpublished Master's thesis, University of Oregon,' 1928), p. 4. 
8 
The majority of the early settlers, who came from the frontier regions 
• of the upper Midwest, had limited economic resources. 
2 Perseverance, 
thrift, and hard work were the assets upon which they depended in 
settling the area. 
As population and production increased in Portland, exports 
increased, and in tum the manufactured imports arriving by ship 
multiplied. The city became a major distribution center on the west 
coast for wholesaling, and the trans-shipping business flourished. In 
1910 Portland rariked the 28th.city in size in the United States, but it 
was 55th in the value of its manufactured products. It is estimated 
that Portland merchants sold 80 per cent of all their goods in an area 
of 136,768 square miles in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.3 
The growing importance of commerce and the steady work 
offered by railroad shops and shipyards attracted a large number of 
stable family men to the city. Demand for transient labor by the timber 
companies, wheat ranches, and construction firms continued, but the 
men with families increased at a more rapid rate. Since they were 
2Lee A. Dillon, 11 Public Schools of Portland, Oregon, From 
1877-1882 11 (unpublished manuscript, University of Oregon, n.d.), p. 1. 
3Report of the Survey of the Public School System of School 
District No . .!_. Multnomah County, Oregon, City of Portland, Richard 
W. Montague, Chairman (Portland, Oregon: School Board, 1913), 
pp. 78-79. Herinafter cited as Survey of School District No. 1:._. 
9 
permanent residents of the area, they influenced community development 
because they were interested in establishing a desirable city in which 
to raise their families. But the characteristics of the population were 
still, in.1910, typical of a newly-settled area. Males and unmarried 
adults outnumbered family units. Portland had a greater percentage than 
average of her population in the 25 to 44 year range and markedly fewer 
persons in the 5 to 14 year range. (See Figure 1 .} The percentage of 
children in Portland in the 6 to 14 year range in 1910 was 10. 7 compared 
with the all city average in the United States of 13.2; the children 
under 15 years of age comprised only 18. 8 per cent of the population as 
compared with 27 .3 per cent, the average for all cities in the United 
States.4 
Such a population composition and age distribution affected the 
city school system. The effect is even more evident when the school 
census of 1900 is compared to that of 1910. According to the 1900 
school census, 20,462 children were in the school age range, whereas 
in_ 1910 38,813 or almost double the number of children were in this 
range. A comparison of the high school daily attendance figures are: 
4rbid., pp. 76-77; U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of 
the Census, Thirteenth Census of the United States: 1910 Population, 
Vol. III (Washington, D. C.: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1913), 
p. 510. 
UNITED STATES I PORTLAND 
UNDER 5 
9.9% ~ I s.ao/o 
5T014 
17.4% ~ 12.0% 
·15T024 
20.1% ~ ] 20.2 % 
25TO 44 
33.2% ~ 1 4JJ.o/o 
~64 
----..----- 16.7% 
6'5AND OVER 
4.0 % ~ 3.2% 
Fig. 1.--Age distribution of the population: 1910 
(Source: Survey of School District No. J) 
..... 
0 
11 
696.4 in 1900 as compared with 2,029,5 in 1910. 5 Although in 1910 the 
number of children in Portland was less than the national average for 
cities, their rate of increase created an educational problem. 
Portland had rather suddenly become a large city; its educa-
tionaJ facilities were not adequate to accommodate the rapidly increas-
ing number of young people. The city fathers began in the first decade 
of the 1900's to correct the deficiency in educational facilities, With 
an increase in the number of school age children, the demand for . . 
secondary education also grew. The upsurge in secondary education 
felt throughout the United States in like manner influenced the attitudes 
and actions of the school directors. Portland High School, on the -west 
side of the Willamette River, was organized in 1869, but operated with-
out its own separate building until 1885. 6 This single school satisfied 
the need for a public high school until 1906 when the cit~{built the 
East Side High School (the name was changed in 1909 to Washington 
High School). Two years later, in 1908, construction began on 
5Dillon, "The Portland Public School System From 1873 to 
1913, 11 p, 34. 
6A1fred Powers and Howard M, Corning {ed.), History ..2f 
Education in Portland (Portland, Oregon: WPA Adult Education Program 
of the State Sys.te:m of Higher Education, 1931), pp, 74, 85. 
12 
Jefferson High School in the Albina district. Classes were held in the 
building even prior to its completion in 1910 . 7 
Sheer numbers of students did not require the building of this 
third high school so soon after the second, for Washington High School 
had an initial enrollment of only 369 students. 8 Other factors such as 
civic pride as well as the geographic location of the existing schools 
were factors in the building of Jefferson High School. 
Civil pride was especially influential. Prior to consolidation, 
Albina had been an independent town, as had East Portland and Portland. 
With the construction of East Side High School, both Portland and the 
community that had been East Portland had their own secondary schools. 
The Albina community was eager to follow their example. Within the 
prosperous city, competition was keen among the various communities 
for facilities that would assist in attracting new businesses and 
residents. Availability of a high school would greatly enhance Albina I s 
position in the competition. 
A second factor, the geographic location of the existing high 
schools, was a strong point in an argument for a school in the northern 
section of the city. A look at Figure 2 will reveal that the city of 
Portland in 1910 was unequally divided by the Willamette River. The 
7Ibid., p. 182. 
8rbid. , p. 180 . 
13 
••" rr 
PORTLAND 
• ,au-2_,.usr 
[···---·- • • ,Ce:li. T. oJ'u. . -.l!l.t:11-'111.rT- __-_ _ 
··-~-· • -~-.,___,.C11&o.L.I • .. -.;  .. 
'-···1 
r ■ Jefferson H.S. : • • 
't  _______ ., • s 
• • • • 
• • • • • 
• l,\ST 
• SlDE • • • 
• 1 Washington H.S. • 
Portland H.S.• • • 
• 
• • • 
• • 
• • 
• • 
• 
Fig. 2.--Location of Portland's High Schools: 19:L3 
(So~rce: Survey of School District No. l) 
14 
city consisted of an area of fifty-four square miles, only about one-fifth 
of which lay on the west side of the river and the remaining four-fifths 
on the east. The elementary schools were strategically situated through-
out the city to reduce the distance the children had to walk to school 
and to accommodate growing areas. A continuation of this neighborhood 
school policy is demonstrated by the location of the three high schools. 
With Jefferson High in the northern section, Washington High School in 
the east side of the city, and Portland High School on the west side of 
the river, the school district greatly increased the availability of 
service to the public. The new site was chosen with future expansion 
in mind. Elwood P. Cubberley, dean of education at Stanford, conducted 
a school survey in 1913 for the Portland district. He approved of the 
site chosen for Jefferson High School because it was well located 
geographically for expected city growth and the school facilities could 
expand without crowding the students. 9 
All indications were that the city would expand to the north 
and to the east, as was the case. Expanding industrial and commercial 
enterprises just east of the Willamette River would not only serve to 
reduce the number of children in the Washington attendance area, but 
also would provide more work for men living on the east side. 
9E1lwood P. Cubbe"rley et al., The Portland Survey (New York: 
World Book Company, 1915), p. 294. 
15 
Cubberley's survey showed a constant migration of people from the west 
side to the east side. Close to the west bank of the Willamette River, 
the area was rapidly changing from a residential to an industrial, 
commercial, and shipping center, thus causing a population shift. Many 
of those who moved were workers with small incomes, but they were 
making installment payments on modest homes of their own in the 
residential section of the Albina area .10 
In 1913 a writer for the school district survey confidently 
claimed that the population of Portland had reached 250,000 and the 
estimate of 1,000,000 within twenty-five to thirty years and a doubling 
in population in fifty years seemed entirely reasonable .1 1 The compo-
sition of the population in 1910 was considered by members of the 
survey to be exceptionally favorable from an educational standpoint. 12 
The population was: 
. . . characterized by a high percentage of the native-born, a 
foreign-born population drawn largely from the stronger and more 
intelligent national stocks, and an almost entire absence of 
negroes . . . . The large Teutonic element among the foreign-
born is a noticeable feature, and it is even larger among the 
native-born of foreign parentage.13 
lOsurvey of School District No . .!., pp. 217-18. 
l l Ibid . , p . 71. 
12rbid. 
13Ibid., pp. 71, 73. 
16 
This population mix could be expected to change, however, with the 
opening of the Panama Canal and the increase of immigrants from south 
and east Europe . 14 Figure 3 shows that 75 per cent of the population 
was indeed native-born of native parents or native-born with one or 
both parents foreign-born. 
Two biases, nativism and place of birth, were not always 
apparent in the political and social attitudes of Portland residents. 
Beneath the surface, however, they influenced the conduct of the 
people. Periodically these elements surfaced, causing an en,1.ption in 
the form of a wave of emotionalism. The foreign-born element, which 
consisted of about 25 per cent of the population, tended to settle in 
separate "pockets" or sections throughout the city. The Orientals, for 
instance, were crowded close to the business district along both sides 
of the river. They shared these most undesirable accommodations with 
the few Negroes of the city, but did not associate with them. A large 
number of European-born immigrants lived in various sections of Albina, 
the workingman I s district. Albina was Portland I s melting pot. Before 
World War I shut off the stream of immigrants from Europe, a score of 
persons of different nationalities lived there and became workers for 
14Ibid., p. 73. 
17 
NATIVE 
BORN BUT 
ONE,, OR BOTH 
PARENTS 
FOREIGN BORN 
NATIVE BORN 24. 811t 
OF 
NATIVE 
PARENTS 
eo.a1' FOREIGN RMANS AND 
BORN IANS 4.1% 
21. 
\ 
~ 
"" 
Fig. 3.---Elements of Portland's Population: 1910 
(Source: Survey of School District No. 1) 
18 
the forests and mines . 15 The immigrant in the melting pot went through 
a process of acculturation; a process of constant adjustment to his value 
system and to his religious, political, social, and educational views • 
and practices . 16 In America the newcomer learned that the common man 
is important, but that success depended upon self-improvement. The 
pinnacle of success could be reached through chicanery or politics by 
some people, but perseverence, thrift, hard work, and education were 
solutions for the majority. Thus the immigrants and the native-born 
settlers in Oregon accepted, to a degree, similar goals and values and 
the means of their achievement. 
The economic status of the native-born and the immigrants· 
living in Albina were similar. Jefferson High School served families 
which ranged from the poor to the comfortably well-to-do. The latter 
were pioneer-established families whose breadwinners were small 
businessmen or supervisors. The vast majority of the wage earners 
were working men employed in nearby railroad shops, shipyards, and 
commercial enterprises. Edwin Russell, manager of the Portland branch 
1 Swalter Mattila review of Finnish Immigrants in America, 
1880-1920, by A. William Hoglund in Quarterly of the Oregon Historical 
Society, XLI (September, 1960), p. 351. 
l 6rbid.; The various theories relating to Americanizing the 
immigrant are analyzed by Merton Gordon in Assimilation in American 
Life. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1964). 
19 
of the Bank of British Columbia, founded the town of Albina as a 
speculative venture because the location appeared to be well suited 
for industrial use . 17 The early shipyards, lumber mills, and decking 
facilities were soon followed by other enterprises. By the time 
Jefferson High School was built, there were nearby dry docks, cooper-
age works, flour mills, woolen mills, meat packing companies, and 
grain storage elevators as well as similarly related ino.ustries. In 
Albina the Portland Railway Light and Power Company erected the 
largest and most completely equipped car barns in the Northwest. The 
company operated the electric street cars in Portland and employed 
about 300 men in and about the car barns . 18 
• Boosters of the area describe Albina in 1909 as a thriving 
community. Lower Albina was, for the most part, devoted to manufac-
turing industries, railroad yards, machine shops, etc. In Central 
Albina, the home of the retail district, the streets we.re lined with 
substantial brick buildings three and four stories high. The intersection 
17Letter from George H. Himes to Miss Esther Kelly, Reed 
College, Portland, Oregon, dated April 21, 1915. Mr. Himes was 
curator of the Oregon Historical Society. Oregon Historical Society 
Library, Portland , Oregon. 
18Peninsula Publishing Company (Compiler and editor), The 
Peninsula: A Special Publication Givin£L Glimpses of Greater Portland 
and St. Johns (Portland, Oregon: Peninsula Publishing Company, _19 09), 
p. 77. Oregon Historical Society Collection. Herinafter cited as The 
Peninsula. 
20 
of Russell and Williams Avenues was just one of the several business 
districts. There were department stores, markets, theaters, office 
buildings, and retail stores large and small along Russell Street, 
Williams Avenue, and Ki Hing swoith ~ 10 .. Kennard and Adams, a large 
department store located on Williams Avenue just north of Russell 
Street, made deliveries by hox;·se-drawn wagons all over the east side .20 
Doctors, lawyers, and dentists maintained offices in Albina and served 
the area. Albina then was quite self-sufficient. Although the electric 
street cars connected the district to downtown Portland, the needs of 
most of the people were supplied locally. The building of Jefferson 
High School was an additional factor contributing to the region's self-
sufficiency. The promoters of Albina had organized the 11 Push Club" 
and used the erection of Jefferson as a factor to attract new industry 
and residents. They published: "One very great and important feat4.re 
to this district, and a widespread area besides, is the location at this 
point, an erection of the largest and most modern high school building 
to be found in the entire West. This structure is to cost $350,000 and 
will cover two blocks of ground. n2 l 
19Ibid. 
20tawrence Pratt, Portland, ,My City (Portland, Oregon: 
Worthylake Press, 1967), p. 82. 
21 The Peninsula, p. 77. 
21 
A rapidly growing area, Albina appealed to the owners of new 
factories and business enterprises. Workingmen were attracted to the 
district because it offered jobs and the opportunity to live close to 
their work. With the usual amenities a community offers, including 
the new Jefferson High School, Albina had a strong competitive position 
for attracting new residents. 
22 
CHAPTER II 
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL FACTORS AFFECTING JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL, 
1900-1940 
A change in thinking concerning the social value of education 
was in evidence for ten or fifteen years prior to the building of Jefferson 
High School in Albina. Throughout the United States as well as in 
Portland, Oregon, a slow but continuous movement toward democratizing 
secondary education was in progress. The result of these efforts in 
Portland was the dramatic tripling of the number of public secondary 
schools in less than five years, culminating with the completion of 
Jefferson High School in 1910. 
The spectacular growth of public high schools began during 
the latter part of the nineteenth century when public high schools were 
competing for students with private schools and academies. Charles 
N. Reynolds cites the period from 1891 to 1907 " ... as the period of 
keen competition [in Portland] between the private and public 
secondary schools, with the victory going to the latter." The following 
period from 1908 to 1921 ". , ,. witnessed the rapid increase in 
secondary education in Portland and the complete dominance in the field 
23 
by the public school. 111 At the turn of the century then, Portland 
children whose parents could afford the tuition, attended the Hill 
Military Academy, the Portland Academy, or any one of the several 
church-sponsored schools. The less affluent attended the public high 
school, or more likely after the eighth grade, went into the labor force. 
But using as a precedent the Kalamazoo case of 1872-, which made tax 
monies available for the public high school, more parents demanded that 
their children have an opportunity to attend secondary school. Portland 
participated in the tremendous nationwide increase in the percentage of 
its population attending secondary schools and also in the growing 
interest in special vocational education. 2 
By the turn of the century, the high schools had taken over 
functions which were previously performed by the grammar school and 
the academy. The high school curriculum was so designed to prepare 
the student for either college or for life in the world of work. 3 By 1910 
educators believed that the high school curriculum had been broadened 
to meet the needs of a wide range of students. They attributed the 
1charles N. Reynolds, "The History of Secondary Schools in 
Oregon 11 (unpublished Master's thesis, University of Oregon, 1921}, 
p. 2 7. 
2rbid., pp. 27-28. 
3John E. Brown, The American High School (New York: 
Macmiilan Company, 1911), p. 33. 
24 
changes in curriculum to the more liberal university entrance require-
ments. The previous doctrine, 11 Tha t which is good for the preparation 
for college is good preparation for life, 11 had been changed to "What is 
good preparation for life is also good preparation for college .114 Prior 
to World War I and even into the 19 30 's I most people believed that high 
school was sufficient education. The professions required a college 
degree, but work in most commercial and business firms did not. 
Some of Poi;-tland' s educators, agreeing with those who were 
changing high school curriculum, made similar changes in the Portland 
school program. A glance at Figure 4 shows that Jefferson's curriculum 
in 1912-13 reflects the aim of the school, at least in design. to meet 
the needs of all its students. 5 The educational purposes of Jefferson 
High School then were two-fold--to prepare the students for college or 
for the labor market. 
Although it appears that wide latitude was permitted in course 
offerings, Elwood Cubberley, in 1913, sharply criticized the school 
district for the rigidity in its secondary school courses. The 
4rbid.; From a vantage point of forty-odd years , Krug views 
Brown• s ideas as wishful thinking. The wide discrepancy between 
preparation for life and preparation for college widened after 1911. 
Edward A. Krug, The Shaping of the American High School (New York: 
Harper and Row, Publishers, 1964), p. 303. 
5 Note teacher preparation. 
Terms 
Coucses "FJrst ~cond Third Fourth Fifth Sixth Seventh Eiahth 
.English Enalish.--1.iteratme. • ition. -c and nrammar thnJ ..... hout the cou.se 
llist.: Greek Raman Mediaeval Modem .English English American American 
Latin and Oriental 
Scl.ence! Physiogr':pby Zoology or ·Physiology Physics Physics Chemistry Chern1stry 
German Ph. ..t nnr•nh<r Botauv or Botanv 
Mathematics: Algebra Algebra Plane Plane Solid Trigometry Higher 
ScientWc Alaebra Geometrv Geomehv GeQmetrv Alaebra 
Latin: Latin Caesar Caesar Cicero Cicero Virgil Virgil' and 
College Prep. Leeann• Le1<sons Ovid 
German:--Gcammar, Reading and Composition throughout the course 
Teaching ht Art Art Art Psychology Psychology Principles of Principles of 
r.nurse Teachinn Teachina 
Dressmaking Art Art Art Art Bookkeeoincr Bookkeeoina 
Course Dressmaking Dressmaking Dressmaking Dressmaking Dressmaking Dressmaking Dressmaking Dressmaking 
or r.lV'.lkina or Cookina 
Domestic Drawino Orawincr Drawinn Drawino 
Science Cooking Cooking and Sewing Sewing Sewing Sewing Home Elementary 
Course Elementary Economics Dietetics 
Ba,.•-1o1...,.., 
Man'l Train. Shop Work and Drawing throughout course French oc German throughout course 
Course 
Commercial Money and Com'l Prod- Commercial Com'l and Political Commerce 
Courses Correspond. ucts and Geography Parliament' y Economy and Finance 
- Local ir111tcrv Law 
Penmanship Typewriting Shorthand and Shorthand and Shorthand and Shorthand and Shorthand and Shorthand and 
Tvnawritina •Y tina Tvoewritlna Tvoewrf.tina Tvoewritina Tvoewritina 
Business Business Business Business 
Bookkeeping Bookkeeping Bookkeeping Bookkeeping 
and. Practice and Practice and Practice '""" Practice 
Com''l Arith. C-.am'l Mith. 
.. 
Fig. 4.--Jefferson High School Courses of Study, 1912-13 
(Source: Survey of School District No . .!) 
26 
administration required absolute uniformity. Jefferson High School, for 
instance, could not offer a course of study unless it was also offered 
at the other two schools. Such rules prevented an individual school 
from taking full advantage of special circumstances that could benefit 
the student. 6 
The superintendent of schoo~s at the time of the survey was 
Frank Rigler, described as having a very strong "force of character. 11 
He dominated the school system, and the story is told " ... that at 
any time of any day in the term he could sit in his office and know just 
what page in what book was being done at the time in every school in 
the city. 117 When the leader of a school system displays rigidity to 
this extent, many of his co-workers are likely to be intimidated into 
following his actions. Cubberley was distressed because he saw this 
rigidity manifested in the teachers' primary interest in teaching subject 
matter to those pupils who were capable of learning it, and in their 
having little or no concern for teaching the pupil as an individual 
human being. 8 The survey. was sharply critical of the Portland school 
system ,~md many of the comments and s~ggestionsTeflect educational 
6survey of School District No. l, p. 120. 
7D illon , 11 The Portland Public School Sys tern from 18 7 3-1913 , 11 
p. 26. 
8survey of School District No. l, p. 168. 
27 
ideas of some advanced thinkers of the period. Principal criticisms 
were that the schools were not taking advantage of the child's life 
experiences; the development of the physical body was being neglected 
while the mental processes were developed; the individuality of the child 
was ignored; the work in school did not relate with life outside the 
school; and that greater emphasis should be placed on vocational 
guidance to aid the youth in selecting a course of study to prepare him 
for a happy and useful life. Following the survey, a change in the 
school district administration occurred, but even Cubberley's assurance 
that Portland could have the nation's finest school system with some 
changes in administrative policy and an increase in the school budget, 
failed to alter substantially the existing practices. 
Portland's school survey, among the first conducted in the 
United States, caused a reaction within the community that was typical 
of later occurrences. Marked interest was shown both by members of 
the press and of the community during the study. Survey staff members, 
in a critical analysis of the system, submitted well-thought-out 
recommendations and proposals for improvements. Then--nothing 
happened. Perhaps a change in the system was too much to expect. 
Throughout the survey, most of the discrepancies in the schools could 
be traced to the decision-makers on the school board. To comply with 
the recommendations, members of the school board would have to 
28 
relinquish much of their power, and this they did not do. A larger issue, 
the war in Europe, obscured the school's problem and pushed school 
reform into the background. Regional and sectional affairs became 
secondary when the problems of the United States and Americanism 
became of primary concern . 
At the outbreak of the war in Europe, even though only approxi-
mately twenty-five (:)er cent of the population in Portland was foreign-
born, feelings of extreme patriotism ran high. The United States' entry 
into World War I created an irrational reaction against anything German, 
and the emotional manifestation of "Americanism." For example, in 
Jefferson High School the study of the German language, long a primary 
language for the college preparatory course, was dropped. German was 
not to appear in the curriculum again until 1927 after the emotional 
upheaval of "Americanism II had subsided. 
Nationalistic fervor caused the school board to appoint.the 
former superintendent of schools, L. R. Alderman, to head a newly-
created department entitled War Work Activities. The newspaper editor 
expected the new department to " ... form an important feature of the 
school work during the period before and following the end of the war. 11 9 
A reporter in the Oregon Journal states that the acting superintendent of 
9oregon Journal, August 11, 1918. 
29 
schools, D. A. Grout, believed that children should be taught American 
ideals first. 11America first is his hobby; he does not believe in a 
1made-in-Europe 1 education. ulO Jefferson students were kept active in 
school with thrift stamps and war gardens while the 11 super" patriots 
preached Americanism. Although World War I came to an end in November 
of 1918, not until the end of the school year in 1920 could the superin-
tendent of schools report that, "During the past year the schools have 
been able to resume work along normal lines. 11 11 
The cited incident of fanatical "Americanism II is but one of 
many instances of bigotry th,at appears periodically in Portland I s 
history. Negroes were the early scapegoats of the residents and have 
so continued to the present day. At the turn of the century, and again 
in 1941 when all the Japanese were evacuated from the area, the 
Oriental came under especially strong attack. .Emotionalism and 
intolerance rose to great heights during the "anti-RE;id" campaign 
following World War I. That upsurge culminated in 1922 when the 
Ku Klux Klan, with a campaign based on anti-Catholicism and anti 
"foreign-element," swept into most of the political offices in the city 
1 D1bid. 
11 Powers and Corning, History of Education in Portland, 
p. 231. 
30 
and the state . 12 The thread of prejudice which runs through the 
history of Portland has influenced many of the city's institutions, 
including the public schools . 
Schools in Portland reflected the attitudes and feelings of the 
period and were subject to the vicissitudes of the communities they 
served. During the war years, nationalism swept through the city and 
the schools were used as centers to promote Americanism. Teaching 
democracy and the intricacies of our government had long been 
expected of our schools, but the Americanism emphasized in Portland 
during the war and in the early 1920 1 s was very different. Even during 
the war years, the tenor was ethnocentric--as much anti-Europe as 
anti-German. 13 Peace in Europe eliminated the war as a focal point for 
the emotional display of nationalism in Portland and the schools dis-
continued the wartime program and returned to normal operation. 
In the late 1920 1 s with 2,300 students, Jefferson was one of 
the larger schools in the city. Under the direction of Hopkins Jenkins, 
it developed a reputation both for academic quality and athletic 
prowess. Jenkins believed that each child in the school had at least 
12Kenneth T. Jackson, The Ku Klux Klan in the City, 1915-1930 
(New York: Oxford University Press, 196 7), p. 200; James D. Diegler, 
"Epilogue to Progressivism: Oregon, 1920-1924, 11 (unpublished M.A. 
thesis, University of Oregon, 1958}, p. 3. 
13oregon Journal, August 11, 1918. 
31 
one area in whlch he could excel!. He contended that the purpose of 
the school was to aid the student in developing this resource and at 
the same time help him to learn those attributes that are necessary to 
lead a happy and useful life . 14 
Although Jefferson was not a trade school or a commercial high 
school, some of the faculty stated that, though not a part of the formal 
curriculum, the school provided considerable vocational education to 
those students desiring it. Jefferson's printing press and the advanced 
typing classes are two of the examples cited. The press was used to do 
most of the printing for the school district. Although a formal class was 
not offered, many pupils had opportunities to obtain training in the 
printing trade. Students in advanced typing classes cut stencils for 
material used in the school and fqr many years did the typing and layout 
work for the school yearbook, The Spectrum . 15 A study conducted in 
1933 found the commercial courses offered at Jefferson to be superior 
in quality to those given by the High School of Commerce . 1 6 
14Pratt, Portland, My City, p. 25. 
15rnterview with a teacher who was at Jefferson High School 
during the late 1920 1s and the l930's. January 14, 1970, 
16Loris C. Oglesby, 11An Analytical Study of Some of the 
Problems of Oregon High Schools 11 (unpublished Master's thesis, 
Oregon State Agricultural College, 1933), p. 22. 
32 
Most of the students graduating from Jefferson High School who 
were not going to colleg~ sought employment in and around Portland, but 
during the 1930 1 s many were unable to find jobs or were under-employed. 
The lack of job opportunities kept many Albina youths in school who 
would otherwise have taken work had a job been available. The 
National Youth Administration provided limited work opportunities in the 
schools enabling many Jefferson students to continue their education. 
A further aid to the youth of the country was the Civilian Conservation 
Corps which provided a haven for boys who were not in school. School 
officials and the public were not, however, as concerned in the 19 3 0 's 
about a student dropping out of high school as they were to become in 
the post World War II period. 
Because so little emphasis was placed on the importance of 
retaining a student in school, the administration often used expulsion 
as a method of handling the dissident student. The student was expected 
to conform to the rules and regulations of the institution or he was 
expelled. Jenkins' continuous use of a pet cliche, 11 There are no bad 
boys, Ii put the burden of disciplining the wayward students at 
Jefferson on his vice-principal and the teachers . 17 By the standards of 
the 1960 1 s, Jefferson was in the 1930 1 s an extremely strict school with 
17Pratt, Portland, My City, p. 28. 
33 
the roles of the teacher and the student clearly defined. Since the 
student was in the school to learn, he would accomplish his objective 
by doing exactly what the teacher told him. Complete compliance was 
expected, and for the most part received. As one informant states, 
"I sometimes agreed with the students that the teacher was unreason-
able, but I said to them, 1You are going to have to work for a boss who 
is unreasonable too. You might just as well learn to accept the facts 
of life and get along. 1 "18 The weight of parental authority was also 
behind the school officials, since parents accepted as fact that the 
teachers knew what they were doing and believed that the child should 
learn to respect authority. Boys who were in Jefferson at the time state 
that if they were punished in school for some misdeed and their parents 
learned about it, they would also be punished at home. 
Although discipline was not a major problem at Jefferson, some 
of the new teachers during the 1930's were surprised that so many of 
the boys had police records. The vice-principal dealt with the school 
problems and police visits usually stemmed from some activity outside 
the schooI . 19 The most serious incident within the school occurred 
between a boy from another school and a Jefferson student. Following 
1 Brnterview with a teacher who was at Jefferson High School 
during the 19 30 's. January 14, 1970. 
19p;ratt, Portland, My City, p. 28. 
34 
an altercation over the attention of a girl, the jealous boy from the other 
school shot and killed the Jeffers on student in the hallway on the second 
floor. 20 Incidents of such a serious nature were unusual, however, and 
the majority of the disciplinary problems were of less consequence. To 
most of the students the school, with all its regulations, did not loom 
as a threat. 
During his long tenure at Jefferson, Hopkins Jenkins always 
welcomed at the school the parents of the students and the community 
adults. As principal for over thirty years , he continually worked for 
what he considered a good education for his students. Staff members 
remember him as autocratic and .rigid in some of his demands. Some 
of the faculty viewed his relationship with the students as paternalistic; 
the others saw it as permissive. Independently well-to-do:, he 
administered a school because he was interested in girls and boys and 
wanted to work with them. His affluence perhaps also accounts for his 
lack of interest in rising in the admirtistrative hierarchy. Intensely 
loyal to Jefferson High School, he instilled in others a strong sense of 
belonging and a fierce pride in being a part of the school. During his 
administration, long tenure for teachers at Jefferson became common-
place. At the twenty-fifth anniversary of the school's construction, 
2 0 Ibid . , p . 2 8 . 
35 
'1,'11,e Oregon· JournaI•picturea'Jenkins surrounded by·_a large number·of 
hi's original" staff. 21 
Because Jenkins believed that character and the spirit of 
competitiveness were best developed on the playing fields, he 
encouraged athletics. During the 1930 1s, the school produced consist-
ently fine athletic teams that competed with the surrounding high 
schools. The community back~d its team and turned out large crowds to 
cheer the 11Jefferson Democrats" on to victory. The game with the arch-
rival, Grant High School, could always be counted upon to provide 
excitement. The over-enthusiasm of the spectators contributed to the 
foundation in 1937 of the Jefferson Dads' Club. The.members•c:i'ss'isted 
at athletic events and helped to maintain order in and around the stands. 
In addition, they sponsored the musical festival and other events 
connected with the school. Money earned by these endeavors was 
spent on equipment and apparatus for the school rather than on a 
scholarship fund as they had originally considered. By the former 
method, the Dads believed that more stu<;ients at Jefferson would benefit 
from the money. 22 
21oregon Journal, March 18, 1934, p, 6. 
22 rnterview with Charles L. Jones, teacher and principal at 
Jefferson High School. December 5, 1969. 
36 
A shortage of money limited the activities of most of the Jeffer-
son students to their immediate neighborhood and school. W,ell prepared 
drama and music events at the school were attended by the adults in the 
community as well as the students. The school clubs were also 
important social features. They were of two varieties, the "open" club 
and the "bid" club. "Open" clubs that welcomed anyone who wanted to 
join, brought together students with similar interests to collect stamps, 
play chess, and hike. "Bid" clubs operated like a fraternity or sorority 
in that only a sE?lect few could belong to a particular club. The "bid" 
clubs, social in nature, were to come under sharp criticism later when 
the number of Negro students at Jefferson increased. 
By the outbreak of World War II, Jefferson High School served 
as a focal point for youth activities and social events within the 
immediate area and it represented the local community in city-wide 
athletic competition. The relatively homogeneous student population 
contributed to the absence of undue friction and conflicting interest 
within the school. Although their families' economic status varied to 
some degree, in the main most students came from working-class 
homes. The student population was, however, overwhelmingly 
Caucasian with a few Orientals and even fewer Negroes. Such propor-
tions continued to represent the Jefferson attendance area until after 
37 
World War II when the composition of Albina began to change. With 
the influx of the nation's largest minority group, the Negro, Jefferson 
High School would begin to serve a different clientele. 
38 
CHAPTER III 
NEGRO PIONEERS: ANTECEDENTS OF ALBINA'S BLACK COMMUNITY 
The sharp increase in the need for labor during World War II 
accounts for the vast majority of Negroes in Portland, but the forerunners 
of Albina's black community were present in Oregon's earliest written 
records. Although their numbers were few, Oregon's early black 
settlers and the Negro issue had a profound effect on the political and 
social thought during the state's formative years. These effects, still 
in evidence in the middle of the twentieth century, are particularly 
apparent to those seeking to solve the problems of the inner city and of 
the education of Portland's disadvantaged youth. 
The early records of the Pacific Northwest contain a few entries 
concerning the presence of Negroes, but the brief accounts seldom give 
much information about individuals. In those days the Negroes, for the 
most part without status, were engaged in menial tasks such as domestic 
servants or farm hands. For this reason there was seldom occasion to 
record their activities. Probably the earliest reference to a Negro was 
in the journal of Captain Robert Gray which contained an account of his 
expedition in 1787-88 to the coast of the Pacific Northwest. Gray 
reports the presence of a Negro crew member, Marcus Lo,Peus, who was 
39 
his personal servant. While the ship was anchored in Tillamook Bay 1 
Lopeus went ashore as a member of a werking party to gather grass for 
livestock kept on board the vessel. He carelessly stuck his cutlass 
into the ground, and an Indian seized it and made off with the wea pan. 
The Negro gave chase, but was set upon by a group of Indians and 
-'I• 
slain. 1 
According to Indian legends, Negroes were in Oregon at an 
even earlier date, approximately 1720. The story, as told by the Indians, 
is that sailors from a Spanish ship brought a treasure chest ashore to 
bury. · To safeguard the treasure from the superstitious Indians, they 
killed and buried the body of a Negro crewman with the treasure chest. 2 
In 1803-04, a Negro named York accompanied the Lewis and 
Clark Expedition as a servant of Captain William Clatk. The presence 
of the Negro aroused great excitement among the Indians. "Some of the 
party had also told the Indians that we had a man with us who was 
black and had short curling hair, this had excited their curiosity very 
much and they seemed quite as anxious to see this monster as they 
I Hubert H. Bancroft, History of the Pacific States of North 
America. Vol. XXII: The Northwest Coast, 1543-1800 (San Francisco: 
A. L. Bancroft and Company, Publishers, 18 84) , p. 189 . 
2 Howard M. Corning (ed.) , Dictionary .,Qf Oregon History 
(Portland, Oregon: Binfords and Mort, Publisher, 1956), p. 174~ 
40 
wer [ sic] the merchandise which we had to barter for their horses. 11 3 
York was an early explorer in Oregon but did not, as indicated in some 
accounts, remain in the West. 4 
Daniel G. Hill believes that a number of Negroes came West 
over the Oregon Trail, but writes , "The reading· of a number of wagon 
train diaries fails to reveal more than mention by name of the presence 
of these people. References are made to 'Jim, our Negro slave,' 
1Annie,' and so on .... With such lac.onic stateme_nts as '.John, our 
Negro slave, died togay,' the pcesence of Negroes with the wagon 
trains is established. 115 
The names of two other ·Negroes in early·Oregon;i. those of James 
D. Sauls and Winslow, alias Winslow Anderson, are recorded. The 
former, a cook aboard the U. S. sloop-of-war Peacock, deserted after 
3Ruben Gold Thwaites (ed.), Original Journals of the Lewis 
and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806, Vol. II (New York: Dodd·, Mead and 
Company, 1904), p. 358. 
4Earlier writers erroneously stated that York remained in the 
West and settled near the junction of the Big Horn and Stinking River 
(now Shoshone River) in Montana. There is no evidence that York did 
not return to Missouri and remain with the Clark family. The Negro 
living with the Crow Indians in Montana was Edward Rose, a mulatto, 
who went upon the Missouri River in 1807 with Manuel Lisa and 
remained with the Crows to become a leader of influence with that 
tribe. John C. Evers (ed.}, Adventures of Zenas Leonard, Fur Trader 
(Norman: University of Oklahoma Press-:-1959), p. 52. -
5Daniel G. Hill, "The Negro in Oregon: A Survey" 
(unpublished Master's thesis, University of Oregon, 1932), p. 5. 
41 
the ship went aground and broke up on a sand spit near the mouth of the 
Columbia River. 6 The latter came to Oregon from California with Ewing 
Young on a cattle drive in about 1834. 7 Sauls and Winslow are known 
because in 1844 they quarreled with a Wasco Indian over the ownership 
of a horse. In the fracas an Indian was killed, and the incident created 
tension between the Indians and the settlers. According to Marie 
Bradley, this disturbance may have offered an immediate excuse for the 
passage of the Negro exclusion act of that year in the Oregon Country. 8 
Since the Oregon Country was over a thousand miles from the 
South, one might assume it to be exempt from the problems of slavery 
and free Negroes, but such was not the case. Most inhabitants of 
Oregon were Americans; although outside the jurisdiction of the United 
States government, they were still emotionally involved with the 
political and economic problems of the country. Naturally, then, when 
they organized a government, the issue of slavery and free Negroes was 
bound to arise. 
611 Negro Pioneers: Their Page in Oregon History, 11 Oregon 
Native Son, I (January, 1900), 432. 
7Kenneth L. Holmes, Ewing Young, Master Trapper (Portland: 
Binfords and Mort, Publishers, 1967), pp. 9 7, 175. 
8Marie M. Bradley, "Political Beginnings in OregQn, " 
Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, IX (March, 1908), 58. 
! 
42 
A covenant-type government--already a tradition for American 
settlers--took form in 1841. The Legislative Committee of the 
Provisional Government presented to the general meeting on July 5, 
1843, the "First Organic Law." One of the provisions. of this act was 
the prohibition of slavery. 
The following spring, the Legislative Committee revealed its 
strong anti-Negro bias in "An Act in Regard to Slavery and Free Negroes 
and Mulattoes. " Slavery or involuntary servitude was again prohibited 
in Oregon. Owners were allowed three years in which to remove their 
slaves from the territory. Those slaves remaining in Oregon beyond 
the period of grace were declared free. 
Thus far the act appears to be a humane and liberal effort to 
halt the ownership of slaves by Oregon's early settlers. Reading the 
remainder of the law, its actual intent is apparent--to rid Oregon of 
Negroes. The act protected the slave owner by allowing him ample 
time to remoye his slave property from the state. Free Negroes in the 
area, as well as those few slaves who were not removed, were the 
most adversely affected by the act. The freed slave lost the protection 
of his former owner, and with the other Negroes, stood alone to face a 
harsh expulsion law. 
Section 4 of the act dealt with the Free Negro and mulatto, and 
was neither liberal nor humane. The act decreed " . . . that when any 
43 
free Negro or mulatto shall have come to Oregon he or she ... shall 
remove from and leave the country. 11 Males were given two years in 
which to comply and females three years. The punishment for non-
compliance was: 
Sec. 6. That if any such free negro or mulatto shall fail to quit 
the country as required by this act, he or she may be arrested 
upon a warrant issued by some justice of the peace, and, if 
guilty upon trial before such justice, shall receive upon his or 
her bare back not less than twenty nor more than thirty-nine 
stripes, to be inflicted by the constable of the proper county. 
Sec. 7. That if any free negro or mulatto shall fail to quit the 
country within the term of six months after receiving such stripes, 
he or she shall again receive the same punishment once in every 
six months until he or she shall quit the country. 9 
In the December session the Legislative Committee repealed sections 
six and seven pertaining to corporal punishment. The amended law 
required that the justice of the peace hire out the free Negro to the per-
son who would be obligated, under bond, to remove the Negro from the 
country. If he promised to perform this service, the person would be 
entitled to the labors of the Negro for a specified period of time. The 
justice was to award to the lowest bidder the ta~k of removing the Negro .1 O 
9J. Henry Brown, Political History of Oregon: Provisional 
Government (Portland, Oregon: WileyB. Allen, Publisher, 1892), 
pp. 133-135. 
l 0lbid. 
44 
There is no evidence that the law was enforced, and in the following 
year, 1845, it was repealed in toto . 11 
Various reasons are offered to account for this harsh discrimi-
nation. Bradley states, "Many of the settlers were from slave states; 
too poor to be plantation owners, they saw the evils of poverty and of 
slavery, and they could not look with complaisance upon free negroes 
and they were determined to leave a free heritage for their children._" 
In addition she believed, "A disturbance at Oregon City for which a free 
negro was to blame, offered a good chance of riddtng Oregon of the negro 
for all time. 1112 
Peter Burnett, the committeeman who introduced the Negro 
exclusion act of 1844, reflected similar sentiment concerning a free 
heritage. Coming from the East, he wanted to help build a new and 
better country west of the Rocky Mountains. He felt that a new land 
could learn from the mistakes made in the East and avoid 11 ••• the 
evils of intoxication and mixed races. 11 13 
11charles H. Carey, A General History of Oregon: Prior to 
1861. Two volumes (Portland, Oregon: Metropolitan Press, Publishers, 
1935). Vol. I, p. 342. 
12 Bradley, "Political Beginnings in Oregon, 11 p. 58. 
l 3Peter H. Burnett, Recollections and Opinions of an Old 
Pioneer (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1880), pp. 221-222. 
45 
W. Sherman Savage differs in his opinions. He claims that the 
Negro exclusion bill was initiated by one man, Dr. Elijah White, a Sub-
agent of Indian affairs for the national government. Savage states that 
Saul, who had an Indian wife, troubled the whites by threatening to stir 
up the Indians. Saul was arrested and turned over to Dr. White who in 
turn advised Saul, to leave the territory by going to the mission north of 
the Columbia River. The Negro complied. Later White wrote to Robert 
Moore, Justice of the Peace, and said, referring.to Saul: 
Though: unsuccessful in getting employment as I had hoped, he 
remains in that vicinity with his Indian wife and family, con-
ducting himself as yet in a quiet manner, but doubtless ought to 
be transported, together with every negro being in our condition 
dangerous subj eats. Until we have some further means of pn;:i-
tection, their immigration ought to be prohibited. Can this be 
done?l4 
Savage reasons that the answer obviously was yes, and in a fow months, 
June, 1844, the anti-Negro law was passed. 
Robert Johannsen points out that Oregon's attitude toward th.e 
Negro, both slave and free, was not unique. The expansion of slavery 
per~ did not frighten the whites nearly as much as the thought of 
free Negroes living in a white society. "Almost every northern state 
had by 1860 passed discriminatory laws against the free Negroes. Ohio, 
14w. Sherman Savage, "The Negro and the Pacific Northwest," 
Journal of Negro History, XIII (July, 1928)., p. 258. Copies of the 
letters and documents pertaining to this event are in W. H. Gray, 
History of Oregon, 179 2-1849 (Portland, Oregon: Harris and Holman, 
1870) I PP• 395-397 o 
46 
Indiana, and Illinois barred the entry of Negroes into the state, forbade 
them to vote, refused to permit them to serve on juries, and denied 
their children access to white public schools. "15 
It was inevitable that the customs in place.s from which 
Oregon's settlers originated influenced their attitudes toward Negroes. 
Jesse Douglas calculates that in 1850, 87 per cent of all whites in 
Oregon came from ten states: Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, 
t_. 
Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. 
Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania did not contribute a full quota in 
relation to their population as compared with Missouri, which with only 
3 per cent of the white population of the nation, contributed 25 per cent 
of the persons in Oregon; many of these, however, were children. 
Missouri contributed 2,291 persons of whom 522 were adults and 1, 739 
were children. New York contributed 635 persons of whom 556 were 
adults and 69 were children. There is little difference in the total 
number of people originating in the South and the North except that the 
South furnished a higher number in proportion to her population, and a 
higher proportion of children. 16 
15Robert W. Johannsen, Frontier Politics and the Sectional 
Conflict (Seattle:· University of Washington Press, 1950), p. 24. 
Quotation from Harvey Wish, Society and Thought in.America (New York, 
1950), p. 425. 
16Jesse S. Douglas, "Origins of the Population of Oregon in 
1850," Pacific Northwest Quarterly, XLI (April, 1950), 107. 
47 
Generally speaking, Oregon settlers came West by stages. 
The immigrants moved in a fan-shaped pattern from the Atlantic states 
and the South toward the Midwest. Many made that first stage as 
children or young adults. In Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri, family 
relationships were established prior to the move to the Oregon Country. 
In those midwestern states the attitudes and beliefs of the parents were 
tempered by frontier conditions. "There was the crucible in which the 
population of the Pacific Northwest was molded. "17 According to Hill, 
from this crucible they brought their " ... customs, taboos and racial 
attitudes and racial and religious convictions ... along with the other 
baggage and impedimenta of the pioneers. 1118 These principles and 
values as well as their prejudices and biases formed the basis for racial 
attitudes that extended into the middle of the twentieth century. The 
Negro exclusion act of 1844, although amended within the year and 
repealed the following year, reflected the tenor of the times , not only 
in Oregon, but in much of the United States. 
The Negro exclusion act deterred at least one non-white from 
settling in Oregon. John Minto tells of his talks with a George Wash-
ington Bush who journeyed West over the Oregon Trail with him in 1844. 
l 7Ibid. 
18Hill, "The Negro in Oregon: A Survey," pp. 26-27. 
48 
Bush, who was a mulatto, and his white wife who were financially well-
off had assisted some white members of the train in financing their move. 
11 He told me he should watch when we got to Oregon, what usage was 
awarded men of color, and if he could not have a free man's rights, he 
would seek the protection of the Mexican government in California or 
New Mexico. 11 19 When Bush arrived in the West, he wintered near The 
Dalles, outside the jurisdiction of the Provisional Government. He 
wanted to settle in the Willamette Valley, but with the strong stand 
taken by the Oregonians against free Negroes and mulattoes, he decided 
to settle north of the Columbia River under British protection. ZO The 
Columbia River was generally accepted as the northern boundary of 
Oregon . 21 He prospered in the Puget Sound Country and was one of the 
richest men in the area up to the year 1859. Colonel M. T. Simmons 
and other white men who came West with Bush,· accompanied him north 
of the Columbia and also settled in the vicinity. Colonel Simmons , a 
Kentuckian with a strong personality, entered politics. In 1852 he was 
19John Minto, "Reminiscence of Experiences on the Oregon 
Trail in 1844, " Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, II 
(September, 19 0 I), 212. 
2°Fred Lockley, "Some Documentary Records of Sla'very in 
Oregon," Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, XVII (June, 1916), 
112. • 
21 Bradley, "Poli ti cal Beginnings in Oregon, " p. 5 7 . 
49 
instrumental in the passage of a bill in the Oregon Territorial legislature 
allowing Bush, a mulatto, to live in the Territory. The Statesman on 
December 18, 185 2, published a petition to the legislature with 113 
names subscribed for this special enactment. 22 The legislature also 
passed a resolution confirming Bush's land claim, and in 1855 Congress 
passed a special act securing for Bush 640 acres. 23 
Other Negroes, however, were excluded. Winslow, alias 
Winslow Anderson, for example, was tried in 1851 before Judge Thomas 
Nelson of the Oregon Supreme Court and ordered out of the territory. 24 
He obeyed the mandate although his long residence in the area should 
have exempted him from such a law. In general the Negro was subject 
to capri.c ious enforcement of the exclusion act; some were allowed to 
stay, while others were forced to leave. Some Negroes lived in Oregon 
during the 1840's and 50's. The United States Census for 1850 identified 
207 persons as being Negro or mulatto. Questioning this number,·. 
Douglas examined the census data and found that Indians and Kanakas 
22walter C. Woodward, "The Rise and Early History of 
Political Parties in Oregon, 11 Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, 
XII (March, 1911), 125. Woodward omits the name Bush but 
undoubtedly this is George Washington Bush. 
23charles H~ Carey, A General History of Oregon (Portland, 
Oregon: Metropolitan Press, 1936), p. 489. 
24 11 Negro Pioneers: Their Page in Oregon History, 11 Oregon 
Native Son, I (January, 1900), 433. 
50 
were counted as Negroes. He has corrected for this e_rror and computed 
a more accurate figure of fifty-four, which is now generally accepted.25 
In view of the strong and well known prejudice against the blacks 
during the 1840 1s, the lesser figure of fifty-four is easier to accept. 
Even so, a question arises as to whether these Negroes were in Oregon 
of their own free will or because they were slaves. 
The existence of slavery in Oregon is denied by some writers. 
T. W. Davenport states, " .. ; 'there was net. a ne~o slave within its 
far reaching borders or within a thousand miles thereof. 11 26 He cites 
as support for his statement a letter he received from Judge R. P. Boise 
of the Oregon Supreme Court which reads as follows: 
. . . Colonel Nat Ford came to Oregon from Missouri in 1845 [ sic] 
and brought with him three slaves; two men and one woman. The 
woman was married to one of these men and had some small chil-
dren. Ford claimed these children as slaves and continued to 
claim them until 1853 . . . . Prior to 1853 the parents of these 
children (Robin and Polly) had claimed their freedom and left Ford, 
and in 1852 were living in Nesmith 's Mills, but Ford had kept the 
children. In 1853, Robin, the father of the children, brought a 
suit by habeas corpus to get possession of the children. This 
case was heard by Judge Williams in tlle summer of 1853, and he 
held that these children, being then (by a voluntary act of Ford) 
in Oregon, where slavery could not legally exist, were free 
25The error was due to Joseph L. Meek, U.S. Marshal of 
the Territory, who included 3 8 Hawaiians and 114 Indians or half-
breeds as Negroes. Douglas, "Origins of the Population of Oregon 
in 185 0 I II p • 9 5 • 
26T. W. Davenport, "The Slavery Question in Oregon," 
Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, DC (September, 1908), 19 6. 
51 
from bonds of slavery and awarded their custody to their 
father. 2 7 
This case had been in litigation prior to Judge George H. Williams 1 
appointment to the Supreme Court of the Territory, but his predecessors 
declined to hear it. The slavery question had become an impassioned 
political issue in the nation and was bound to influence the local _ 
political scene. Nevertheless the case was among the first Williams 
heard. He based his decision on the premise 11 ••• that without some 
positive legislative enactment establishing slavery here, it did not and 
could not exist in Oregon, and I awarded to the colored people their 
freedom. 112 8 This letter and court case establish the existence of at 
least one instance of slavery in the area. 
+:. Fred Lockley reports having 11 ••• met a number of interesting 
ex-slaves in Oregon." Lou Southworth described to Lockley his child-
hood days as a slave and his trip to Oregon. When Lockley asked 
Amanda Johnson if she had ever been sold as a slave, she replied: 
No sir, I was never sold nor bartered for. I was given as a 
wedding present to my owner's daughter. I belonged to Mrs. 
Nancy Wildhite . . . . When her daughter, Miss Lydia, was 
married, she gave me to her as a wedding present ... , I have 
five brothers and six sisters; none of us were sold like common 
negroes. We were all given away as the different young folks 
27Ibid., p. 196. Lockley corrects the date of Ford's arrival to 
1844. LocR:l'ey; "Some Documentary Records of Slavery iri-Oregon, 11 p. 108. 
2 8George H. Williams, "Political History of Oregon,. 185 3-65," 
Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, II (March, 1901), 6. 
52 
got married. In 1853 my owners came to Oregon. A man offered 
my master $1200 for me. I was 19 years old then. My owner 
said, 1Amanda isn 1t for sale. She is going across the plains to 
the Willamette Valley with us. She is like one of the family. 
I don 1 t care to sell her. 1 ••• Lou Southworth, also a slave, 
crossed the plains the same year I did. So did Benjamin 
Johnson, another slave, who later became my husband. 29 
Hill found reference to the existence of slavery in the local 
newspapers. William Allen qf Yamhill County, states in The Oregonian 
of December 26, 1857, "There are some slaves here--but no law to pro-
tect this kind of property. II J. w. Mack said in The Statesman of Decem-
ber 22, 1857, 11 My neighbor in Lane County owns slaves and is now in 
California endeavoring to test the validity of the fugitive slave law .••30 
There is evidence of at ,least one transfer of ownership of 
slaves in Lane County. A bill of sale dated in the late fifties proves 
that a Mr. Southworth sold the ". . . negro boy Cole and his grand-
mother 11 to Colonel Jo' seph Teal. Judge Stratton drew up the necessary 
papers for the transfer of ownership. Colonel Teal released the boy 
and his grandmother a "little time thereafter, 11 and they settled near 
the present site of Junctio,n City. 31 
29 rred Lockley, "Facts Pertaining to Ex-slaves in Oregon and 
Documentary Record of the Case of Robin Holmes vs. Nathanial Ford, 
Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, XXIII (March, 1922), 111. 
30Hill, "The Negro in Oregon: A Survey, 11 p. 16. 
3!1. "Slavery in the Pacific Northwest, 11 Oregon Native Son, II 
(November, 1900), 314. This event is not corroborated by any other 
account of slavery in Oregon. 
53 
An unknown number of Negroes came to Oregon as slaves. 
Since they were ignorant of the law, they remained subject to their 
masters. Because most of the Negroes in Oregon were employed as 
domestics or farm hands, their condition of involuntary servitude was 
not flagrantly displayed. Lockley has uncovered in the court records 
some significant entries pertaining to slavery. Although these documents 
do not prove that slavery existed in Oregon, they show that the registra-
tion of a document of manumission in Oregon was considered prudent. 
A document recorded in Washington County states: 
Know all men by these presents, that for and in consideration 
of five hundred dollars, to me in hand paid by Jane Thomas, 
late Jane Snowdon, a free woman of color . . . I David Snowdon 
of the County of Ray, in the State of Missouri, have bargained, 
sold and delivered her . . . one certain negro boy slave named 
Billy, age about eleven years and the son of the said Jane 
Thomas ... as she is about to emigrate to Oregon and wishes 
to take the boy with her. A.D. 1852. David Snowdon {seal). 
Received for record April 10th and recorded this thirteenth day 
of April A. D. 1854. W. S. Caldwell, Auditor and Recorder, 
Washington County, Oregon Territory. 32 
In the court records of Clark County, now part of the state of 
Washington, is the document of manumission releasing a slave in the 
Territory of Oregon. How long this slave and master resided in Oregon 
is not known. In the document a Captain Llewellyn Jone;s, U. S. Army 
is quoted: 
3 2Lockley, "Some Documentary Records of Slavery in Oregon," 
p. 107. 
54 
Mommia Travers, a black woman, age about forty-five, bought 
by me from Isaac Burbayge, in April 1849, I have this day 
given her freedom unconditionally, and she is in all respects 
free to go and do as may seem to her most to her advantage, 
without let or hinderance from me, my agents, heirs, or 
assigns. Witness my hand and seal at Vancouver, May 5th, 
1851. Llewellyn Jones, Captain, U.S.A.33 
Jones must have felt that the above legal phraseology was insufficient, 
for he added the following: "The above named woman, Mommia, is an 
honest and perfectly conscientious woman and deserves kind and good 
treatment at the hands of everyone . " This document was recorded 
July 2 8, 185 7. 
Included in the law when Oregon became a Territory in 1848, 
were sections prohibiting slavery and excluding free Negroes and 
mulattoes from living in the Territory. In 1851 when the constitution-
ality of the exclusion act was tested, the Supreme Court ruled in the 
affirmative. The local newspapers heralded this as "the re-affirmation 
of a well-settled doctrine. 11 34 Despite the court decision, when 
Oregon applied for statehood, slavery was a critical issue. The 
Constitutional Convention of 185 7 avoided the free Negro and slavery 
question and referred it to the people at the same time the constitution 
was submitted for their approval. 
3 3 Ibid . , p . 1 0 8 . 
34Robert W. Johannsen, Frontier Politics and the Sectional 
Conflict , p . 2 1 . 
55 
In Oregon, as in the rest of the nation, the slavery and free 
Negro question was among the most perplexing and controversial issues 
of the day. During the summer and fall of 185 7, the Oregonians debated 
the pros and cons of slavery. Their discussions, for the most part, 
were emotionally expressed. One unemotional and amoral argument 
greatly influenced the outcome of the 185 7 vote. Judge George H. 
Williams delivered a most outstanding argument against slavery in 
Oregon in a statement in the Oregon Statesman. In his rather lengthy 
argument, Williams avoided emotionalism and did not condemn--.slavery 
in other states. Instead he presented a practical case against slavery 
in Oregon based upon economics. Williams emphasized six principal 
reasons for opposition: 
1. Oregon was not suited climatically to benefit from slave labor. 
2. Labor performed by a white man in Oregon was cheaper. 
3. Transporting slaves to Oregon was hazardous and expensive. 
4. Runaway slaves were likely to Join the Indians and increase 
that danger. 
5. The presence of slave labor degrades all white labor. 
6. Because the sentiment in the state was not overwhelmingly 
56 
in favor of slavery, for the sake of unity, slavery should 
be prohibited. 35 
Davenport claims, "I am confident that it was the most timely 
and the most effective appeal published during the whole controversy 
. . . . After the circulation of this address, any observing person 
could notice that a change was taking place, any sensitive person 
could feel it. 1136 Williams' statement may have offended many memb~rs 
of his party and put an end to any chance of fulfilling his senatorial 
ambitions, but it was effective at the polls. 
In November the electorate cast their ballots and accepted the 
constitution 7,195 to 3,195, a majority of 4,000. Slavery was rejected 
by a majority of 5,082 and at the same time free Negroes and mulattoes 
were excluded from the Territory by an overwhelming majority of 8,640 
to 1 , 0 81 . Clear! y the Oregonians did not want slavery, but even more 
emphatically, as they had demonstrated in 1844 by the Negro exclusion 
act, and again in 1857 by including in their constitution a section 
excluding Negroes and mulattoes, the people did not want Negroes 
living in the state. 
35George H. Williams, "The 1Free State Letter 1 of Judge G. H. 
Williams, 11 Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, IX (Septemb~r, 
1908), 254-273. Reprinted from ·the Oregon Statesman of July 28, 1857. 
36oavenport, "The Slavery Question in Oregon,." pp. 234-23~. 
57 
During the Civil War the people of Oregon were divided in 
their sympathies. Their lack of unity limited Oregon's contribution to 
the war effort. When Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation 
freeing slaves in the rebellious states, many Oregonians did not 
approve of the measure. The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States 
Constitution, which allowed Negroes to move freely about the country, 
negated Oregon's Negro exclusion act. Oregonians• attitude toward 
Negroes, however, is reflected in the fact that the Negro exclusion act 
was not removed from the state constitution until 1926. 
Despite the opposition to Negroes in the state, the United 
States Census records reveal that in 1860 there were 128 Negroes and 
mulattoes living in Oregon and 346 in 1870. 37 The number grew slowly; 
the United States Census records show that in 1880 there were 487 
Negroes, by 1890, 1,186, and in 1900 the number dropped to 1,105. 
Negroes had been scattered throughout the rural areas of 
Oregon, but after the war they began to move into the urban centers, 
especially Portland. Their migration was slow at first, but the tempo in-
creased between 1870 and 1890. In the city Negroes met prejudice and 
discrimination, but they felt more secure surrounded by other Negroes 
3 7Using the erroneous 207 figure from the 185 0 census, many 
writers noted a decline in Negro population rather than an increase 
from the 5 4 Negroes in 185 0. 
58 
and found that they could avoid much unpleasantness if they remained 
in their "place. 11 In Oregon blacks were exploited, but no more than 
elsewhere in the nation. 38 Their move to Portland was in a large 
measure economic; Portland was a busy seaport and rail center and the 
opportunity for unskilled labor was great. Moreover, the Chinese were 
the scape-goats for the white workers just before the turn of the 
century, removing the focus of attention from the Negroes. After the 
migration of rural Negroes to the urban area, Thomas Hogg claims that 
the history of the Negro in Oregon virtually becomes the history of the 
Negro in Portland . 3 9 
Interviewing Negro men who lived in Portland at the turn of the 
century, Hill found that Negroes were represented in a fairly wide range 
of work. 40 Most of them were engaged in service jobs as waiters, 
stewards, and porters. Some, however, were skilled vVorkers and per-
formed tasks such as tailoring, horseshoeing, and shoemaking. Skilled 
3 8Thoma s C. Hogg, "Negroes and Their Institutions in 
Oregon, 11 Phylon: The Atlanta University Review of Race and Culture, 
XXX (Fall, 1969), 276. 
39Ibid., p. 278. 
40He lists waiters, cooks, stewards, porters, brakeman's 
helper, street cleaner, street repair man, janitor, barber (for whites), 
hack driver, piano player, shoemaker, tailor, horseshoer, carpenter, 
ship "corker. 11 and timber mill workers. Hill, "The Negro in Oregon: 
A Survey," pp. 30-33. 
59 
work of the latter type as well as carpentry and ship caulking placed 
Negroes in direct competition with white men. 
Labor was scarce. Since the city was prosperous and expand-
ing and Jobs were plentiful, the competition was more theoretical than 
actual. When work became more difficult to obtain, white men took 
over the jobs in the skilled trades and Negroes performed the more 
menial tasks. The Negro's economic threat to the white man diminished 
because few young Negroes were given an opportunity to learn the 
skilled trades. Most Negroes continued to be confined to work that 
was considered beneath the white man's dignity. 
White people objected to Negroes living in most sections of 
the city. Until 1890 they were generally restricted to an area of thirty-
five square blocks on the west side of the Willamette River. From the 
river, the boundary ran west along Glisan Street to Broadway, then 
south on Broadway to Burnside Street and east to the river. This area 
coincided with the established red-light district in Portland. Negro 
"sporting men" imported women to the city for prostitution. The "open 
life" that was characteristic of the frontier towns flourished in Portland. 
Loggers, miners, and country boys came into the city to see the sights 
and the "sporting women." After the other bars in the city closed for 
the night, the Golden West Hotel on Broadway and Everett remained 
open for gambling and drinking. The employees of such establishments 
60 
were, for the most part, Negroes, but the owners were white. 41 When 
the Portland Hotel was completed in 1890, seventy-five Negroes were 
brought from North Carolina and Georgia to work in Portland's new 
showplace. With their families, these newcomers added a substantial 
number to the respectable Negro community and counter-balanced the 
Negroes who made up the underworld element. Hill implies that a sig-
nificant number of Negroes derived their livelihoods either directly or 
from the periphery of the illicit activities in Portland. 42 
White people, however, did not differentiate between the 
respectable working Negroes and those who were a part of Portland's 
underworld. In the early days, the majority of the blacks were 
crowded into one area where prostitution, gambling, and all-night 
clubs operated. 43 Those activities that could not operate legally were 
often tolerated but "fined II at regular intervals. The rationale was that 
some illegal practices were too difficult to control, therefore it was 
expedient that these activities be restricted to a limited area where 
41Ibid., pp. 34-35. 
4 2 Ibid . , p . 31 . 
43Allan H. Spears, Black Chicago: The Making of ~ Ghetto 
1890-1920 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967), pp. 24-25. 
Spears amply illustrates the lack of sensitivity on the part of the 
whites concerning class structure in the black community as he 
describes early Chicago. 
61 
they could be more closely watched. City officials then needed a con-
tact or go-between in the black community. Such a need developed a 
position for a Negro political boss. One prominent figure, Julius 
Sevier, occupied the station of poJitical power in the black community 
for about sixteen years. When a Negro became involved with the law 
or was in jail, Sevier was the man his friends or family contacted to 
arrange release. Reputedly, Sevier was so influential that he even 
had people who were accused of murder released from jail. 44 
The black ghetto on the west side of the river began to break 
up during the early 1890 's. Businessmen who needed additional space 
in which to expand their commercial and industrial enterprises found the 
area occupied by the blacks well suited to meet ilieir needs.· M0ving 
the Negro "Enterprise Lodge of Masons" to a newly constructed meeting 
hall at Larrabee and Clackamas initiated the general migration. The 
moving of the lodge influenced the congregations of some of the Negro 
churches to move to the Albina area. Later, after considerable growth, 
this nucleus was to expand and protrude into the Jefferson attendance 
area. As the economic pressure of expansion continued, the old 
wooden shacks gave way to new brick buildings and the small Negro 
businesses also moved to the Williams Avenue vicinity. Change was 
44Hill, "The Negro in Oregon: A Survey, " p. 3 8. 
62 
gradual; the migration continued throughout the first three decades of 
the twentieth century. Finally, in 1930, the Golden West Hotel, a 
landmark in the old Negro section, closed its doors, and the manage-
ment re-opened in the Medley Hotel on Interstate and Mississippi in 
Albina. "Girls" working in the hotel moved into rooming houses and 
apartments in the immediate vicinity. 45 The people in the Negro 
community were again forced to raise their families in the midst of 
prostitution, drinking, and gambling. 
The Negro population in Portland continued to grow slowly. 
Daniel Hill, writing in 1933, believes that several factors influenced 
the slow growth: strong anti-Negro tradition in the state that dis-
couraged immigration, the lack of employment for Negroes, a greater 
death rate than birth rate during the early depression years, and the 
general unstable nature of the Negro population throughout the United 
States up to 190o.46 During the l930's, however, the population took 
a definite upturn and a sizable increase was recorded in Portland for 
that decade. The increase was a result of natural births and of a 
limited emigration from the city during the years of the Great 
Depression. 
45rbid., p ... 43. 
46Ibid., p. 44. 
63 
E. Simpson Hill, Director of the Portland Urban League, 
declares that Negroes were not encouraged to come to Portland as per-
manent residents. He came to Portland to work during the summers in 
the late 1930 1 s and relates that the Negroes with whom he worked did 
not consider Portland a hospitable city for an unemployed Negro. They 
believed that a "gentleman's agreement" was in effect among employers 
limiting the areas of employment for Negroes to certain types of jobs. 
The railroad for which he and a number of other Negroes worked during 
tpe summer issued a pass providing free transportation back to their 
homes at the end of the work period. Many interpreted the pass system 
as an indication that out-of-town Negroes were not wanted in Portland 
after the seasonal work was over. 47 
In 1931 the Negro Bureau of Economics conducted a survey to 
determine the kinds of employment and the number of Negroes then 
employed in Portland. 48 The results show that the majority of Negroes 
were employed as porters, waiters, or domestics. Areas of employment 
were more restricted in 19 31 than at the turn of the century, for Negroes 
had actually lost out entirely in some types of work. 49 The skilled 
47rrtterview with' E. Simpson Hill, Executive Director, ·-
Portland Urban League, October 15 , 19 69 . 
48see Appendix I. 
49see my note 40, page 58. 
64 
trades as well as hack driving and barbering had become white men's 
jobs and white women took over some of the hotel and restaurant work, 
In 193 0, for instance, the Portland Hotel replaced thirty Negro waiters 
with white waitresses. SO 
Because of the 'limited opportunities for a Negro to rise above 
the lowest level in the job market, many sought to advance through 
self-employment. A Negro Bureau of Economics survey in 1931 found 
eighty-four Negro business enterprises. Most of these were small, 
service-oriented; many were operated from the private homes of the 
proprietors. 51 The majority depended solely upon the Negro community 
for customers, but endeavors such as shoeshine parlors and dress-
making also catered to the white trade. The Oregon Mutual Aid Associ-
ation and the Building Association are early examples of a joint effort 
on the part of the Negroes to establish a substantial Negro business 
community. 
Although it appears that in Portland the Negro's opportunity to 
up-grade his work was limited, he was able to break out of the- ghetto-
like communities that entrapped the blacks of the larger eastern cities. 
When the Negro section on the west bank of the river dissolved, not all 
S0Hill, "The Negro in Oregon: A Survey," p. 56, 
51 See Appendix II. 
65 
of the Negroes moved into the Williams Avenue area. Many moved to 
sparsely settled sections of the city and bought or rented property. 
Because the transition took place over a number of years, and the total 
n~mber of' Negroes was small, not much resistance occurred. As the 
city expanded, the whites moved in and around the Negro homes that 
were. already established in a given area. By 1940 the United States 
Census figures show that Negroes lived in 58 of the 61 census tracts 
in Portland. 
The integration of the various areas of Portland was not 
entirely without incident. In the early 1930 1s, Dr. De Norval Unthank, 
a physician, purchased a home in Westmoreland, a middle-class 
neighborhood. He was unaware that any strong hostility existed until 
after he completed the purchase. His house was attacked by vandals, 
windows were broken and, he received threats by telephone and mail. 
Because of such harassment, he was forced to vacate his home and 
find another area in Portland in which to live. 5 2 
Racial discrimination was always practiced in Portland to 
some extent. 5} The' degree o'f intensity varied in proportion to the 
52Hill, 11 The Negro in Oregon: A Survey, 11 p. 112. 
53surprisingly, however, when the Ku Klux Klan was very 
active in Oregon during the 1920 1 s, the Negro was not the target for 
its animosity. Instead, the Ku Klux Klan directed its hate campaign 
towards the growing number of Roman Catholics and other 11foreign 
66 
degree whites felt threatened, either socially or economically, by the 
blacks. Since a wide variety of opportunities for discrimination existed 
in the city, the Negro had to learn which activities or areas to avoid. 
Lack of consistency on the part of the whites made the Negro's role 
extremely frustrating. Generally speaking, the Negro encountered his 
greatest degree of discrimination in commercial establishments. Signs, 
"We Serve White People Only, " were frequently seen in the windows of 
restaurants in the working-class sections of the city. 54 The better 
restaurants dtcj. not serve Negroes but used more subtle methods to 
discourage their patronage. White hotels did not accept Negro 
guests·. 55 Most of the theaters offered equal privileges to black and 
white customers, but an exception was the Broadway Theater which 
seated Negroes on the main floor during matinees, but at night required 
elements. 11 James D. Diegler, "Epilogue to Progressivism: Oregon, 
1920-1924 11 (unpublished Master's thesis, University of Oregon, 1958), 
p. 3; Kenneth T. Jackson, The Ku Klux Klan in the City, 1915-1930 
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1967), p. 200; Hill, "The Negro 
in Oregon: A Sl\rvey," p. 40. 
54Hill, "The Negro in Oregon: A Survey," p. 112. 
55 Earl Mcinnes, manager of the Multnomah Hotel and 
president of the Oregon Hotel Association, testified before the state 
senate judiciary committee that 11 mixing of whites and Negroes as 
guests in a hotel had proven destructive to business." The Oregonian, 
February 16, 1939, p. 4. 
67 
all blacks to sit in the balcony. 5 6 At large public affairs where there 
was no personal contact, such as outdoor concerts and picnics in the 
park, Negroes knew that they usually could safely attend without being 
segregated or denied admission. Officially the municipal recreation 
facHities were open to members of all races, and the parks, play-
grounds, tennis courts, and golf links were frequently used by 
Negroes. 57 Whites, however, practiced discrimination even in these 
areas on an individual basis. Most of the sporting events tolerated 
mixed races. Prior to 1871 Negro children attended segregated schools, 
but in that year separate schools were discontinued and all children 
attended their neighborhood school. 
In his survey conducted in the early 1930 1s, Hill investigated 
the attitudes of Portland's Negroes concerning the education of their 
children. He was interested in the answers to such questions as: 
Does education have value for a Negro child? What type of education 
should Negroes seek for their children? How much? He found after 
interviewing 105 Negroes, that their responses could be divided into 
three categories correlating closely with their age groups. Hill, there-
fore, labels them "Older Negro,'' "Middle Age Group," and "Younger 
56Hill, "The Negro in Oregon: A Survey," p. 96. 
5 7 Ibid. , p. 9 5 . 
68 
Negro. 11 As might be expected, the "Older Negro" group did not place 
a high value on education, believing that "common sense and 1mother 
wit' are all the things a man needs in this world .... 11 They viewed 
the jobs a Negro 004,ld obtain as so menial that it was a waste of time 
and effort to get an education. The philosophy of many of the older 
Negroes who were active in the 11 Pentacostal II and "Holy Roller" type 
religiou~ sects is revealed in one of their popular spirituals: 
"This world is not-a-my home 
This world's a howlin' wilderness 
This world is not-a-my home. 11 58 
There were exceptions to the above attitudes in the 11 0lder Negro" 
group. Some, like many of the white immigrants, labored additional 
long hours to attain the best education possible for their children. 
They regarded the school as a panacea; the principal means for both 
. social and economic mobility. 
In the "Middle Age Group, " Hill found only a few who were 
interested in formal education for their children. Included in the 
"Middle Age Group" were affluent members of the underworld or those 
living on its margin, who did not want their children exposed to the· 
seamy elements. Sending their children East to school solved their 
problem, and as a consequence, they were not interested in Portland 1 s 
5 8Ibid. , p. 121 . 
69 
educational facilities. A large section of this group believed that a 
"gift-of-gab" and the possession of a few social graces were all the 
attributes needed for success. These were the hustlers, the fellows 
out to make a fast and easy dollar. The other section of the group was 
made up of those who believed that one's natural talents were instru-
mental in success or failure in life. According to their beliefs, these 
natural talents were God-given gifts, and to go to school to improve on 
something that God gave was a foolish notion. This group included 
singers and musicians, but also good cooks who believed that their 
work was an art. Each could find successful models to use as proof 
for the validity of their philosophy. 
Within the "Young Negro" group, Hill found two interesting 
ideas concerning education. One contingent believed that the color of 
one's skin determined the degree of formal education one should 
receive. The light-skinned Negro or mulatto, they believed, did not 
need much more than an ordinary education because "God had favored 
him with a light complexion and that insured him success in life." On 
the other hand, they felt that those children with dark skins needed an 
exceptional education in order to overcome the handicap of color not 
only within the white community, but also in the Negro community. 
One mother remarked that her dark child needed the best education 
possible because "this will be her only chance to get by in America. " 
70 
The rest of the 11 Young Negro" group agreed that an education was 
necessary, but some of them preferred the academically-oriented educa-
tion promoted by W. E. B. Du Bois and others preferred the vocational-
oriented education stressing agriculture and mechanical pursuits, 
advocated by Booker T. Washington. 59 
Regardless of their educational philosophies, Negro parents 
abided by the compulsory education laws in Oregon to the same extent 
as did the white parents. The United States Census for 1930 reveals 
that 75  . 6 per cent of the eligible white children were enrolled in 
school as compared with 74. 4 per cent of the eligible Negro children. 
At the outbreak of World War II, the Negroes in Portland had 
their niche, albeit a lowly one, in the larger community. Most of them 
performed tasks of a menial nature for their livelihood, and socially 
they were relegated to the bottom of the hierarchy. Portland's Negro 
community was isolated geographically from the major concentrations 
of Negroes in America. Although Portland Negroes supported a news-
paper, The Advocate, they were provincially-oriented. The small Negro 
population reduced the oppQrtunities for tensions and confrontations, 
thus on the surface harmonious race relations appeared to exist in the 
59):'or this section on education I am indebted to Hill's 
Chapter VII 11 Philosophy of Life: Attitude Toward Education," in "The 
Negro in Oregon: .A Survey, 11 pp. 117-124-. 
71 
city. In actuality, however, by tradition and custom, the boundaries 
of the Negroes' "place II in Portland were clearly defined. The fields of 
employment open to Negroes, the areas in which they could purchase or 
rent property, and the degree to which they could mingle with the whites 
was known and observed by most blacks and whites. Covert discrimi= 
nation was widely practiced, but whenever the whites felt threatened 
by the blacks and believed that they were not staying in their "place, " 
they resorted to more open forms of discrimination. 
Within this social structure the blacks developed their own 
sub-society. Although few in number, many appeared to prosper 
financially and materially. They observed the compulsory school law 
of Oregon by sending their children to integrated schools. Attendance 
at school beyond the elementary level by blacks was not common, but 
neither was it common for white children in the lower socio-economic 
level. Dr. Walter C. Reynolds, who was graduated from Jefferson 
High School just prior to World War II, comments that there were only 
four Negroes in the school at that time. GO 
World War II and the great demand for war material of all 
description challenged Portland's hidden attitudes concerning race 
6DMinutes of .the meeting, Race and Education, Subcommittee 
on Government Agencies, p. 32. School District No. 1 Curriculum 
Library, Portland, Oregon. 
72 
relations. Gunnar Myrdal, the noted Swedish social economist, 
asserts that the American Negro again, as in World War I, was pro-
vided an opportunity to improve his lot. 61 The depression stalled the 
Negroes I economic advance which started with the Great Migration of 
1915, but the war industries' demand for labor again provided the 
impetus to encourage the blacks to migrate from the rural South to 
cities of the North and West. Portland, Oregon, for the first time, 
was to receive a significant number of black workers. 
Throughout the history of Oregon, whites did not want 
Negroes in the state. Oregon's legislature passed discriminatory 
laws forbidding the blacks from settling in the state and also prohibit-
ing marriage between a black and a white person. The whites 1 
complete lack of feeling or respect for Negroes is revealed by the 
delay in the repeal of these laws. The first had been negated by the 
14th amendment to the United States Constitution, but remained in 
Oregon's cons ti tu tion until 19 2 6. 6 2 Miscegenation was illegal in 
61Gunnar Myrdal, et al., An American Dilemma: The Negro 
Problem and Modern Democracy (New York: Harper and Brothers 
Publishers, 1944), p. 408. 
62state of Oregon, Blue Book and Official Directory, 
1927-28 (Salem, Oregon: State Printing Department, 1927), p. 27. 
73 
Oregon until 1959. 63 Those blacks coming to Oregon durinq World 
War II were not made to feel welcome. 
63oregon Revised Statutes 106.210, Ch. 531 (1959). 
74 
CHAPTER IV 
THE INFLUX AND HOUSING PATTERNS OF THE NEGRO POPULATION 
With the advent of World War II, many new jobs became avail-
able in the urban centers. White workers quit the less desirable jobs 
and employers had difficulty finding replacements. Such work opportu-
nities accelerated the Negro migration from the South to the North and 
West. 
Portland received its first large influx of blacks as a result of 
• available work in the shipyards. When the number of blacks in the 
city increi;ised, overt discriminatory practices became common. Racial 
discrimination in housing practiced during the war continued for the 
next two decades. Such restrictive housing patterns created -de -fac-to 
segregation of Portland's schools in a fashion similar to that of other 
northern cities. 
World War II did not originate the blacks' northern migration. 
Availability of work during World War I initiated t~e Great Migration of 
Negroes in 1915 that continued through the prosperous twenties and 
even during the 'depression years of the 1930 's . 1 More generous public 
l Gunnar Myrdal, An American Dilemma, p. 19 7. 
75 
assistance programs in the cities, especially cities in the North, 
rather than the availability of employment accounts for the continuation 
of the migration during later years. 
It was npt until World War II that Oregon's Negro population 
increased to any extent by immigration. 2 American settlers of the 
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries moved from east to west, but the 
Negroes moved from south to north. Like the early pioneers, these 
twer:i,tieth century migrants, for the most part, also moved only a state 
or two away from their original homes. As in the past, however, 
those with a more adventuresome nature made longer moves. An 
example of this latter group is the small number of Negroes who moved 
to the Pacific Coast during the 1920 1 s and 1930 1 s and chose California 
and Washington in preference to Oregon. (See Table 1 . ) 
Whites and Negroes alike migrated to the West Coast at the 
outbreak of the war. Thousands of men were needed to work in the air-
craft factories, shipyards, and other defense industries and to load 
ships with material for the war zone. If Seattle's World War II effort 
can be concisely summed up as "aircraft construction," and that of 
San Francisco as "a port of embarkation, 11 then Portland I s contribution 
2Arnold Rose, The Negro in America (Boston: The Beacon 
.Press, 1944), p. 63; see Appendix V. 
76 
TABLE 1 
PACIFIC STATES NEGRO POPULATION 
Year Cali~ornia Oregon Washington 
1910a 21,645 1,492 6,058 
1920a 38,763 2,144 6,883 
19 30'8 81,048 2,234 6,840 
1940b 124,306 2,565 7,424 
1950b 462,172 11,592 30,691 
1960b 883,861 18,133 48,738 
au. S. Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census. 
Statistical Abstract of the United States: 19 40. Sixty-first Number 
(Washington: U.S. GovernmentP:r;-intingOffice, 1940), p. 15. 
bu. S. Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census. 
Statistical Abstract of the United States: 19 62. Eighty-third edition 
(Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1963), p. 30. 
77 
can be entitled "shipbuilding." Building boats on the banks of the 
Columbia and Willamette Rivers was an old trade. 
Although World War I had caused much activity in Portland's 
shipyards, few Negroes were employed. It was World War II and the 
proximity of the Pacific theater of war which created the expansion and 
provided jobs for Negroes. The existing shipyards added men and 
equipment but were still unable to meet the growing demands of 
America's war effort. Henry J. Kaiser, theretofore a stranger in ship-
building, began to build ships with the financial assistance of the 
United States government. Combining new construction techniques and 
a tried and able staff of engineers and administrators, his yards were 
soon turning out cargo vessels, troop transports, aircraft carriers, and 
landing craft of various types. Kaiser utilized experience gained on 
giant hydro-electric projects and adapted assembling of prefabricated 
components to ship construction. Making use of the assembly-line 
method, his yards soon sent a record number of ships sliding down the 
ways. The new construction methods also permitted a greater 
efficiency in the employment of available manpower. Unskilled 
workers, both Negro and white, were trained to perform routine tasks 
of limited scope and more skilled workers were reserved for those jobs 
requiring greater competence. The assembly-line technique provided 
78 
the blacks an opportunity to perform semi-skilled work rather than the 
usual common labor. 
Even prior to America's entry into the war, skilled and semi-
skilled workers were employed in the Portland-Vancouver area. Subse-
quently, when the United States government began placing additional 
contracts with the Portland-area shipyards, a critical labor shortage 
deveJoped. Although the War Manpower Commission allowed the United 
States Employment Service (USES) to recruit workers for the shipyards, 
recruiting was restricted to New York and the less-industrialized sec-
tions of the Midwest and the South because these were the areas with 
a surplus of labor. 
Representatives from the larger shipyards accompanied the 
USES personnel to interview prospective employees. If a man accepted 
a job, he was told the type of work he would do, the shift he would 
work, and where he would live upon arrival in Portland, 3 Black or 
white, skilled or unskilled, anyone who was physically able and 
desired to work was hired. 
Race soon became a problem. When blacks attempted to 
receive union clearance to perform skilled work, they were usually 
denied. In the summer of 1942, when the labor problem became acute, 
3rnterview with M. A. Vollbrecht, associated with Kaiser 
Shipbuilding Corporation Personnel Department, July, 19 69. 
79 
executives of the Kaiser Company, meeting with representatives of the 
Boilermakers' Union and the War Manpower Commission, justified to 
them its need for more workers. An ensuing agreement permitted the 
Kaiser Company to recruit, clear, and offer tram~portation to all pros-
pective ~mployee:;i, regardless of color. 
Late in September of 1942 the first large group of workers was 
assembled in New York to begin the trip to Portland. With the group 
were ~he first of several thousand blacks who were imported to work in 
the shipyards. An issue of The Oregonian, Portland's principal daily 
newspaper, featured the story of Kaiser's ''magic carpet" on page one. 4 
Five hundred New Yorkers were on their way West, the article stated, 
to contribute to the war effort. Included in the account were comments 
and remarks by the working men, all whites, concerning their desire to 
take part in the defense industry. A short statement, "In the train are 
30 Negroes," had an electrifying effect on some union personnel in 
Portland. Even before the men arrived, the local Boilermakers I Union 
had altered its agreement with the Kaiser Company by refusing to admit 
Negroes into the union. When the contingent reached St. Paul, 
Minnesota, company representatives informed the workers that whites 
4oregonian, September 30, 1942, p. 1. 
80 
would be given the grade of work for which they were hired, but the 
Negroes would have to accept laborers I classifications. 5 
Some of the b1acks protested and refused to continue the 
journey, whereas those who went on to Portland voiced their protest 
when they arrived. 11We can do common labor in New York, 11 a spokes-
man declared, " ... we were promised the opportunity to get something 
better. 11 6 The company attempted to clear the Negroes for work, but 
again the union resisted. Tom Ray, business manager for the local 
Boilermakers' Union, did not alleviate the situation when he announced 
to the press that he would 11 ••• never permit women to serve as 
helpers to Negroes, " or to ". . . allow colored men to work in the 
holds of ships with women. u7 
Finally in November, at meetings in New York and Washington, 
the problem of union clearance was settled without mention of Negroes. 
The War Manpower Commission, Kaiser shipyard management, and 
union officials agreed that the President's executive order of June 25, 
5carol Coan, "Revised Study of Portland-Vancouver Area" 
(unpublished report concerning Negro employment in files of Portland 
Urban League, December 21, 1944), p. 6. 
6oregonian, October 9, 19 42 , p. 12 . 
7oregonian, October 21, 1942, p. 1. 
81 
1941, requiring equality of employment in defense plants, 11 ••• would 
be observed by both management and labor in the shipyards. 11 8 
Despite the agreement, Portland's union officials did not admit 
blacks into their branch organization nor did they allow them to operate 
on work permits. Instead, they set up an auxiliary union for black 
members, across the river in Vancouver. The auxiliary union offered 
the Negro members two opportunities: the privilege of working, and 
the obligation to pay dues; but almost all other union benefits were 
denied the blacks. 9 
Notwithstanding the restrictions placed upon Negroes working 
in the shipyards, this particular defense industry was by far the largest 
employer of Negroes in the area. A look at Table 2 shows that the 
Negroes were not, to any extent, integrated into the industries of 
Portland. Those blacks who did work in the shipyards served, for the 
most part, as common laborers. When the auxiliary union formed in 
Vancouver, a 1?lack spokesman in Portland claimed that "About twenty-
five journeyman welders, chippers and boilermakers II were affected by 
the change since they were eligible to join the union. 10 
Boregonian, November 13 , 19 42 , p. 1 . 
9city Club of Portland, "The Negro in Portland, 11 Portland 
City Club Bulletin (Portland: City Club of Portland, 19 45), p. 5 8 . 
lOoregonian, December 12, 1942, p. l. 
82 
TABLE 2 
PERCENTAGE OF NEGROES TO TOTAL LABOR FORCE IN WAR PLANTS 
Total Non-White 
Employment Employment Percent 
NON-WHITE EMPLOYMENT 
Portland Metropolitan Area 
September, 1943 140 I 893 2,706 1.9 
July, 1944 130,367 6,204 4.8 
September, 1944 132,422 7,541 5.7 
November, 1944 99,445 7,088 7.1 
January, 1945 112,498 6,794 6.0 
March, 1945 115,738 6,950 6.0 
BREAKDOWN BY INDUSTRY 
63 Reporting Establishments 
July 1, 1944 
Paper and Allied Products 3,667 5 .14 
Iron and Steel and Products 1,962 133 6.78 
Aircraft and Parts 1,795 7 .39 
Shipbuilding and Repair 108,260 5,975 5.52 
Aluminum Smelting and Refining 1,595 44 2.76 
Machinery (except Electric) 1,637 1 .06 
All other Manufacturing 5,352 46 .86 
Trans p. , Commun. , other Utilities 7,775 4 .OS 
Total 132,043 6,215 4.71 
BREAKDOWN BY INDUSTRY 
March, 1945 
Lumber and Timber Ba sic 4,950 4 .08 
Paper and Allied Products 4,494 7 .15 
Iron and Steel Products 1,566 188 12.00 
Aircraft and Parts 1,575 3 .19 
Shipbuilding and Repair 
(excluding Commercial Iron) 95,573 6,676 6 .98 
Aluminum Smelting and Refining 1,417 16 1.12 
Machinery (excluding Electric) 1,612 1 .06 
All other Manufacturing 5,379 59 1.09 
Transp., Commun., other Utilities 3,724 
Total 120,290 6,954 5.78 
Source: The City Club of Portland, "The Negro in Portland." 
83 
Contrary to prevailing belief, iq the early days of the war the 
shipyards did not recruit and import large numbers of black workers. 
In October of 1942 the shipyards reported that they had recruited only 
thirty-nine blacks from oqtside the immediate area. By contrast, the 
Union Pacific railroad was the only sizable employer which had recently 
i_mported a significant number of black workers. A total of 238 blacks 
were newly hired by the railroad, 12 4 to replace Japanese section-
gang workers and 114 blacks for the traditional work as dining-car 
stewards . 11 The majority of blacks who were in the Portland area 
during the early years of the war were young men who journeyed there 
of their own volition seeking work in an area where jobs were 
plentiful. 12 
Portlanders became worried as the number of defense industry 
workers increased and the normal routine of the usually quiet city 
changed. "Swing-shift" dances that began at 1 A. M., crowded condi-
tions in the restaurants and bars _which accommodi:;l.ted the growing 
number of "shipyard workers," the mixed sounds of Brooklyn accents 
and Arkansas drawls confused and frightened many people. "Shipyard 
worker" was defined as any recent immigrant to the Portland area 
lloregonian, October 4, 1942, p. 7. 
l 2Ibid. 
84 
whether he actually worked in the defense industry or not. Bigots 
selected as their scapegoats the recently arrived blacks and attempted 
to blame the atmosphere of frustration created by the II shipyard workers 11 
on the blacks. "New Negro Migrants Worry City, " announced a write.r 
for The Oregonian. He stated that Negroes lured to the city by waiting 
defense jobs had overtaxed the available housing for Negroes in 
Albina. 13 City officials had responded to the increased number of 
Negroes in the area by adding an extra patrol car in order to control 
disturbances in the overcrowded community. In Albina, attics had 
been converted to sleeping quarters and the Negro Elks Club had pro-
vided cots for a number of men, but still the demand for housing was 
greater than the supply. The reporter lamented the housing problems 
confronting the authorities. 
The irony of the concern over the lack of housing is illus-
trated by an article that had appeared on the front page of The 
Oregonian the previous day. Director of the Census , J. C. Ca pt, of 
Washington, D. C., stated that according tp the reported vacancy rate, 
58,000 more people could live in Portland"without crowding. 14 Evi-
dently Capt did not consider the racial aspect of the problem, a 
factor important to the people of Portland. 
13oreg;onian, September 23, 1942, p. 1. 
14oregonian, September 22, 1942, p. 1. 
85 
The restricted district that housed most of the Negroes in 
19 40 extended from the ea st edge of the river to Union Avenue and 
stretched north from the Steel Bridge to Russell Avenue. After the 
Japanese were evacuated, Negroes moved into the area west of the 
river formerly qccupied by the Japanese, thus relieving some of the 
pressur~. Throughout the early period of the war, rumors abounded 
concerning construction of ad<;litional housing for Negro defense plant 
workers . 15 White inhabitants of Albina met in the fall of 1942 to 
protest a proposed dormitory to be built in their area for 500 Negro 
workers. Headed "Court Action Voted to Block Housing Plan for 
Negroes, 11 the reporter cited an increase in crime as one of the major 
reasons for the whites' objection to the housing project. 16 Allowing 
the Negroes to fan out through the city, one spokesman predicted, 
would soon require a policeman on every corner. Another contended 
that the Negroes should be housed on the edge of the city. Inasmuch 
as the blacks already lived in a section of Albina, the whites in 
adjacent areas were particularly sensitive to increased expansion of 
the Negro area. Where the Negroes were housed did not matter to 
most whites as long as it was not near their own neighborhood. In this 
15oregonian, October 4, 1942, p. 7. 
l 6oregonian, September 30, 1942, p. 1. 
86 
particular instance, the excitement was unwarranted because Henry 
Freeman, executive director of the Housing Authority of Portland, 
denied that any plan~ existed for a Negro dormitory in Albina. About 
fifteen dwelling units were planned, he claimed, put they could be 
occupied by either blacks or whites . 1 7 
The incident illustrates the tension that existed in the city 
during the early war years as rapid changes were taking place. 
Racially oriented prot~sts, mostly on an individual or small group 
basis, were manifestations of the existing tension. Concern for the 
status quo was voiced by Earl Riley, mayor of Portland., when he 
warned that Portland could. absorb only a small number of Negroes 
without upsetting the city's regular life . 18 
Mayor Riley• s sentiments were also expressed in the black 
community. Some of the older residents were concerned that the influx 
of a large number of Negroes would cause the whites to become alarmed 
and to withdraw the privileges which blacks in Portland had accumu-
lated. In addition, Negro residents in Albina were hard-pressed to find 
1 7O regonian, October 4, 19 42 , p. 7 . 
1 Boregonian, June 2 4, 19 45 , Magazine Section, p. 2 . 
87 
space in which to accommodate the newcomers because Albina was 
overcrowded .1, 9 
The city of Portland did not have to abserb the total Negro 
population that migrated to the area. Because of the ncitional emer,... 
gency•, Federal funds were available to build temporary wartime h0us-
:.~~-
ing. It was to such housing projects as Vanport City and Guilds Lake 
that the majority of the Negroes moved; some also lived in Linton and 
Fairview Horpes, With the exqeption of Linton, a small development, 
Negrqes were restricted to segregated portions of the projects. Vanport, 
or Kaiserville ·as it was originally called, was north of the Portland city 
'i 
limits and was the largest project in the area with 10, 35 6 living units. 
In November of 1944 Vanport had a population of over 32,600 and was 
the second largest city in Oregon.20 The number of blacks in Vanport 
at that time was over 5,800 or triple the Portland pre--war Negro 
population. 
Within the city limits; rn;mcentrations of Negro housing devel-
oped. Figure 5 illustrates the clustering of Negro dwellings. Just east 
of the river was the traditional "colored II area expanding along Williams 
19rnterview with E. S1mpson Hill, Executive Director, 
Portland Urban League, October 15 , 19 69 . 
20city Club of Portland, "The Negro in Portland, 11 Portland 
City Club Bullet~n (Portland; City Club of Portland, 1945), p. 57. 
88 
NE 
.. 
•• 
a 
• NEGRO DWELLINGS • • 
• NEGRO BUSINESSES aw . •• • • •  • J-• ii!IC\i~;ge 
"P"li ... 
- • 
WOODSTOCK UJfli 
• 
..SE LLWOO.> • 
• 
Fig. 5.--Areas of Negro Concentration: 1945 
(Source: City Club of Portland, 11 The Negro in Portland. 11 ) 
89 
Avenue. The section near Richmond in the southeast part of the city 
housed Negroes employed by the nearby Union Pacific railroad yards. 
West of the Willamette River and north of the business district was the 
largest wartime housing development within the city limits, Guilds 
Lake, with over 2,600 units. All facilities and areas that tolerated 
blacks before the war were utilized during the emergency when housing 
needs became critical. The ex9ct number of Negroes living in the 
Portland-Vancouver area during the war is unknown, but estimates 
Nnge from zo·, 000 to 25,000. 21 When hostilities ceased and defense 
jobs were cut ba_ck(. the number of blacks dropped sharply to approxi-
mately 9,500. 
The reduction in population helped to relieve the pressure on 
existing facilities. Dormitories, which housed single men during the 
war, closed and men who had left their families in their home states 
either returned there or brought their families to Portland and sought 
dwellings. The temporary wartime projects continuecf.to· accommodate 
the demand for housing as th~ nation returned, to a p~acetime economy. 
In the first few years- after the war, the geographic distribution of 
blacks as depicted in Figure 5 continued, although the blacks were 
fewer in number. 
21 Interview with E. Simpson Hill, October 15, 2 2, 19 69. 
90 
After the war, the two major problems facing the black in 
Portland were job opportunities and living accommodations. Although 
the same problems faced thousands of defense workers and returning 
servicemen, the blacks had two additional serious difficulties to over-
come: their limited job skills and the racial prejudice of whites. 
Prior to the end of the war, some people were already consid-
ering Oregon 1 s peacetime economy and were concerned about the over-
abundant supply of lab9r that would accompany the phasing out of 
defense work. In June of 1945 Ron Moxness, staff writer for The 
Oregonian, interviewed Portlanders concerning their outlook on postwar 
conditions in the city. The ge11eral forecast was pessimistic. The 
writer was dismayed that some officials were still " ... guided by the 
wishful thought that the Negroes will go back home [after the war] 
leaving the city untouched by racial problems. 11 22 Despite numerous 
meetings with community leaders in which the racial issue in Portland 
yva s discussed, Mayor Earl Riley, in the spring of 19 45, still doubted 
that a race problem existed in the city. 23 
22Ron Moxness, "Negro Postwar Outlook," Oregonian, 
June 17, 1945, Mc;1gazine Section, p. 8. 
23oregonian, June 24, 1945, Magazine Section, p. 2.; A 
month earlier the mayor heard the charge that social discrimination 
allegedly occurred in a Chinese restaurant. Relating the incident to 
the mayor, a Negro man reported that a Chinese waitress called to 
91 
Lack of foresight and planning can be attributed in part to the 
provincial attitude held by residents in the city. Moxness found many 
people worried about the disposition of the "shipyard workers" after the 
defense plants ceased production. The prevailing opinion was that 
after the war the community would take care of its own, but that it was 
in no position to care for additional population, black or white. 24 
As predicted, the end of the war with Japan affected the " 
demand for labor. When The Oregonian announced in September of 1946, 
"Job Sources For Negroes Dry Up With End of War, " the Negro popula-
tion had dropped to approximately 11,000. 25 Expectations were that 
the black population would stabilize at about l O, 000. 
The lack of job opportunities continued to plague the blacks. 
Their second major problem, housing, with its underlying sociological 
implications, created an even greater furor in the city since the whites 
were particularly sensitive in this area. Some whites, however, 
recognized and criticized the racial discrimination shown in housing. 
his attention a sign, "We Cater to White Only." He exclaimed, "How 
the hell did you get in h(;lre? 11 According to the newspaper article, 
tl'ie mayor admitted that the Negro had a point and promised to investi-
gate. Oregonian, May 25, 1945, p. 9. 
24Ron Moxness, "Negro Postwar Outlook, 11 Oregonian, 
June 17, 19 45, Magazine Section, p. 8. 
25oregonian, September 8, 1946, p. l O. 
92 
For example, Clarence Ivy, assistant personnel manager for the Kaiser 
Company, advocated that ;real estate men and white property owners 
stop trying to imp9se their own concept of racial segregation. He pre-
dicted th9t if whites would sell and rent property according to the 
ability to pay, the Negro housing problem would almost completely 
disappear. 26 The majority of Negroes continued to be housed, either 
by coincidence or de sign, in particular sections of the wartime housing 
projects and in the "colored II section of Albina. The wartime housing 
was to be phased out within two years after the end of hostilities with 
Japan, and the question was asked of city officials, "Where will they 
[blacks] move in the city? 11 No answer was proposed .. 2 7 
Guilds Lake and Vanport City continued to house the majority 
of the wartime Negro immigrants during the first years after the war. 
Vanport City, located outside the city limits between Portland and 
Vancouver, acco111modated the largest number. Both housing projects 
were considered temporary, and in 1948 a section of Guilds Lake, 180 
units, was demolished to make way for industrial development. Since 
this northwest section of the city was zoned for industry, planners had 
expected Guilds Lake to be completely razed earlier than Vanport City. 
26oregonian, November 17, 1942, p.1. 
27 Oregonian, October 24, 19 45, p. 9. 
93 
Not included in the plan was a rapid spring thaw in the 
mountains and a weakened dike. On Memorial Day, 1948, the swollen 
waters broke through the railroad embankment that served as a dike to 
contain the river, and totally destroyed Vanport City. The question 
asked in 1945 concerning where the blacks of Vanport would move was 
now answered--they moved into the city of Portland, 
Many blacks moved into vacant units at the Guilds Lake 
housing project. All the small housing projects were filled with 
refugees, black and white alike. Several spokesmen asserted that for 
the first time housing in Portland was assigned impartially, regardless 
of color. Estimates placed the number of Negroes flooded out at Van-
port City at approximately 5,000. 28 Undoubtedly some Negroes left 
the Portland-Vancouver area following the disaster, but most of them 
remained. The additional blacks moving into the city taxed the exist-
ing facilities, and the boundaries of the black community in Albina 
kept expanding. 
To most· Portlanders, Albina is synonymous with the 11Williams 
Avenue area" or Negro community. Because Albina was not a political 
28Editorial, Oregonian, June 4, 1948, p. 16. I believe that 
number to be excessive in that only 9,500 Negroes were recorded in 
the 1950 census. 
94 
subsection and did not have definite geographic boundaries, each group 
studying the area defined the term "Albina" as it would be used in their 
investigation. 
In 1962 Albina was subject to a study by the Portland City 
Planning Commission. The area south of Fremont Street between Union 
Avenue and the Willamette River was the focus of the investigation and 
was designated as the "Central Albina Area. " The members of the com-
mission recognized the vagueness of Albina I s bou.ndarie s , and, to avoid 
confusion, designated a larger area, from Kiliingsworth south to the 
Banfield Freeway between Interstate Avenue and NE 16th Avenue, as 
the "Study Area. 1129 
The 1964 Committee on Race and Education of the Portland 
School District 11 ... arbitrarily fixed 'Albina' as the attendance dis-. 
tricts of elementary schools (K-8) with Negro enrollments exceeding 
25 per cent in 19 63-64. 11 30 This designation included the City 
Planning Commission I s "Central Albina Area" but also protruded north 
29Research Memorandum, "Central Albina Study, " Portland 
City Planning Commission, November, 1962; Race and Education 
Subcommittee on Community and Home Environment, School District 
No. I Curriculum Library, Portland, Oregon. 
3 0committee on Race and Education, Herbert M. Schwab, 
Chairman, Race and Equal Educational Opportunity in Portland's Public 
Schools; .A Report to the Board of Education Multnomah School District 
No. l (Portland: The School District, 19 64), p. 33. Hereinafter cited 
Race and Equal Educational Opportunity in Portland Public Schools. 
95 
beyond Fremont Street almost to Jefferson High School and extended 
several blocks east of Union Avenue, The Race and Education Com~ 
mittee agreed with the Planning Commission that the general public 
conceived Albina as including a much larger area in northeast Portland, 
but the committee's boundaries generally agreed with those set by the 
planning commission for their "Study Area." The most thought-
provoking definition of Albina was offered by a Negro adult who mused, 
"Albina--that'$ wherever a Negro lives." 
Albina, in the remainder of this study, will describe the 
general area in northeast Portland in which the majority of-the blacks 
in the city live. When more precise geographic limits are needed, 
sch9ol attendance areas or specific census tracts will be cited. 
The Jefferson High School attendance area,"is a part of Albina. 
How that section of Albina came to be "home" for Portland blacks is 
pertinent to this study. As previously stated, after the war, housing 
was one of the two major problems facing the blacks. Three -factors 
influenced where they would live: the neighborhood school policy, 
racial discrimination practiced by real estate dealers, and racial 
prejudice on the part of the whites. The latter two factors were 
major deterrents to Negroes moving freely within the city. The neigh-
borhood school policy was significant because school attendance areas 
became units by which the bl,ack community's expansion was measured. 
96 
School boundary lines were often limits beyond which black intrusion 
was strongly resisted. White residents of the city, especially those in 
Albina, carefully watched for any attempt on the part of Negroes to 
move into white neighborhoods. When the limited area available to the 
blacks became crowded, racial discrimination still prevented them from 
moving into other sections of the city. 
An incident which occurred in 1947 brought to the attention of 
the public the blatant discrimination against Negroes seeking adequate 
housing. The catalyst causing the problem to be publicized was Port-
land's neighborhood school policy, a policy of which Portland was 
proud. For years the plan exemplified a concept of service to the 
community in that, generally speaking, the school board attempted to 
determine the direction and rate of growth in the city. On recommenda-
tion of the board, the school district purchased sites in anticipation of 
future expansion and built schools as the areas developed. The 
boundaries of the attendance area were drawn so that the children did 
not have to cross an arterial or walk more than a mile to school. 
The influence of the neighborhood school policy went beyond 
merely determining which school children would attend. The attend-
ance areas were used to distinguish neighborhoods as white, mixed, or 
black. For instance, as the blacks in Albina expanded north and 
occupied the southern edge of a school attendance area, whites in the 
97 
remainder of the area felt threatened. Because the black children 
attended the same school as the white children, whites attempted to 
transfer their children to other schools. 
School board members would not adjust school boundaries 
solely to increase or decrease the number of white and Negro children 
in any school, nor would they adjust boundaries to affect the socio-
economic composition of any student population. 3l 
Portland's neighborhood school policy was seriously chal-
lenged in 1947. Prior to that time, complaints were made on an indi-
vidual basis, but this new attack was an organized effort. Because of 
the overcrowded conditions at Eliot Elementary School, school board 
members voted to discontinue their plans to remodel the old Jane 
Addams High School for administrative office use. Instead the building 
was to be used as Holladay Elementary School and the school attend-
ance areas were to be adjusted accordingly, in order to relieve the 
overcrowded conditions at Eliot. 32 Since Eliot was said to be 73 per 
cent black, many of the children transferring to Holladay would be 
black. The white parents in the Holladay attendance area protested 
31Race and Equal Educational Opportunity in Portland's 
Public Schools, p. 21 . 
32oregonian, August 15, 1947, p. 23. 
98 
vehemently, but board members upheld the earlier decision retaining 
the neighborhood school policy and the established school boundaries. 
Representatives of Negro groups deplored the racial element being 
thrust into the Eliot school problem. They did not want segregated 
schools. Their principal complaint about Eliot, in addition t0 it being 
overcrowded, was that it was so dilapidated that they believed it unfit 
to be used for educational purposes. 33 
Some property owners in the Holladay area reasoned that 
Negro children in the school might encourage more Negroes to move 
into that section. Anonymous whites drew up a petition to enact a 
restrictive covenant in order to prevent an influx of blacks. Residents 
circulated the petition soliciting property owners to restrict residential 
property sales to white persons only. 
The civil liberties committee of the Americans for Democratic 
Action (ADA) entered the skirmish with a counter-proposition. Warning 
the HoH,aday district residents that "Democracy has no boundaries, " 
the ADA position was a satirical parallel in its wording to the earlier 
petition advocating the restrictive covenant. 34 The League of Women 
Voters also officially condemned the restrictive covenant. They 
33.lllli!.; an estimate of 35 per cent Negro enrollment for 1947 
is mor_-e accurate. 
34oregonian, December 7, 1947, p. 25. 
99 
declared that 11 ••• it is directly counter to the American concept of 
equal opportunity for all. 11 35 
Neither in the 1940 1 s nor in the 1950's did the Negroes 
receive 11 equal opportunity" in competing for housing. Reginald 
Johnson, field secretary of the National Urban League, while in Port-
land, in 1944 to assist in establishing a local branch of the Urban 
League, declared that housing should be provided according to 
economic class levels and not be determined by race. 36 
His suggestion was not followed, however, and the Urban 
League reported in 1947 that practically no new housing was being 
planned for Negro occupancy. The report asserted that a high degree of 
residential segregation had been effected by the simple means of 
decreeing it a breach of ethics for a member of the realty board to sell 
or rent ~o Negroes in other than designated areas. Such tactics 
assured Negroes of getting worn out, "hand-me-down II property that 
no one else wanted. 37 
.. 
Until the 1950's, the National Association of Real Estate 
Boards (NAREB) included in its code of ethics a requirement to maintain 
35oregonian, December 16, 1947, p. 12. 
36oregonian, December 14, 1944. 
37oregonian, March 9, 1947, p. 1. 
100 
racial homogeneity. "A real tor should never be instrumental in intro-
ducing into a neighborhood a character of property or occupancy, 
members of any race or nationality, or any individuals whose presence 
will clearly be detrimental to property values in that neighborhood. 11 38 
In 1949 a real estate dealer was expelled by the Portland 
Realty Board for a breach of this ethic by selling a house located in a 
white neighborhood to a black. "On the north side of Hawthorne 
Street there are colored people, " the dealer stated, 11 but since I sold 
property on the south side ... I am unethical. .. 39 
In the 1950's, the NARES rescinded that section frnm its code 
of ethics. Some realtors circumvented the spirit of the change and 
twisted article 34 of the Realtor's Code of Ethics to suit their own 
purposes. The article states, "A realtor should not be instrumental in 
introducing into a neighborhood a character of property or use which 
will clearly be detrimental to property values in that neighborhood. " 
This article was used by some persons as a subterfuge to avoid, 
I 
selling property in white neighborhoods to Negroes. 40 
38League of Women Voters of Portland, "An Examination of 
the Attitudes, Policies and Procedures Which Affect the Application of 
the Oregon 1959 Fair Housing Law" (Portland: The League of Women 
Voters of Portland, 1962), p. 6. 
39oregonian, January 13, 1949, p. l. 
4Dsee Appendix VII. 
101 
In 1957 a committee of the City Club of Portland investigating 
the conditions of Portland's Negroes flatly stated " ... it is common 
knowledge in many circles that 90 per cent or more of the real estate 
brokers in Portland will not sell a home to a Negro in a white neighbor-
hood even though the prosp~ctive buyer can handle the deal 
financially. 1141 Thus real estate dealers' practices and strong-· 
comQ1unity attitude limited expansion of the black community to sec-
tions adjacent to areas of black concentration in Albina. 
Integrated neighborhoods in southern Albina became black as 
white families moved out and black families replaced them. The black 
community expand~d north toward Jefferson High School as the dilapi-
dated sections along Williams Avenue were released to black occu-
pancy. The rate and direction of expansion influenced the racial com-
./ 
position of the schools in the path of the spreading black residential 
pattern. As the elementary schools in Jefferson's attendance area 
increased in black enrollment, Jefferson's racial composition was also 
to change. 
By observing Figures 6, 7, and 8, the changes that occurred 
over a twenty-year period can be seen. The demographic maps reveal 
41 city Club of Portland, "The Negro in Portland: A Progress 
Report 1945-57," Portland City Club Bulletin {Portland: City Club of 
Portland, 195 7), p. 359. • 
102 
• REPRESENTS 10 PEOPLE 
Fig. 6.--Distribution of Negro Population: 1940 
(Source: U. S. Bureau of the Census. U . .2_. Census of 
Population: 1940, StatisUcs !Qt. Census Tracts .QY. Cities,) 
103 
I 
l'°"' ..... 
\.\ --.......... ~ 
l\.., 
I 
L--·-, 
I 
I 
N 
I 
I 
I 
_ _J 
...... ---
• REPRESENTS 10 PEOPLE 
Fig. 7 .--Distribution of Negro Population: 1950 
(Source: U. S. Bureau of the Census. U. S. Census of 
Population: 1950, Vol. III, Census Tract Statistics, 
Chapter 63.) 
104 
.·:- . .. ......__, 
. ~ ..:  . 
. ..  ....... __ ':
.-
 · -,   : 
N 
I 
I 
• • I 
I 
I I 
L-·--' 
• REPRESENTS 10 PEOPLE 
fig. 8. --Distribution of Negro Population: 1960 
(Source: U. S. Bureau of the Census. U. _§_. Census of 
Population and Housing: 1960. Census Tracts. Final 
R,iport PHC (1)-121.) 
105 
the shift in black population, but do not show the outflow of whites. 
from the Albina section. The absolute changes in population of Albina 
are shown in Table 3. The twenty years of expansion of the black resi-
dential area directly influenced the racial composition of·Jefferson High 
School. 
In 1940 Negroes lived in almost all of the census tracts in 
Portland, but the vast majority, over 60 per cent, lived in the four 
specified census tracts. In actuality, they were largely concentrated 
(over 50 per cent) in census tracts 22 and 23. From the east _bank of 
the river, the area of Negro concentration stretched across Williams 
Avenue to Union Avenue. The greatest density was from Williams 
Avenue west to the Willamette River. 
By 1950 the number of blacks in northeast Portland was triple 
the 1940 figure and Negro dwellings spread to east of Union Avenue 
and north of Fremont. Just over 5 0 per cent of Portland's Negroes lived 
in Albina representing a seemingly significant decline in percentage 
compared to 1940, a decline which could be interpreted as an indica-
tion that the Negro population was dispersing throughout the city. 
Census tract analysis supports the contention that Negroes were 
scattered throughout Portland living in 58 of the 61 census tracts. The 
contention is misleading, however, for many of the tracts contained but 
one or two Negro families, indicating no significant change from the 
106 
TABLE 3 
ALBINA POPULATIONa 
1940b 1950c 1960d 
Total Population 26,438 28,589 22,816 
White Population 24,972 23,215 11,013 
Negro Population 1,161 5,064 11,431 
% White of Total Population 94.5 81.2 48.2 
% Negro of Total Population 4.4 17.7 50.1 
% Negro of Total Negro 
Population in Portland 60.1 53.1 73.1 
acensus tracts 22, 23, 33, and 34 for years 1940 and 1950 
are, with slight changes, the samt.as 22A, 22B, 23A, 23B, 33A, 33B, 
34A, and 34B for the census in 1960. 
bu. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 
Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940: Population, Statistics 
for Census Tracts ~ Cities. 
cu. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 
U. S. Census of Population: 1950 Vol. III, Census Tract Statistics, 
Chapter 63. 
du. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 
U. §.. Census of Population and Housing: 19 60. Final Report 
PHC (1)-121. 
107 
previous decade. A primary factor that reduced the percentage of 
Portland 1s Negroes in Albina during the 1950 census was not dispersion 
but the large concentration of blacks in two wartime housing projects. 
Guilds Lake and Mocks Bottom, located in census tracts 43 and 45 on 
the west side of the Willamette River, contained almost 2, 400 Negroes. 
These two housing projects closed in the 1950's and their· 
Negro inhabitants m<;>Ved to north ea st Portland where, by 19 6 0 , large 
numbers of Negroes were living as far north as Killingsworth Street and 
as far south as the Banfield Freeway. Interstate Avenue marked the 
western boundary and 18th Street, the eastern limits. Within the 
specified census tracts lived 73· per cent of the black population of 
Portland, The remaining 3 7 per cent were not evenly distributed 
throughout the city but were concentrated mainly in two census tracts 
Just outside the Albina area. One tract lay to the east and the other to 
the north, penetrating to the northern edge of the Jefferson High School 
attendance area. Thus, a considerable portion of the Negroes not 
actually living in Albina proper represented a vanguard enlarging that 
area. 42 
The northern movement of blacks into the Jefferson High 
School attendance area is reflected in the change of Negro enrollment 
42~ and Equal Education Opportunity in Portland Public 
Schools, p. 34. • 
108 
at Jefferson's "feeder schools. 11 Prior to the 1962-63 school year, • 
school administrators did not officially record by race the number of 
children in each school. All percentages prior to that date, shown in 
Table 4, are estimates made by W. A. Oliver, Assistant Superintendent 
of Portland I s schools. 43 
Eliot Elementary School, located near the center of the Negro 
residential area, had a .substantial percentage of black students as 
early as 194 7-48. Only those students living in the northern portion of 
the Eliot attendance area, however, attended Jefferson High School. 
That area was eliminated in 1965 when the southern boundary of Jeffer-
son's attendance areas, as shown in Figure 9, was moved several 
blocks north from Russell Street to Fremont Street. This boundary 
change eliminated all the students attending Eliot and part of those 
attending Boise Elementary School from the Jefferson High School 
district. 
By 19 65, however, the leading edge of the blacks I expansion 
was far to the north. Williams Avenue marked the center of density of 
Negro population; Figure 9 shows most of the predominantly Negro 
schools located near this arterial. 
43Letter from W. A. Oliver, Assistant Superintendent of 
Schools, to John S. Holley, Portland Urban League, dated October 2 7, 
1961. Files of the Portland Urban League. 
TABLE 4 
PERCENTAGE OF NEGRO ENROLLMENT IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 
IN THE JEFFERSON ATTENDANCE AREA 
School 1940 1950 1955 1960 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 
-64 -65 -66 -67 -68 -69 
Applegate 2.9 1 4 4 2 . 7 
Beach 6.9 7 11 14 14 13.9 
Boise 5 35 75 94 96.3 96 99 98 93 90 
Chief Joseph .2 0 1 1 2 1.4 
Eliot 10 55 85 96 9 6 .1 94 91 74 92 51.3 
Highland/King 3 15 60 75 79.3 87 92 93 94 93.8 
Rumbolt 75 B9.9 92 91 93 91 87.8 
Kenton 1. 2 3 4 - 4 s 6.5 
Ockley ·Green 2.0 5 7 8 11 10.9 
Vernon 8 11. 6 16 20 25 27 35.8 
Woodlawn 1 5 10 15 22.3 27 32 37 38 34.8 
i-' 
0 
<D 
110 
,., 
.... sell ...... 
LIQT \Boundoy befor• 19bl5 
Fig. 9. --Jefferson High School Attendance Area 
111 
Shortly after the war, the elementary schools first reflected 
the change in the composition of Albina's population, but Jefferson 
High School's change in racial composition was not to become notice-
able until the late 1950' s. 
112 
CHAPTER V 
JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL DURING WORLD WAR II AND TO 1954 
Portland's public school system, as well as all the municipal 
facilities in the city, was severely taxed by the increased wartime 
population. Simply finding adequate space to accommodate the 
elementary school pupils was one of the major problems of the school 
administration. 
At the secondary level, the concerns of the students and the 
school officials were of a different nature. Many of the students at 
Jefferson High School were mature and eager to assume an adult's role 
in the wartime society. The labor shortage provided them an opportu-
nity to work and aid the war effort, while legally they were required to 
attend school. Furthermore, traditional courses did not fit the current 
atmosphere. The war was uppermost in the minds of all Americans and 
it permeated every aspect of their lives. Work, entertainment, and 
even advertising was directed toward a' war-related society. Educators 
also sought ways tcflncorporate a wartime theme into the school 
program. 
The sudden influx of large numbers of children upset the 
orderly expansion of educational facilities. To further complicate 
113 
matters, planners were unable to obtain in advance even reas0nably 
accurate estimates of the number of children to expect for a coming 
school year. 
Officials generally anticipated a decline in the number of 
secondary school students, but an increase in elementary school pupils. 
In the summer of 1943, for instance, school officials announced that 
they were planning for 750 to 1,200 additional elementary students in 
the fall. 1 Their plans included adding temporary classrooms, as they 
had the previous year, and reactivating Sitton Elementary School. 
Sitton had been closed for several years, during which time it was 
utilized as a storage building, but its location near the Oregon Ship-
building Corporation made its reactivation as an elementary school a 
logical move. 
The chairman of the school board requested Federal assistance 
to provide temporary school buildings for children whose parents were 
employed in the defense industries. A twenty-two room elementary 
school adjacent to the Guilds Lake housing project would, he believed, 
alleviate the overcrowded condition of the schools in that section of 
the city. 2 Board members expected favorable consideration for their 
1oregonian, July 22, 1943, p. 11. 
2Ibid. 
114 
request because the United States government provided funds for the 
elementary schools at Vanport City. 
Despite the advance planning, when school commenced in the 
fall of 1943, facilities were over-crowded. Chapman Elementary 
School, which had been enlarged, Sitton Elementary School, and George 
Elementary School were forced to hold double sessions. These schools 
and all others located near defense housing projects were hard-pressed 
to find room to accommodate the pupils. 3 
The secondary schools in the city did not fare as badly as the 
elementary. Vanport City high school students were bused into Port-
land where most of them attended Roosevelt and Jefferson High Schools. 
During the 1943-44 school year, approximately 500 students commuted 
to high school in Portland. Those attending Jefferson High School 
helped increase its enrollment of 2,060 students, making it the 
largest school in the city, 4 The influx of secondary school students 
caused by the wartime population more than offset the number of 
students leaving school to enlist in the armed forces or to work in the 
defense plants. 
3oregonian, September 8, 1943, p. 1. 
4rbid. , p. 12. 
115 
A large number of older boys and some girls from Jefferson 
High School did work in defense-related jobs. Some of the boys were 
employed full-time in the shipyards. With the cooperation of school 
officials, their schedules were so arranged that they were able to 
remain in school and yet make a contribution to the war effort. 
Other school policies were adjusted to accommodate the 
unusual demands placed on youth because of the war. Many Jefferson 
students replaced adults in forest-protection posts and in the food-
processing industries. Because they were required to work beyond the 
date when school would normally begin, school officials made special 
allowances for them. The superintendent of schools announced early 
in August of 1943 that students so engaged would be permitted to 
enroll late. 5 All that was required was a statement from their 
employers to the effect that they were working. Such accommodation 
was a reflection of the general attitude prevalent during the war years 
of adjusting policy and rules to help solve immediate problems. 
Wartime demands and problems also affected the teaching 
staff at Jefferson High School. Teachers who were members of the 
armed forces reserves were ordered to active duty and others volun-
teered for service. The inclination to contribute directly to the war 
5oregonian, August 12, 1943, p. 1. 
116 
effort was not limited solely to the male faculty. One woman teacher 
left to become a fled Cross director with the armed forces and an0ther 
became an officer in the WAVES. 6 
As staff members departed, it was difficult to obtain replace-
ments. The higher salaries paid by the defense industries, in addition 
to the attitude that becoming a "shipyard worker" would help to hasten 
the end of the war, made recruiting of teachers difficult. Loyalty to 
Jefferson kept some teachers at their posts and brouc~·ht other retired 
teachers back to the classrooms. 
During the war years, pictures of the Jefferson High School 
staff in the school yearbook, The Spectrum, reflected the high demand 
of the wartime emergency for young men: the staff was older and pre-
dominantly female. 7 Women teachers had always been in the majority 
at Jefferson High School, but their percentage increased during the 
1942-45 period. 
Wartime exigency, again as in World War I, invaded Jefferson 
High School and influenced the curriculum. The effect was not as 
emotionally based as in 1918, but it influenced the curriculum mere 
6The Spectrum, 1943. 
7rhe Spectrum, 1942-1945. 
117 
dee1,>ly. Perhaps this difference can be partly attributed to the peoples' 
acceptance of the concept of 11 total war 11 and the long duration of 
hostilities. 
The 11 total war" concept demanded that complete utilization of 
the nation's resources be directed toward the war effort. The greatest 
I 
basic resource in America was its youth, according to educational 
leaders who declared that they would be remiss if they continued 
"school as usual. 11 These men believed that their duty was to prepare 
the youth of the nation for the responsibilities and opportunities 
resulting from II total war. 11 8 
As a direct consequence of these expressions of concern, the 
State Department of Education forwarded a directive to all school dis-
tricts generally outlining a wartime curriculum. The.Victory Corps 
Program: A Wartime Program for High Schools, was the result of a 
national committee established by the United States Offiqe of Educa-
tion. Membership on the committee included representatives from 
various facets of the educational groups. Parent-teacher organiza-
tions, library associations, and health associations were all repre-
sented, as well as school superintendents, principals, teachers, and 
Bn. A. Emerson and Joy Hills, The Victory Corps Program: 
A Wartime _Program For High Schools (Salem, Oregon: Superintendent 
of Public Instruction, 1943), p. 1. 
118 
college and university presidents. Working sq.b-committees called 
upon secondary education specialists and experts from the Army and 
Navy to aid in developing the high school Victory Corps Program. 9 
A directive issued by Rex Putnam, Superintendent of Public 
Instruction for Oregon, indicated that the Victory Corps was a voluntary 
organization for high schools and entirely under the supervision of the 
local schools. The Victory Corps Program was designed to train the 
youth for active participation in military service, war production, and 
essential community service occupations . 10 The program 1 s objectives 
were to be accomplished by modifying the content and emphasis of the 
existing c;::urriculum and, in some instances, deleting parts of the 
traditional offerings. Which portions of a subject the teacher should 
delete or retain were not specified in the directive; the decision was 
left to the active teaching staff. The authors of the directive admitted 
that it had been difficult to state what might be finally eliminated, 
11 as almost all that we do has value. ,,l l 
The directive proposed that a program in wartime citizenship 
should be a part of the English and social studies courses. The 
following questions suggested a shift in emphasis: 
9rbid., p. 2. 
1 Drbid. 
11Ibid., p. 7. 
119 
1. Could some work in short story and essay now given in 
English be profitably replaced by more instruction in 
grammar, and in correct and concise usage, both written 
and spoken? 
2. Should more emphasis be given in the classroom to correct 
usage of the spoken word with attention to diction and 
enunciation? 
3. Could some of the work in American and English literature 
be replaced by current history? Where this was done, 
however, preparation should be thorough and the material 
studied should be studied for definite purpose. 
4. Could some of the current social studies programs be 
replaced with offerings which are more in keeping with 
the times and would have greater educational value:?12 
Jefferson High School's adaptation of the program extended 
beyond the English and social studies curricula. In science and 
mathematics, teachers connected the classroom work with related 
phases of military or d~fense work. Pre-aeronautics and principles of 
flight were introduced as units of study in physics. Students also 
studied meteorology and the functions of various instrumep.ts connected 
to the study of the weather. Handbooks furnished by military agencies 
12tbid. In the early 1960 1s, a rapidly-growing though still 
small minority would ask school officials to look again at the needs of 
the community. Those same questions which had been asked concern-
ing the citizenship courses in the Victory Program could, with some 
modification, be posed with the problems of the inner city in mind. 
This minority would urge that the system be changed once more to 
meet the needs of the community--this time the black community. 
120 
provided realism for the courses as well as serving as basic 
textbooks . 13 
With the war being fought on many fronts, map reading had 
become important. Geography took on new meaning as the usual • 
memorization of capitals and products gave way to the study of the 
relationships of the land masses of the world. In addition, students 
gained a better understanding of the problems of logistics as they com-
puted distances between countries in terms of flying or sailing time . 14 
A major departure from the traditional program occurred in 
physical education. Th,e staff abandoned the practice of teaching 
11 carry over" sports such as handball, tennis, and golf, with emphasis 
on good sportsmanship and fair play. Replacing the old supervised 
11 play periods II were rough and tumble 11 gym II classes stressing contact 
sports. Physical education emphasized wrestling, commando-style 
wall scaling, and rope climbing for boys, as well as calesthenics 
designed to build up shoulder, back, and leg muscles .15 Stories 
concerning the rigors of jungle warfare stirred those persons responsible 
13Richard Nokes, "It's M Day at School, 11 Oregonian, 
January 24, 1943, Magazine Section, pp. 4-5. • 
14rbid. 
15Ibid. 
~
121 
for physical training to do their utmost to adequately prepare the youths 
for whatever demands might lie ahead. 
The effectiveness or degree of influence that the new curricu:-
lum had on the Jefferson students is difficult to determine. One 
teacher commented that the focus of the subject matter shifted some-
what and war-related examples were used in class, but he felt that the 
basic content was about the same. Another stated, "I cannot remember 
that I actually changed my classes much, 11 but she hastened to add, 
" the subject of the war was always in evidence. 1116 
Aceptance of the Victory Program required a shift from the 
traditional long range educational objectives. The wartime curriculum 
was designed to prepare the youth to solve immediate problems in order 
to accept the responsibilitie~ that would be thrust t.ipon them whian 
leaving high school during the war emergency. By design, the curricu-
lum and its goals were sharp departures from tradition. In actual 
practice, the differences perhaps were not so drastic, but the public's 
reaction was to the conceptual model rather than to what actually took 
place in the classrooms. The community accepted the new program 
because it beHeved at the time that the change was necessary. 
Throughout the country, and especially in areas of concentrated 
l 6rnterviews with teachers who were at Jefferson High 
School during the war years. 
122 
defense industries such as Portland, there was a loud and continuous 
clamor through newspapers and radio to support the war effort. 
Because the people supported the change, or at lea st were in agreement 
with the goals of the wartime curriculum, little if any criticism was 
heard. 
When school commenced in the fall of 1944, the student:;; 
commuting from Vanport City and the crowded conditions in Albina 
raised Jefferson's enrollment to 2,145. Since. the war ended the follow-
ing year, 1944 was the last year of the Victory Program. Unlike the 
1918 war period, school officials lost no time in returning to the 
traditional curriculum. Interest at Jefferson, as in the rest of the 
city, had begun to focus on a conflict between "progressive educa-
tion" and the "traditional approach. " 
A controversy was touched off in 1945 when William 8. 
Spaulding, the superintendent of Portland's schools, announced that 
there was to be a shift of emphasis in the secondary schools, most of 
which would become "comprehensive" high schools, offering a general 
academic course to all students in the freshman and sophomore years. 
During the junior and senior years, the few students who so desired 
would be able to attend technical courses at Benson Polytechnic High 
School, but Spaulding implied that he expected most students to 
pursue an academic course rather than the technical courses such as 
123 
had been offered previously at the district's specialized schools . 17 
The old system of vocational training was out of date, the superintend-
ent declared. 
When in 1916 Benson High School began offering courses in 
blacksmithing, woodworking, and machine shop work, there was a 
need for such train,ing. At that time boys did not go beyond elementary 
school, and with the vocational training courses they were able to 
obtain work. Rapid changes in technology, Spaulding claimed, had 
out-moded the old system .18 
The sense of unity the community had experienced during the 
war quickly disappeared with the cessation of hostUities, along with 
the cooperative spirit which grew out of the single goal shared by all 
the people--to win the war. Dr. Spaulding' s announced intention to 
alter the school system was an open invitation for opposing factions 
to form. To add to the controversy, a large number of new staff 
members were employed during the late 1940's. These teachers brought 
with them various teaching methods from colleges outside of Oregon 
and concepts which at times conflicted with the traditional practices 
then employed. 
17,Editorial, Oregonian, December 16, 19 45, p. 22. 
181bid. 
124 
The school system for the next several years was severely 
criticized by groups such as the one generally referred to in the press 
as the "traditionalists. " This group I s criticism fell into three clearly-
defined categories: 
1. Schools were not teaching fundamental subjects as well as in 
the past. 
2 . Discipline, both physical and mental, was not adequate. 
3. The "no flunking" policy and existing report card system 
discouraged the abler students and offered no incentive to 
the dull students .19 
Another group, the "progressives, 11 was concerned for the 
11 whole child" and ridiculed rote memory and drill work in the school . 
They pointed out that the school policy contained the statement 
11 ••• that the school should respect the individuality of the child. 11 
The editor of The Oregonian believed that this latter statement, with 
its many ramifications, helped to explain the complexity of the 
educational problem. 20 
At the height of the controversy, in June, 1950, Paul A. 
Rehm us, the new superintendent of Portland I s schools, in an effort to 
quiet the argument, issued a statement of school policy concerning 
curricutum. He embraced neither position but attempted to draw the 
19oregonian, June 4, 1950, p. 1. 
' I 
20Editorial, Oregonian, January 7, 1950, p. 11. 
125 
best from both. He placated the 11 traditionalists II by admitting that 
every child must, within his capability, learn certain fundamentals such 
as reading, writing, spelling, and grammar. The opposite camp was 
heartened to hear him say that the teachers and principals must con-
stantly and sympathetically study the children and youth as this was the 
only means by which tqey would understand tf,le conditions, the capabil-
ities, the interests, and the needs of each child. Rehm us concluded by 
stating, "In Portland we are holding to the middle of the road. 11 21 
Because of the controversy, the University of Portland 
initiated a study of the public schools in Portland. Researchers com-
pared the scholastic records of the graduating senior classes for the 
1948-49 school year in all of Portland's secondary schools. Jefferson 
High School students had the highest grade-point-average, 2. 48, in 
the city. Students from Portland who continued on to college, the 
study indicated, WE;Jre not in any way handicapped. 22 
At Jefferson the emphasis had been on academic excellence. 
When, in the early 1950's, natural groupings of students failed to pro..:. 
duce homogeneous classes, school officials used 11 tracking '1 or "stream-
ing" techniques, a process which tended to segregate into separate 
2loregonian, June 11, 1950, Class., p. 1. 
22oregonian, June 13, 1950, p. 22. 
126 
classes those students who were ill-prepared or who lacked the ability 
to perform high-school-level work. At this period in time, the students 
in the slower classes at Jefferson were not predominantly Negro. 
Prior to the war, Jefferson High School had had only a few 
Negro students. William Reynolds, M. D., a Negro who was graduated 
from Jefferson in the early 1940 1s, recalls that there were only four or 
five Negroes in the school during the time he attended. Jefferson's 
enrollment then was approximately 1,800 students. 23 
The number of Negroes at Jefferson High School increased only 
slightly du:r;-ing the war years. Be9ause the school was well to the north 
of the areas of Negro concentration, only a few students from Eliot, the 
school with the highest percentage of blacks, attended Jefferson. 
Pictures of the graduating class began to include more stu-
dents who had transferred to Jefferson from other states. Representa-
tives appeared from Ada, Minnesota; Fargo, North Dakota; and Mason 
City, Iowa; as well as Columbus, Georgia; Birmingham, Alabama; and 
Tyler, Texas. 24 In the June, 1944, graduating class, about one-third 
23Mirn,ites of meeting, Rqce and Education, Subcommittee on 
the Effect of Governmental Agencies on Educational Achievement, 
November, 19 63. 
24Ron Moxriess, 11 Negro Postwar Outlook," Oregonian, 
June 17, 1945, Magazine Section, p. 8. 
127 
of the students who had transferred to Jefferson High School were from 
outside the state of Oregon. Many more white students than black 
transferred from other states and it was not until after the war that the 
number of graduating black students exceeded ten. 25 
Recalling the Negro students she had known at Jefferson prior 
to 19 54, one teacher commented that " . . . they were the better-class 
Negroes." Their parents wanted them to get a good education, she 
declared, and did not allow any nonsense. 2 6 
Negroes at Jefferson were not segregated, but neither were 
they integrated. The sections of The Spectrum devoted to student 
government and to the social activities in the school indicate that 
there was little or no racial integration of black and white students. 
Occasionally, however, an individual black student was very active 
in student government and extra-curricular activities. As a rule such 
a student possessed unusual ability and was an outstanding member 
of the class. In 1950, for instance, a Negro was president of the 
student body and also participated in most of those activities open 
to a Negro. For most blacks at this time, however, school did not 
29The Spectrum, 1940-1949. 
2 6rnterview with teacher who had taught at Jefferson High 
school during the 1940's and 1950's. 
128 
include involvement in extra-curricular activities; they simply attended 
classes. 
"Bid" clubs, which students were invited to join, at.times 
.included Oriental students, but no black members were pictured. 
"Open II clubs, which accepted all members who had a common interest, 
showed Negro members -only rarely. The extra-curricular interests 
which apparently first attracted blacks in significant numbers were 
musically-oriented activities. Both boys and girls were members of the 
Glee Club, Acapella Choir, band, and orchestra. 2 7 
Athletics, the traditional avenue through which a Negro could 
achiev~ public acclaim on the national scene, was also the means most 
frequently used to gain recognition at Jefferson High School. In 1940 
the most popular player on the football team was a Negro boy. Because 
of the limited number of Negroes at Jefferson prior to the late 1950's,• 
they did not stand out as a group on the athletic squads, but they com-
peted as individuals and won positions on the teams. Critics of the 
school have made the point that, in order to gain the position, a Negro 
player was required to be vastly superior to any of his white 
competitors. 2 8 
27~ Spectrum, 1940-1954. 
2 Brnterview with black parent with interest in Jefferson High 
School during this period. 
129 
The relationship between black and white teammates during 
this period of time was not strained. Tempers flared up, on occasion 
and clashes occurred, but on an individual, not a racial, basis. 29 
The quarrel was just as likely to involve two white youths as a black 
and a white, perhaps more likely because there were more white boys 
on the teams. Asked to recall hiij attitude toward Negro students and 
teammates, one former Jefferson student replied, 11 ! didn't think any-
thing about them. They were there and that's all. .. 3o 
In 1954 the staff at Jefferson High School was not particularly 
concerned about racial segregation in the schools. Their opinion, 
like that of most Northerners, was that segregation in education was a 
problem of the South since such practices did not exist in the North. 
Jefferson High School was, in 1954, a white, lower middle-class 
comprehen$ive high school. 
29rnterview with a white student athlete who attended 
Jefferson High School in the late 1940's. 
30rbid. 
130 
CHAPTER VI 
JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL 1954-1960 
ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE AND "COLOR-BLINDNESS" 
In 1954 the Supreme Court decision of Brown versus Topeka, 
Kansas, Board of Education marked the end of the "separate but equal" 
philosophy which had in effect'limited the educational opportunities of 
most blacks in the United States. The majority of teachers at Jefferson 
High School thought that the decision was inapplicable to Portland be-
cause separate Negro schools had been discontinued there in 1871. 
Teachers made a concerted effort to "see" blacks only as students, not 
specifically as black students. The same academic standards were 
applied to all. 
During the period from 1954 to 1960, the student, as an indi-
vidual, was not the focus 0/ attention; the focus was upon attaining 
academic excellence. Jefferson High School, as part of the Portland 
school system, was deeply committed to curriculum changes. These 
changes were aimed at increasing the academic quality of the courses 
and challenging the academically gifted. Although individual teachers 
may have attempted to aid black students in their classes, officially 
131 
the faculty did not recognize deficiencies of the school curriculum in 
meeting the needs of the blacks. 
As a comprehensive high school, Jefferson was, however, 
committed to meeting the "needs of all its students." In the early 
1950's approximately 35 to 40 per cent of its graduates matriculated at 
various colleges and universities, and the college preparatory courses 
received strongest emphasis. The remaining 65 per cent of the students 
did not, as one might expect, take a markedly different course of 
instruction. They studied the same material in a diluted form. 
Non-college bound students who were academically capable 
often completed the college preparatory course. For others, the curric~ 
ulum included general mathematics, general science, and similar 
courses which met the requirements for graduation. Vocational courses, 
in which many blacks enrolled, were at an introductory level, and 
classes in industrial arts and home economics did not prepare youths 
to earn a living . 
By tradition, Jefferson's educational goals were similar to 
those espoused in 1959 by James B. Conant, the pr:ominent educator. 
Jefferson's administrators believed that a comprehensive high school 
should provide general education for all students, suitable electives 
for those students entering the labor market after high school, and 
132 
adequate preparation for students continuing their education in a 
college or university .1 
Similar to Conant's recommendations, Jefferson High School's 
curriculum tended toward academic subjects rather than the vocational 
courses which may have benefited many of the black students. Teach.-
ers at Jefferson were, as the superintendent of schools stated in 1950, 
"continually evaluating and up-grading the curriculum of the school. 112 
As early as 1947, select students from Portland's secondary 
schools were permitted to enroll in special courses at Reed College. 
In 1952 this arrangement led to Portland's Educational Enrichment Pro-
gram which was designed to challenge academically capable students. 3 
Prior to the Russian launching of Sputnik, several other curricular 
experiments, all affecting the college-bound students, were tried at 
Jefferson High School. The school administrators initiated such 
changes in the belief that they were fulfilling the needs of Jefferson's 
students and satisfying parents' expectations. 
1James B. Conant, The American High School Today (New 
York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1959), p. 17; Carl Cluff, 
"Jefferson High Holds to Early Traditions," Oregon Journal, 
February 29, 1956, p. 1. 
2oregonian, June 11, 1950, Class. p. 1. 
3Albert Kitzhaber and Alburey Castell, IntroductionjQ_ the 
Study, The Portland High School Curriculum Study, Vol. I (Multnomah 
County, Oregon: School District No. 1, 1959), p. 4. 
133 
Kenneth A. Erickson conducted a study in Portland in 1953 to 
measure parental reactions to the school program. Roughly interpreted, 
the findings indicated that most parents wanted a curriculum that was -
subject-oriented rather than II student-oriented. '' Seventy per cent of 
them wanted subjects offered in which students could do acceptable 
work and which the students would find interesting and worthwhile. 
Notwithstanding such evidence, in almost all instances, administrators 
believed that parents were more satisfied with the curriculum than the 
parents actually indicated. 4 
When the blacks in Jefferson High School began' to clamor for 
change in the school program, the administrators again mis-read the 
degree of parental satisfaction. Many educators believed that to 
improve education was to make the courses academically more rigorous. 
But the blacks wanted a broad education which was meaningful to the 
black students. For instance, they wanted to learn about the blacks' 
contribution to the nation's development and the important black men 
in the. history of the United States. Black parents wanted their children 
to learn a marketable skill. Instead, Jefferson continued in a narrow, 
subject-oriented approach to curriculum, popular during the 1950' s. 
4Kenneth A. Erickson, "A Comparison of Parent and Teacher 
Opinions Concerning School Curriculum and Methods" (unpublished 
doctoral dissertation, State College of Washington, 1953), p. 64. 
134 
Late in 1957 Herbert M. Schwab, speaking for the school 
board, was quoted in The Oregonian: " ... in the past few years there 
has been an increasing awareness of the importance of high school 
education, particularly as preparation for college and this has erupted 
into 'what can almost be termed mass hysteria' since the Soviet satelite 
was launched. 115 The school board translated this concern for .. 
academic rigor into action early in the following year. • 
In January, 1958, Portland school board members initiated 
plans for a detailed study of the curriculum for students of college 
potential in Portland high schools. Members of the committee for the 
Portland High School Curriculum Study believed that they had a mandate 
to formulate a college preparatory program. 6 Albert R. Kitzhaber, 
director of the study, reporting the findings'in 1959 stated, "The con-
sultants have tried to recommend a curriculum that can be taken with 
profit by all the students within the category 'college capable' .. 
Students of lesser ability, however, of whom a lower standard 0f 
achievement will ordinarily be expected, should be able to benefit to 
the full extent of their caP,acity. "7 
5oregonian, November 26, 1957, p. 1. 
6Kitzhaber and Castell, IntroductionJQ. the Study, pp. 4-5. 
7Ibid. , p . 21 . 
135 
Again the curriculum was designed primarily for th0se students 
who were college-bound. The remaining students, including most of 
the blacks at Jefferson High School, were expected to glean what they 
could from this academically-oriented course. In their plans, the 
official curriculum designers overlooked the "needs of all the students." 
The academically-oriente<;l curriculum did not gain the interest of many 
black students and as a result, they dropped out of school. 
When Charles L. Jones was principal of Jefferson High School 
during the 1950 1s, he enrolled students whose parents and grandparents 
had attended the school.· A former student, himself, of Jefferson, Jones 
also taught there under the direction of Hopkins Jenkins. The latter's 
influence is reflected in Jones' statement in 1956: 
Schools are obligated to give their students an appreciation of 
moral and spiritual values and the finer cultural thingq of life 
such as music and art. If you don't do that, then life isn't 
worth much and right at this particular time they have to get 
these things or it's just t00 bad. 8 
Dorothy Flegel, who helped at least two generations of 
students through Jefferson, built a reputation for her practicality and 
dedication to the school. Teachers were responsible for pressing each 
student to work to the utmost of his ability, she believed, since the 
students were not sufficiently knowleqgeable or mature to assume 
8carl Cluff, "Jefferson High Holds to Early Traditions," 
Oregon Journal, February 29, 1956, p. 1. 
136 
responsibility on their own. She agreed with Jones that the students of 
Jefferson High School should be exposed to social and cultural 
"niceties" which they may not.have had an opportunity to learn at 
home. 9 
Thus in the authoritarian atmosphere at Jefferson High School, 
emphasis was placed on white middle-class values. As· a result, the 
black student, who did not subscribe to such values, was alienated 
from the school. 
Whether or not Jones had the changing racial composition of 
Albina I s residents in mind when he voiced his educational philosophy 
is not clear. There were only approximately 100 Negroes enrolled in 
Jefferson at the time, but he must have been aware of the extent of 
black enrollment at Jefferson 1 s feeder sqhools, Articles about the 
expanding Negro residential community were appearing frequently in 
the newspapers. The growing black population, together with the 
emphasis in national news on civil rights had made most Portlanders 
"color 11 conscious. 
The high visibility of the blacks and racial prejudice 
influenced the accuracy of whites in estimating the number of Negroes 
present. Claire Selltiz cites an extensive study of integrated housing 
9rnterview with Dorothy Flegel, teacher and vice-principal at 
Jefferson High School 1923-62, January 14, 1970. 
137 
projects in the East to substantiate this hypothesis. There is a definite 
tendency, she revealed, to over-estimate the number of Negroes in a 
housing project and to under-estimate the extent of the Negroes I educa-
tion.10 Such a tendency was illustrated in Portland when Jefferson was 
regarded as the "black high school" before there was a 25 per cent 
Negro enrollment. 
A contributing factor to this illusion was the Negro-white 
housing pattern. A visiting school official on his way to Jeffers0n 
learned of the unique situation indirectly from a taxi cab driver. Upon 
learning his fare 1 s destination, the driver commented that Jefferson 
was Portland's Negro high school. The school official, knowing that 
Jefferson had less than 25 per cent blacks, so informed the driver. 
The driver rep~ied, "That can 1 t be. I have been on Vancouver Avenue 
when school is getting out and almost all those kids are Negroes." 
Talking with the Jefferson staff about this conversation, he was sur-
prised to learn that the taxi driver's story was reasonable. Jefferson 
has two main exits, one to the east and one to the west. When the 
blacks left school, it was by the east door because that was the most 
1 Oclaire Selltiz, et al. , Research Methods in Social 
Relations (revised edition; New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston, 
1951) I P• 309 • 
138 
direct route to their homes which were located toward Williams 
Avenue. White students left by the west door for the same reason.1 1 
Jefferson's black enrollment increased from 5 to 7 per cent in 
the mid-1950 1 s to about 15 per cent by the end of the decade. Statis-
tics on the number of black students who dropped out of school during 
that period are not available. Teachers who were in Jefferson at the 
time, however, indicate that, in the first two years of students' high 
school careers, the loss among black students was high. A study con-
cerning dropouts from Jefferson during the period 1960-64 corroborates 
the high dropout rate of black students during their freshman and sopho-
more years . 12 With less national and local attention being directed 
toward blacks in general and toward black high school students in 
particular, the dropout rate of black students from 1954 to 1960 could 
be expected to have been higher than that of the early sixties. 
During the mid-1950 1s, teachers at Jefferson did not find 
Negro students to be obstreperous or trouble makers. "Docile, " 
"quiet," and "friendly" were words most often used to describe the 
black student of this period. One teacher commented that he noticed 
11rnterview with Harold Kleiner, Deputy Superintendent, 
Portland Schools, October, 1969. 
l 2Richard S. Boyd and William H. Thornton, P0rtland High 
School Dropouts, Department of Re search and Measurements, Portland, 
Oregon Public Schools (Portland: The Department, 1964). 
139 
a difference in attitude between the children whose families had 
recently migrated to Portland and those whose families were established 
in the community. The latter, he said, had more respect for Jefferson I s 
traditions and a greater sense of belonging . 13 Changes were taking 
place during the late 1940 1 s, another said, but one could feel them 
rather than see them. Still another teacher reflected, "I had only one 
or two [blacks] in my class and I hardly knew they were there. Of 
course my classes were 'double E' and advanced work. nl4 
The "double E II courses were part of the Educational Enrich-
ment Program designed for the academically gifted 15 per cent of the 
students. There were some Negroes in these classes. The range of 
ability among the black students was as broad as among whites. In 
1955-56 one Negro was elected to the National Honor Society, in 
1956-57, two, 1957-58, three, and in 1959-60, one. 15 
More black males won recognition in school-sponsored com-
petitive sports than in academic achievement. Jeffersonians I pride in 
their school stemmed as much, if not more, from the school's athletic 
13rnterview with Hugh McGinnis, teacher and counselor at 
Jefferson High School since 1953, January 7, 19 70. 
14rnterview with Edna Mae Woodward, a teacher at Jefferson 
High School since 1955, November 21, 1969. 
15The Spectrum, 1954-60. 
140 
victories than it did from academic excellence. Negro students, 
sharing in this pride, made a substantial contribution to the school's 
successful athletic program. Every year as the number of blacks in 
the school increased, the number of Negro boys who reported for 
varsity sports increased. 
The percentage of blacks participating in sports exceeded the 
percentage of total black enrollment. Football, track, and basketball, 
in that order, appealed to the blacks. Some seasons the wrestling 
squad had large turnouts of black students. Baseball was less popular 
and golf and tennis, considered to be 11rich man I s sports, " did not 
attract blacks . 16 Athletics are often cited as a factor that held black 
students in school. 
Victories for Jefferson's athletic teams came to be expected 
as each season's record improved over that of the previous year. In 
1958-59, the "Golden Year of Sports" at Jefferson High School, the 
football team received a national first-place rating among high school 
football teams. The Jefferson team was acknowledged state football 
cha'-ropions. The school also won the city title in basketball and 
wrestling. Blacks were well-represented on these teams; over 25 per 
l6rbid.; Eldridge Cleaver deplores the exploitation of the 
black athlete. He believes that whites applaud the black only to 
accentuate the whites' superior position. -So-ul -on- Ic-e (New York: 
McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1968), pp. 84-96. 
141 
cent of the football team and over 50 per cent of the wrestling team 
were Negroes. Individual recognition went to two blacks, Mel and 
Ray Renfro, brothers who were selected as members of the All-State 
Football Team. 17 
Athletic prowess led to individual recognition in the school, 
but did little to change the racial segregation of most activities. The 
'T' Club, a lettermen's organization, had some black members. Black 
students were also members of interest clubs, but only rarely was a 
black student a member of a social club and then only of the larger 
clubs. The smaller, more intimate groups remained strictly white . 18 
Black students tended to cluster together as did the white 
students. One faculty member mentioned that the cafeteria looked like 
a "checkerboard. 11 He believed that if the students had made an effort 
to know one another, the racial biases and prejudicial practices would 
have diminished. To encourage integration, he once asked a group of 
Negro boys, "Is this Jim Crow land? Why are all the Negroes sitting 
together? 11 One black replied, "We are not sitting with Negroes, we 
are sitting with our friends. 111 9 The same incident was referred to by a 
17The Spectrum, 1959. 
18The Spectrum, 1954-19 60; Interviews with Jefferson 
teachers and black parents . 
19rnterview with George Guthrie, teacher and vice-principal 
at Jefferson High School 1958-65, January 14, 19 70. 
142 
black informant, who interpreted the incident as an invasion of 
privacy on the part of the "white racist teacher. 112 0 
Black-white friendships were opserved, but were limited in 
number and restricted almost exclusively to· male students. Residence 
patterns were a factor in limiting such friendships. Since most of the 
whites lived to the north and west of the school and the blacks lived to 
the south and east, they were not in close contact outside of school. 
Where they had interests in common, in school and on the playing 
fields, friendships developed, but they did not continue into the larger 
community. Jefferson's teaching staff reported that cross-racial boy-
girl friendships did not become noticeable until the middle 1960's. 
During the last half of the 1950's when the ra9lal composition 
of Jefferson was beginning to change, the teachers were a mature, 
experienced grnup. In the 1959-60 school year approximately 50 per 
cent of the teachers had earned a Master's degree. Almost all the 
others had completed some graduate work since receiving their 
Bachelor's degrees. 21 
20rnterview with a black parent. Almost every black person 
interviewed stressed his belief that many of Jefferson's teachers were 
"white racists. " 
21The Spectrum, 1960. 
143 
The teacher shortage across the nation affected some of Port-
land's schools, but rarely was an inexperienced teacher assigned to 
Jefferson High School. There was only a small turnover in staff during 
these years. The Teachers' Directory shows that most of the teachers 
who ended their careers at Jefferson had been there for many years and 
left to retire. Several of the male teachers who joined the faculty after 
the war left Jefferson in the 1950's to become administrators at other 
schools. Male replacements of all vacancies on the staff were numer-
ous, thereby lessening the majority position of females on the teaching 
staff. 
Replacements for departing faculty members were white in all 
instances except one. A limited number of black teachers worked in. 
the Portland school system, but all of them in elementary schools con-
taining a high percentage of black students. The first two black 
teachers in the system were hired in 1945. An increase in employment 
of blacks occurred after the Vanport flood of 1948 when black teachers 
from the Vanport schools were given an opportunity to teach in Portland. 
They were appointed to schools which had large Negro enrollments. 
When a black secondary teacher was hired in 1956, she was assigned 
to teach at Jefferson. Jefferson High School had a growing black. 
po·pulation, therefore critics charged, ". . . a token black was 
144 
hired. 1122 Credence is lent to their charge in that it was not until 19 63 
that another black teacher came to Jefferson. When school officials 
were criticized for not hiring more black teachers, they said that none 
who qualified had applied. The officials stated that they simply wanted 
teachers most qualified for the jobs, they did not discriminate because 
of color. 
Within the schools, black students were to be treated the 
same as white students. Persons who were teaching at Jefferson during 
this period unanimously reported that their attempts at racial objectivity 
had developed into an unofficial policy of "color-blindness. 11 11 ! saw 
the students as neither black nor white; I tried to treat them all the 
same." Such comments were repeated in almost all interviews. The 
attitude represents an approach considered at that time to be demoi--
cratic. To give special attention to a Negro child was interpreted as 
indicative of the inferiority of the Negro child. A Jefferson faculty 
member revealed the policy as a facade by relating the following 
incident: The school staff was making arrangements for a pregnant 
girl to drop out of school. One of the teachers lamented, 11 • • • and 
she is one of ours too. 11 The pregnant girl was white. 23 In many 
22 rnterview with Nathan Nickerson, Portland Urban League, 
January 7, 1970. 
23rnterview with William See, a teacher at Jefferson High 
School since 1954, October 5, 1969. 
145 
instances the 11 color-blindness II probably existed only on the 
surface. 
The approach has been disparagingly compared by critics with 
the practice, common in some circles, of totally ignoring the presence 
of a Negro waiter or maid and talking about "coons and niggers." 
Reflecting upon this period when attempts were made to ignore color, 
they condemn the policy as idiotic. 24 11We are black--recognize us 
as individuals . 11 • 
The "color-blind II concept was not successful because it was 
artifictal and denied the individuality of the child. Blacks reasoned 
that if the teacher did not see them as black boys and girls, perhaps 
she did not see them at all.· If the teacher did not see and recognize 
them as individuals, as human beings, they asked, "Why bother to 
remain in school? 11 In the 1950 1 s the blacks were seeking equality. 
They did not want to be "invisible. 1125 
Despite its lack of success, many teachers at Jefferson attest 
to the sincerity of the "color-blind" approach. These teachers were 
trained to function in a white middle-class school, and Jefferson was 
24Interview with Nathan Nickerson, Portland Urban League, 
January 7, 19 70. 
25 some whites do not "see 11 Negroes. Ralph Ellison, in the 
prologue to Invisible Man, Modern Library (New York: Random House, 
1947), attributes this circumstanc_e to the construction of the white's 
inner eye. 
146 
in the process of becoming a racially mixed school. The problems and 
complaints of the Negro community were alien to the white staff. 
Much of the criticism and concern on the part of black parents 
did not reach school authorities. To many of the blacks, the school 
teachers and the principal represented remote figures of authority whom 
they were reluctant to approach. In many instances when school 
officials asked black parents to discuss a problem involving their child, 
the visit would prove entirely unsatisfactory both to the school officials 
and to the parents. Black parents often did not understand what a 
teacher was trying to convey. In ignorance, they would nod in agree-
ment. The teacher would become frustrated because he either was well 
aware that the parents did not understand him or because their 
responses were not what he had expected. Black critics of the school, 
when discussing the failure of the teachers to communicate success-
fully with black students and parents, attribute the failure to the 
teachers' "racist attitudes." 
The racial factor in the social conditions at Jefferson High 
School was a major grievance of black parents. They were disturbed 
because their children were included in so few of the social clubs. 
The clubs were sponsored by the school and, as such, they believed 
should be considered a part of the school program. Black parents 
contended that no child should be deprived, solely on the basis of 
147 
race, of any phase of educational or cultural experience which the 
school provided. 26 Although Negro parents were concerned about the 
lack of social acceptance of their children, most of them were unable 
to convey to the school officials the depth of their grievances. Social 
segregation widened the gap between the black community and the 
school. 
A few blacks did have contact with school officials. Two or 
three Negroe·s were members of the Dads I Club and one or two Negro 
mothers belonged to the Parents and Teachers Association. 27 Those 
blacks who had occasion to talk with school officials communicated 
the concern of the black community about the social aspects of Jeffer-
son Is curriculum. These blacks report that the school's leaders 
claimed that they were conducting a democratic school, and that under 
a democratic system, each student has the right to choose his own 
friends. They believed the administration could hot interfere. 2 8 
The individual efforts of black parents to initiate changes at 
Jefferson High School during the 1950's were fruitless. In the latter 
2 6rnterview with E. Simpson Hill, Executive Secretary, 
Portland Urban League, October 15 , 19 69 . 
2 7The Spectrum, 1954-60. 
28rnterview with E. Simpson Hill, Octobe~ 15, 1969. 
148 
years of the decade some Negroes grouped together to present their 
grievances. In the following decade, blacks in Albina followed the 
national example and organized. Ad hoc committees of Negroes, 
composed of the articulate members of the community, confronted 
members of the school board and administrators at Jefferson High 
School. 
149 
CHAPTER VII 
ENVIRONMENT AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT 
The decade of the 19 60 's initiated change for the black 
students at Jefferson High School as well as for all black Americans. 
The changes at Jefferson among both students and teachers are 
influenced primarily by the socio-economic conditions of black families 
in the Albina area. A review of recent sociological studies which are 
applicable to Albina will aid in understanding the black student's 
problems and the problems confronting the teachers at Jefferson. 
White middle-class teachers are likely to have a stereotyped 
image of the Negro. Neither this stereotyped image nor the "color-
blind" approach attempted at Jefferson in the 1950 's contributes to the 
teacJ:iers' understanding of the problems of the impoverished blacks. 
Poor families, per se, had not been unknown at Jefferson. For years 
many needy boys and girls had successfully graduated from that 
school. But they were white boys and girls, and the newcomers at 
Jefferson are black. 
In addition to different skin color, the blacks introduce a 
conflict of values. Whereas, in the past, most blacks had generally 
accepted white middle-class values, in the 1960' s these values are 
150 
foreign to some blacks. Their life-style does not include long-range 
objectives with deferred gratification. These black parents do. not 
instill into their children values such as punctuality, a subdued voice, 
and automatic respect for authority, l As a consequence, when the 
children go to school, their white middle-class teachers are unable to 
understand their conduct. 
Race, socio-economic level, and different value systems 
complicate the task of educating the inner-city youth. Sociologists 
have conducted numerous studies investigating social-class status and 
education. These studies point out that children of low-income 
families usually do not perform as well in school as children of 
families with a relatively high income level. 2 
The disadvantaged youths in Jefferson• s attendance area are 
the blacks, and some whites, living iffAlbina. Blacks living in that 
1 Many blacks still retain a fatalistic philosophy; they 
believed that their own efforts -are , of little consequence and that 
chance plays an important role. See my page 69. 
2August B. Hollingshead, Elmtown's Youth (New York: John 
Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1949); Robert J. Havighurst, et al, Growing .!:!E. 
In River City (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1962). These are 
exhaustive studies of social class in white communities. Harlem Youth 
Opportunities Unlimited, Inc., Youth in the Ghetto (New York: ·HARYOU, 
Inc., 19 64). Excellent study of the blacks of Harlem; Patricia Cayo 
Sexton flatly states in Education and Income (New York: The Viking 
Press, 1961) that the qualit'y of education a child receives is directly 
related to the level of the family income. 
151 
area have the same stigma atta'c hed to them, suffer similar degradation 
to blacks living in Harlem in New York, or The Huff in Cleveland. 
Albina does not resemble the slum sections of the large eastern cities 
with their dark grimy tenements. Rather it is, on a smaller scale, a 
slum similar to Watts in Los Angeles. Not all sections of Albina can 
be classified as slum. There are well-kept modest homes along many 
of the tree-lined streets. The earlier settled southern section, 
however, contains many old dilapidated buildings well beyond their 
usability for human habitation, but still occupied by black families. 
In 1957 the City Planning Commission estimated that 4,400 of 
the 5,000 houses in the Williams Avenue area were built before World 
War I. The commission further stated that over 60 per cent of the 
housing in the Broadway-Steel Bridge area, one of high black concen-
tration, is substandard. It is not uncommon, according to the report. 
to find an entire black family living in a single substandard room. 3 
Negroes live in such conditions because they are restricted to Albina 
and because they cannot afford to rent better accommodations. 
Holding only menial jobs, the blacks have low incomes. In 
1960 the median income for the black family in Albina was $4,518 
3city Club of Portland, "The Negro in Portland: A Progress 
Report 1945-1957, 11 Portland City Club Bulletin (Portland: City Club 
of Portland, 1957), p. 35 8. 
152 
compared to $6,333 for Portland as a whole. 4 Blacks in service work 
accounted for 2 8 per cent of their adult male labor force. Another 16 
per cent were laborers, but only 2 per cent held 11white collar" sales 
jobs. 5 Some blacks I inability to find work was also a problem. .I n 
1960, 13 per cent of the black labor force was unemployed compared to 
approximately 5 per cent in all of Portlc;1.nd. 6 Many, but not all, blacks 
lacked the training and education necessary to secure better jobs. 
The educational level of the blacks also lagged behind that of 
most Portlanders. About 5 per cent of the black adults had never 
attended school and 29 per cent had not finished elementary school. 
On the other hand, 6 per cent of the black adults had completed college, 
whereas 7 per cent of the total population of the city had been 
graduated from college. 7 
Statistics concerning the economic condition of the blacks in 
Albina are augmented by interviews reported by the Subcommittee on 
Community and Home Environment of the Committee on Race and Educa-
tion. This subcommittee met periodically from October, 1963, to May, 
4Race and Equal Educational Opportunity in Portland's 
Schools, p. 47. 
5Ibid. 
6Ibid. 
153 
19 64. Committee members interviewed numerous people who were not 
only knowledgable about conditions in Albina from personal experience, 
but were also interested in improving the lot of the inhabitants. 
Social workers, ministers, visiting nurses, policemen, interested 
laymen, and blacks who lived in Albina all were invited to contribute 
information. The data were not quantified, but testimony gathered at 
the meetings was summarized, revealing a familiar pattern. The 
witnesses described: 
1. Homes with only a mother present, where "fathers" 
change frequently. 
2. Homes where drunkenness is common. 
3. Homes where the mother works and is absent a large part 
of the day. Children, left to fend for themselves, resort to the streets. 
4. Homes where adults habitually use coa,rse and profane 
language. Children bring that vocabulary to school where its use 
prevents rapport with the middle-class teacher. 
5. Homes where parental motivation is low. Parents can see 
little need for an education because of their own lack of success in a 
discriminatory society. Some parents resent the younger generation 
becoming more educated than their elders and "putting on airs. " Often 
parents are not hostile toward education, but at the same time they do 
not encourage their children to do well in school. 
154 
6. Homes in which the most rudimentary amenities are 
lacking. Poorly heated and ill-furnished, the rooms are crnwded and 
privacy is absent. Bathroom facilities, frequently shared with other 
families, are often faulty. 
7. Homes where there is not enough food to eat or milk to 
drink. Evidence of undernourishment is seen in some ctiildren. 
8. Homes where children lack adequate clothing. They need 
shoes and underwear. The latter is a source of embarrassment for 
children when changing for physical education classes. 
9. Homes where a sense of family is lacking. In extreme 
cases the child is not certain of his parents I identity. The male 
adult is subordinate to the female adult in the household. 8 
These conditions, as previously mentioned, are not found in 
all of Albina's homes or are they restricted solely to the blacks. Many 
of the black families are, in fact, described as having an exceptionally 
warm and close relationship between children and adults. Although 
their income is not great, these parents provide for their children and 
encourage them in their endeavors. 
8Minutes of the meetings, Committee on Race and Education, 
Subcommittee on Community and Home EnvironmenL October, 1963-
May, 1964, pp. 1-47; Race and Equal Educational Opportunity in 
Portland I s Schools , pp. 50-51 . 
155 
Deplorable conditions similar to those found in Albina 
prompted Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Assistant Secretary of Labor, to 
prepare his controversial report, The Negro Family: The Case For 
National Action. The report received national attention when President 
Johnson used it as the basis for his speech on June 4, 1965, at Howard 
University. Essentially, Moynihan claims that the deterioration of the 
Negro family is at the heart of the Negro problem. He contends that 
adult conduct is learned when children are young in the family which is 
the primary socializing unit. 9 Black families fail to pass on to their 
children the mores of the larger society. 
As if to forestall his critics, Moynihan hastens to add that 
not all Negro families are in tpis disintegrated condition. Because the 
middle-class Negroes raise statistical averages for the Negro group as 
a whole, they in effect conceal the extent of disorganization of the 
Negro family. Moynihan notes that E. Franklin Frazier, Negro 
sociologist, cites the middle-class Negro family as a stable, effective 
unit living in accordance with the traditional patterns of our society. 
Frazier believes that these families are even more patriarchal and pro-
tective·_of their. children than the average middle-class white family .10 
9u. S. Department of Labor, The Negro Family: The Case 
For National Action (Washington, D. C. : U: S . Government Printing 
Office, 19 6 6) , p. 5 . 
1 0lbid. , p. 6. 
156 
But in far more cases, Moynihan argues, Negro families have 
been forced into female-dominated units which are basically out of 
step with the larger society. The process is self-perpetuating over 
the generations. Girls have a model to emulate; boys have none. Any 
special attention in the family is directed to the girls since they are 
considered the important members, as illustrated by the fact that 
until 1963, more Negro girls than boys completed high school and 
continued on to college . 11 
The lack of a male model is said to have a detrimental effect 
on the Negro boy. White boys without fathers are around white male 
neighbors and relatives who are following a pattern of work; the Negro 
boy is not. 12 The poor performance of Negro boys in school is con-
tinued on the job. Since seldom is the male the sole support of his 
family, he plays a subservient role in the household. Thus the cycle 
continues. 
Moynihan agrees with Frazier that the move to the city has 
contributed to the dissolution of blacks' family life. The city 
atmosphere lacks the rural community opinion which helped to regulate 
their lives in the smaller communities . 13 Implying that the plight of 
11 Ibid., p. '29. 
12Ibid. , p. 31. 
l 3Ibid. , p. ~8. 
157 
the blacks is similar to a disease, Moynihan declares that for the 
Negro to escape from this 11 tangle of pathology, 11 the "cycle of 
failure II must be broke1,1. 
The report is probably as well-known for the criticism it 
received as for its content. Social scientists, politicians, and Negro 
civil rights leaders, for reasons of their own condemn it. Regardless 
of tl':\e validity of some of their criticisms, the report is useful for its 
insight into Negro life style. 
Moynihan drew on the 1960 census and B1+reau of Labor 
statistics, the HARYOU reports, and his personal experience in the 
ghettos of New York I s East Side. Albina does not resemble that ghetto 
in a material way, but nevertheless Albina is a ghetto. The Negro 
psychologist, Kenneth B. Clark, refers to the "invisible wall II that 
shuts the blacks in the ghetto just as securely as the walls enclosed 
the Jews in sixteenth century Venice . 14 Psychologically, the blacks 
in Albina are as cut off from the larger society as are the blacks in 
Harlem. 
Within the ghetto, Clark states, the female occupies the 
dominant role. This practice is a carryover from the days of slavery 
when the principal source of family continuity was through the woman. 
14Kenneth B. Clark, Dark Ghetto: Dilemmas of Social .Power, 
Harper Torchbo~ks (New York: Harper and' Row, Pub'lisners, 1965}, p.-.11 .. 
158 
In post-slavery days the Negro male continued to be relegated to a 
menial subservient position. 15 Unable to become the sole support of 
his family, he was also denied the dominant role. 
Negro ch,ildren learn early in life that the "father" is worthy 
of little respect. Very shortly thereafter the child learns that society 
respects no qne who is black. Black is inferior, children have learned. 
Clark writes that by the age of seven, they accept the dark skin, 
" ... but the stigma remains; they have been forced to recognize 
themselves as inferior. Few, if any Negroes ever fully lose that 
sense of shame and self-hatred. "16 His lack of self-respect and 
feeling of interiority ca uses the child to generate a poor self-image. 
His belief about the inferiority of the black and consequently his own 
inferiority is reinforced by the squalid environment in which he lives. 
Each failure he has further justifies his low self-concept.1 7 
Some blacks' problems are further complicated by their 
reluctance to identify with other blacks. Because they resist identifi-
cation with blacks and are rejected by the whites, these Negro youth 
are prone to develop feelings of alienation. Sapped of self-confidence, 
15Ibid., p. 70. 
16Ibid. , p. 65. 
17Ibid. 
159 
isolated from fellow human beings, is it any wonder that many black 
children have problems when attending school? 
Educational problems stemming from such a background are 
numerous . Martin Deutsch, a ps ychic;t tri st and Director of the New 
York Medical College Institute of Developmental Studies, believes that 
the lower::-class child enters the school situation so poorly prepared 
that failure is inevitable. Because his home lacks material objects, 
the child suffers from "stimulus deprivation." He cannot develop his 
ability to organize and discriminate perceptually slight differences in 
the environment. 18 His is not like a middle-class home, a verbally-
oriented environment. He hears limited conversation within the family 
and has little opportunity to participate. When the child arrives in 
school he lacks the ability to express his thoughts to the teacher or 
to understand her instructions. 
Basil Bernstein, an English sociologist, attributes the 
inability of the child to communicate and understand the teacher to 
the II public" language which is common to the lower-alas s. 19 The 
l 8Martin Deutsch, "The Disadvantaged Child and the Learning 
Process, 11 Education in Depressed Areas, ed. by A. Harry Passow (New 
York: Teachers College, Columbia University~, 1963), pp. 170-71. 
l9sasil Bernstein, "Social Class and Linguistic Development: 
A Theory of Social Learning," in Education, Economy~ Society, ed. 
by A. H. Halsey, et al. (New York:· The Free Press of Glencoe, Inc., 
1961), p. 292. 
160 
lower-class uses an informal language to convey concrete needs and 
immediate consequences, he believes, while the middle-class tends 
to use a more formal language to emphasize the relating of concepts. 
In lower-class homes, the child is used to short, grammatically simple, 
often unfinished, sentences. Rigid and limited use of adjectives and 
adverbs restricts the conversation. 20 These children function well in 
their own milieu, but. fail to learn to comm uni ca te ideas and relation-
ships requiring more precise formulation. 
Stephen S. and Joan C. Baratz, social science researchers, 
believe that the Negro child in the ghetto has the ability to communi-
cate. The problems arise, they believe, because the middle-class 
teaqhers cannot understand the Negro dialect. They criticize school 
officials for labeling as "bad II the blacks' non-standard English. 
Non-standard English is a part of the blacks' culture and identity and 
to condemn it, the authors believe, is as foolish as condemning any 
~ 
other foreign language.21 The black ohild is caught in a dilemma; if 
he rejects the dialect of the ghetto, he rejects his home, family, and 
peers; if he rejects the standard English, he fails in school o Failure 
in school is perhaps the more often chosen course of action. 
20rbid., p. 298. 
21 stephen S. Baratz and Joan C. Baratz, ''Negro Ghetto Chil-
dren and Urban Education: A Cultural Solution, " Social Education, 33 
(April, 1964), p. 402. 
161 
Carl Bereiter, an educator, does not call the speech of 
deprived children a dialect, but points out that their language differs 
significantly from that used by middle-class children. Lower-class 
children tend to run the words of a sentence together to make it sound 
like a single word. The whole sentence, he claims, functions like a 
11 giant word, 11 and children are unable to take the sentence apart and 
re-combine the words. 22 Their speech has a gutteral sound and once 
the listener hap become accustomed to this style of speech, he may 
believe that he hears the intervening words. In reality, the child does 
not use such words as "it, 11 "if," and "in, 11 but substitutes "ih" for 
these words. 23 Since the child does not use individual words to build 
a sentence, he is unable to m;iderstand the meaning of individual words 
in a sentence. These children can render the appropriate over-all 
sound profile of a short sentence. They cannot, however, detect the 
different meanings that words such as "and," "a," and "or" cause in a 
sentence. With such a linguistic barrier, the lower-class-Negro child 
is handicapped in school. 
Z2carl Bereiter and Siegfried Engleman, Teaching Disadvan-
taged Children in Pre-School {Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-
Hall, Inc., 1966), p. 34. 
2 3 Ibid . , .p  . 3 5 . 
162 
The lower-class black also lacks orientation to the system of 
rewards for accomplished tasks, a system important in schools. 24 The 
Negro child lacks a "future II orientation because the home fails to 
create future expectations for present performance. 25 In their 
impoverished homes, perhaps with a working mother, little time is 
available to assign a task, observe the performance, and then reward 
its successful completion. Tasks assigned in a lower-class home tend 
to be physical, to require a short attention span, and to relate to con-
crete objects or services for people. Middle-class assignments are 
likely to require discussion and to provide an opportunity for the child 
to relate, de scribe, and interpret the task. 
Miriam L. Goldberg, educational researcher, reports that 
researchers have consistently found discrepancies between the atten-
tion spans of middle-class and disadvantaged children. 2 6 Frank 
Riessman, a psychologist, points out that although a deprived child is 
reluctant ta. become involved in a task, once he becomes interested, he 
24Deutsch, 11 The Disadvantaged Child and the Learning 
Process , 11 p . 1 7 2 . 
25Miriam L. Goldl:>(;;'!rg, "Factors Affecting Educational Attain-
ment in Depressed Urban Areas," in Education in Depressed Areas, ed. 
by A. Harry Passow (New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 
1963), p. 86. 
2 6Ibid. , p. 79 . 
163 
is often able to work tenaciously for a long period of time. 2 7 Most 
secondary teachers find that the short attention span of lower-class 
children limits the traditional use of the 40 or 50 minute class period. 
The difficulties the black child encounters in the first years 
of school are accumulative, according to Deutsch. By the time the 
child reaches the fifth grade, he claims, the gap that existed in the 
first grade between the lower-class and the middle-class child has 
broadened signi!icantly. 2 8 When some of the black children reach 
Jefferson High School, they are four or five years behind ii} reading 
ability. 
Helen H. Davidson, an educator, in her investigations of the 
characteristics of the ~oar-achiever, finds him burdened with anxiety, 
fearful of the world and of figures of authority, and lacking in self-
confidence, He lacks self-control and often acts impulsively. 29 As 
a defense against his feelings of inadequacy, he will talk loudly and 
put up a "false front. " 
2 7Frank Riessman, The Culturally Deprived Child (New York: 
Harper and Row, 1962), p. 67. 
28Martin Deutsch, Minority Group and Class Status~ 
RelatedJQ. Social and Personality Factors in Scholastic Achievement 
(Ithica, New York: Society for Applied Anthro.pology, 1960). 
164 
Many black students attending Jefferson in the 1960's dis-
played rough manners, profane vocabularies, short attention spans, 
and little confidence in their ability to excell. They hid their , 
embarrassment over the clothes they had to wear with bravado. These 
characteristics and the aggressive and belligerent conduct that the 
student had learned in his home and on the streets, combined to pro-
duce a difficult teaching situation to the faculty. Many white middle-
class teachers at Jefferson High School were unable to cope with the 
situation. Until the middle 19 60 's, none of them had had any special 
training in working with disadvantaged youth. 
Gertrude Downing finds that special training does not 
adequately prepare all teachers to work with disadvantaged students. 
She finds that a good teacher for a school in a disadvantaged area must 
be emotionally mature and physically strong. The teacher must be 
enthusiastic and interested in her subject, but able to vary and 
individualize her techniques of teaching. She must be capable of 
considerable objectivity in classroom work. 30 These are qualities 
which any good teacher should possess, but it is imperative that 
teachers of disadvantaged children have such qualities. 
30Gertrude L. Downing, The Preparation of Teachers for 
Schools in Culturally Deprived Neighborhoods (Washington, D. C.: 
U.S. Office of Education, 1965), p. 30. 
165 
Beyond these attributes described in Downing's study, 
observers at Jefferson High Sch0ol indicate several other vital charac-
teristics. A sense of humor, the ability to laugh at oneself, a respect 
for the other person simply bec::ause he is a human being, and unending 
patience are just a few of the additional qualities that successful 
teachers at Jefferson displayed. 
Par too few teachers in depressed areas had these character-
istics during the early 1960 1 s. White middle-class teachers reflect 
their own backgrounds and values. Riessman has clearly shown that 
teachers perceive and treat lower-class children differently from 
children of higher-status homes. 31 Further, he claims the teacher 1 s 
middle-class orientation, without any conscious effort on the part of 
school personnel, provides automatically for discrimination against 
children from depressed areas. 
A portion of Jefferson's attendance area became depressed as 
the composition of Albina's population changed-. The school's curricu-
lum and teaching methods, which were oriented to white middle-class 
standards, did not change. The significance of the effect of the 
environment on lower-class Negroes was not fully appreciated until the 
3lruessman, The Culturally Deprived Child, p. 19. 
166 
1960's. Therefore, as the number of blacks increased at Jefferson 
High School, the complexity and intensity of the school's problems 
increased. 
167 
CHAPTER VIII 
THE SIXTIES: A DECADE OF CHANGE 
When the decade of the 1960's opened, changes had already 
occurred in Albina, The 19 60 census confirmed what many Portlanders 
already knew: Albina was fast becoming a black community. Census 
data represent conditions at a moment in time, but the shift of popula-
tion in Albina indicated by census figures continued unabated into the 
middle 19 6 0 's . 
During this d' ecade, the activities centering about Jefferson 
High School fall into three categories: the efforts on the part of vari;_ 
ous committees to initiate change, the efforts of the school to identify 
and ease the problems, and the relationship between the activities of 
the student body and the larger community. Generally speaking, the 
response of the larger community to the problems at Jefferson was to 
suppress the violence and unrest but to ignore the underlying causes. 
The rapid change in racial composition contributed to the strained and 
tense atmospher.e within the school. 
The impetus that forced many blacks to move north toward 
Jefferson occurred in the late 1950's. Highway projects cut through 
the black community, and construction of the Exhibition and Recreation 
168 
Center caused many of their homes to be demolished. Built on a site 
near the Broadway and Steel Bridge on the east bank of the Willamette, 
the E-R Center later named the Memorial Coliseum, eliminated many 
old and dilapidated buildings which had, according to E. Simpson Hill, 
housed 360 family units . 1 Hill claims that about 10 per cent of these 
black families moved east a few blocks and the rest moved north. 
Another project which began in the early 1960's and was under 
construction for several years was Emanuel Hospital. When the exist-
ing hospital developed a need to expand, hospital officials purchased 
several blocks of buildings that were eventually demolished and 
replaced with hospital facilities. But for the most part, Albina itself 
failed to prosper as there was little new construction except for those 
projects which were primarily government-sponsored. 2 
Some of the government construction also displaced whites in 
Albina. The interstate highway which crosses the Willamette River in 
southern Albina, follows the river northwest a short distance, then 
turns north and cuts through the white section of Jefferson's attendance 
1League of Women Voters of Portland, "An Examination of the 
Attitudes, Policies and Procedures Which Affect the Application of the 
Oregon 1959 Fair Housing Law'' (Portland: League of Women Voters of 
Portland, 1962), p. 21. 
2city Planning Commission, "Central Albina Study," 
Portland, Oregon , 19 6 2 , p . 4 . 
169 
area. When the highway was built, almost all families living in the 
western section were white. As they were displaced, many of them did 
not re-locate near Jefferson b.ut moved to the suburbs. Therefore, 
while the number of blacks in Albina was increasing, th_e number of 
whites was decreasing. (See Table 5.) 
The outflow of whites frequently left houses and apartments 
vacant. Such readily available a,c commodations tended to encourage 
transient tenants. For instance, in the early 1960 's, Portlanders con-
sidered the Highland neighborhood a transient area because of the 
availability of housing. 3 The housing units, however, were so shabby 
and in such poor repair that tenants moved as soon as they were able to 
find better living quarters. The high mobility rate in the Highland 
district contributed to the instability of that community. 
Mobility of black families increased the number of black 
students at Jefferson because when a family moved it was almost always 
to the Jefferson attendance area. Of those blacks who were graduated 
from Jefferson between 1961-65, over 80 per cent attended Jefferson for 
31eague of Women Voters of Portland, "Examination of the 
Oregon 1959 Fair Housing Law, 11 p. 21. 
170 
TABLE 5 
NEGRO ENROLLMENT AT JEFFERSON HIGH SCHOOL 
Total Number Percent 
Year Enrollment Negroes Negroes 
1950* 2,138 4 
1955* 2,254 7 
1960* 2,052 18 
1963-64 2,315 597 26 
1964-65 2,220 619 28 
1965-66 1,983 626 32 
1966-67 1,910 670 35 
1967-68 1,792 671 37 
1968-69 1,619 666 41 
19 69-70 1,259 546 43 
*These percentages are estimates. 
(Source: Administrative Research Department, Portland Pµblic Schools,) 
171 
their four years of high school. Only 8 per cent transferred to Jefferson 
from other high schools in the city during their high school careers. 4 
At Jefferson the greatest influx of black students occurred in 
the late 1950 1 s and early 1960 1s. During the middle and later part of 
the 1960 1s, the number of black elementary school children increased 
13 per cent. Harold Kleiner, assistant superintendent and director of 
the Model Schools Program, reported in August, 1968, that the number 
of Negro elementary students increased from 4,234 in 1965 to 4,778 in 
1968, while the white student population remained static. But, he 
added, during the same period, in those schools in Albina with a high 
percentage of black enrollment, the whites' enrollment decreased by 
467 students. 5 
A decrease in Jefferson's enrollment from 1963 to 1969 was 
also largely accountable for the increased percentage of blacks. As 
Table 5 shows, the total enrollment decreased 700 students while the 
number of blacks increased. 
As the number of blacks at Jefferson High School increased, 
their activities, needs, and desires gradually drew increased attention. 
4R. William Clark, 11A Study of Selected Academic and Non-
Academic Characteristics of the Negro Graduates of a Portland, 
Oregon, Secondary School 11 (unpublished doctoral dissertation, 
University of Portland, 1967), p. 94. 
5oregonian, August 27, 1968, p. 17. 
172 
Black parents made school officials aware of their concern for the 
treatment that their children were receiving at Jefferson. Black youths 
began to coalesce and to act in certain instances as a group rather 
than as individuals . 
Throughout the decade, attempts were made to avoid isolating 
the blacks in Jefferson and creating a "black high school." In 1964-65 
the school board authorized transfer of black students to other high 
schools in the city if space was available. The practice was continued 
even though it was criticized. Whites claimed that the policy showed 
partiality to the blacks. Blacks, on the other hand, complained that 
the transfer policy took some of the more academically strong black 
students from Jefferson, thereby weakening the remaining group. 
A boundary change in 1965 moved Jefferson's southern 
boundary from Russell Street several blocks north to Fremount Street. 
Ostensibly school administrators were adjusting the boundary to relieve 
Jefferson of its high enrollment and to increase enrollment at Washing-
ton and Grant High Schools where space was available. The total 
number of students enrolled at Jefferson had been declining and 
continued to do so. 
Although the total number of blacks did not rise significantly, 
the role of the black at Jefferson did change. Beginning in the late 
1950's, some blacks began to demonstrate that they were no longer, as 
173 
earlier described, 11 docile and friendly." As one teacher remarked, 
"You could not see it [ the change] but you could feel it. 116 Civil 
rights activities in the South caused Jefferson students to become 
conscious of their own rights . Whereas in the past the black students 
had grouped together for companionship, in the early 1960 1 s they began 
grouping together for "political" strength. Dur1ng the formative period, 
however, the group had no single leader. Throughout the decade, the 
black student groups were splintered. Class structure, varying 
degrees of academic ability, and different interests precluded a 
solidification of blacks. The black students presented a fairly solid 
front on particular issues such as racial discrimination; but, like 
their parents, they were divided on issues such as vocational training 
versus academic education. 
The social aspects of school life continued to be important 
during the early 1960 1s. Blacks were indignant when they were denied 
entree to the social clubs. A small committee of black parents met 
with Jefferson's officials in 1962 to urge that a more democratic system 
6rnterview with Hugh McGinnis, teacher and counselor at 
Jefferson High School since 1953. 
174 
to govern school clubs be adopted. 7 The blacks argued, as they had 
before, that the social clubs were a part of the school program, and, 
as such, should be open to all students or be abolished. School 
leaders indicated that they believed some prngress had been made in 
integrating the clubs which they saw as traditionally a part of the 
students I domain rather than of the official curriculum. That race and 
prejudice were underlying factors in the clubs' operations is shown by 
the remark of one school leader: "But these clubs meet in white 
homes. "8 
Some of the interest clubs attracted Negro girls, but in one 
instance, the Tri-Y Club, the membership became all black, participa-
tion lagged, and the club ceased to exist. 9 Black students with talent 
and values similar to those of the white students, were most often 
invited to join clubs. 
When William Knouff became principal at Jefferson in 19 65, he 
altered the bid system used by the social clubs. By that time, however, 
7rn 1958 the student body of the just completed Wilson High 
School agreed to shun the bid or invitation to club membership. The 
students listed their preference and the clubs were filled from these 
lists. Oregonian, November 30, 1958, p. 45. 
Brnterview with Nathan Nickerson, Portland Urban League, 
January 7, 19 70. 
9rnterview with Edna Mae Woodward, teacher and counselor 
at Jefferson High School since 1955, November 21, 1969. 
175 
school clubs had lost their importance to the blacks. They had 
greater issues at stake. 
During the early years of the 1960's, Negro high school boys 
did not depend upon clubs to the same extent as had girls for school 
participation. Rather they used athletics as a means of winning 
individual recognition. Their participation was enthusiastic. Over 50 
per cent of the black male students who graduated in the years 1961 
, 
through 1965 won an athletic letter. 10 Black critics now charge that 
black athletes could have made an· even more impressive record. They 
claim that blacks were made to compete with other b' lacks for positions 
on the teams, while white students of lesser ability won positions 
without such competition.11 
An informant close to the coaching staff at Jefferson High 
School denies that race influenced the selecting of players. "Coaches 
were as proud of the black players as they were the white. Furthermore, 
you can't build winning teams that way--and Jeff had winning teams.rJZ 
lOclark, 11A Study of Selected Academic and Non-Academic 
Characteristics of the Negro Graduates of a Portland, Oregon, 
Secondary School, 11 p. 99. 
11 Interview with Nathan Nickerson, January 7, 19 70. 
12 rnformant who was at Jefferson High School. 
176 
During the latter part of the decade, acc0rding to one staff 
member; the blacks I interest in athletics diminished somewhq.t. Many 
boys, albeit with great potential, did not care to participate. Just as 
the social clubs became less important to the girls, athletics for black 
males became less significant. The issues of civil rights, the changr 
ing of Jefferson's curriculum, and "Black Power 11 were the events in 
which blacks were becoming involved. At Jefferson High School the 
issues were recognized earlier than in other sections of the school 
system. Although the problems were too numerous and complex to 
solve on a local level, steps were taken to at least identify them and 
to make the teachers and students aware of them. The same problems 
had existed at Jefferson in the 1950 1s, but were not as obvious because 
the blacks were fewer in number. 
In 1962 a steering committee of interested Jefferson teachers 
was formed to identify problem areas in the curriculum c;md to suggest 
solutions. All teachers were asked to complete an inquiry form for 
each student in their classes whom t.h.ey regarded as having motivation, 
health, learning, or behavior problems of a serious nature. 13 The 
Research Department of the district made a comprehensive analysis of 
13 Department of Research and Measurement, "A, Survey of 
Student Problems as Seen by a High School Faculty," Portland Public 
Schools, 1962, p. 2. 
177 
the data furnished by the teachers. The analysis was intended to 
stimulate staff reaction to the problems reported. 
Skill deficiencies were reported more frequently among boys 
than among girls. Noting that these deficiencies were usually reported 
by only one of a studene s several teachers, an analyst chided, 11Why 
should only one teacher report a skill deficiency such as written 
expression or spelling? 1114 This analyst also noted that problems of 
motivation were usually observed by only one of a student's several 
teachers. He inferred that the students were not known very well by 
their teachers. The steering committee utilized the collected data and 
its analysis to initiate what became known as the Jefferson Project. 
The objective of the Jefferson Project was " ... to correct 
deficiencies in the curriculum, in teacher attitude and understanding, 
and to remake portions of the school function to accommodate the new 
variety of student population. 1115 With this commendable objective, 
the Jefferson Project Committee initiated several ambitious and con-
structive programs: developmental reading, social work, special coun-
seling, adult literacy education, professional meetings (for teachers), 
service club cooperation, cultural enrichment, and curriculum study. 
14rbid. 
15Harold Hansen, "The Jefferson Project, 1964-65, 11 
Portland, Oregon , n. d . , p . 3 . 
178 
The reading program got underway in 1962-63 with special 
attention concentrated upon the freshman class. A reading s1,>ecialist 
worked with individual students and with the teachers of that class. 
In the following year, emphasis was placed upon building up the 
individual student's self-concept in that a low self-concept was con-
sidered to be at the root of the reading difficulty. In 19 64-65 when 
sufficient help was not available to continue the bolstering-of-self-
concept approach, the reading consultant worked with small classes 
and with individuals as in 1962-63 . 16 A communications center, 
appealing to the college-bound student as well as aiding the poor 
reader, was developed later in 19 6 6 . 
Several interested teachers at Jefferson recognized socio-
economic ills as the source of many of the school's problems. Jeffer-
son already had two half-time social workers, more than any other 
city high school. Through the efforts of the Jefferson Project, 
volunteers came from the Graduate School of Social Work at Portland 
State College to work for two days a week. By the end of the decade, 
school district officials had recognized the need for an increase in 
social service. They introduced the services of a "community agent" 
16rbid. , p. 5 . 
179 
to visit the homes of students who obviously needed help or who were 
causing disturbances in school. 
Special counseling was encouraged for black students deemed 
to be potential drop-outs and for those who obviously possessed ability 
but were not achieving success in their academic work. The concern 
was to keep the blacks in school and specifically to aid those who 
were academically capable of attending college. 
A class to combat adult illiteracy was initiated as part of the 
Jefferson Project in 19 63. The program had a two-fold purpose: to 
help the functional illiterate to learn to read, and, of more direct 
benefit to Jefferson, to entice lower-class adults into the school. By 
this means, these adults would become acquaint\,)d with school 
personnel and, the project director believed, therefore take a greater 
interest in their childrerf s education. 
To increase the teachers' awareness of the diversity of home 
backgrounds from which Jefferson drew its students, the project 
directors scheduled orientation discussions, and, prior to the school 
year, conducted tours through the attendance area. Most of the 
teachers at Jefferson did not live in Albina but commuted to work from 
their homes in more affluent sections of the city. To make the teachers 
aware of the students' problems, the director organized professional 
meetings devoted to discussing their problems. His objective was not 
180 
only to assist the teachers, but also to obtain their support for the 
project. 
The social aspects of Jefferson High School's activities came 
under attack by the black community during the early 1960's. To 
engage more blacks in Jefferson's service clubs and at the same time 
bring the community closer to the school, the Jefferson Project urged 
students to join clubs. Boys' and girls' clubs were encouraged to 
provide cultural enrichment programs for students in the neighborhood 
elementary schools. In 1963-64 the program included classes in swim-
ming, reading, music, and art, as well as opportunities for companion-
ship. By 19 65, however, the program declined from lack of adult 
supervision. 
The Jefferson Project, with sterling objectives and sincere 
dedication on the part of some of Jefferson's personnel, did not 
achieve its goals. Teachers active in the venture believe that they 
accomplished some good, but blame lack of interest, both in terms of 
money and personal participation by educators, for the general lack of 
success . 17 The Jefferson Project was a self-help attempt by one 
school to search for a solution to a community problem. The overall 
l 7rnterviews with teachers involved in the project. 
181 
problem of educating _th~ disadvantaged was under study in Portland 
concurrent with the middle years of the Jefferson Project. 
During the fall of 1963, a citizens', committee began investi-
gating the issues of race and equal opportunity in Portland's schools. 
The growing concern in large cities across the country regarding the 
education 0£ the disadvantaged, in addition to the rising protest from 
articulate members of Portland I s black community, prompted the board 
members to i;lCt. The Committee on Racial Imbalance in the Public 
Schools, with a membership of over 100 citizens representing a broad 
spectrum of the community, met with the school board in May, 19 63 .18 
The committee strongly urged that a method be sought to prevent the 
concentration of blacks in certain of the city's schools. Board mem-
bers were convinced of the seriousness of the problem. A resolution 
of the Board of Education, Multnomah County School District No. 1, in 
July, 1963, created a Com,mittee on Race and Education. 19 Because. 
of the high social status of many of the committee members, the alloca-
tion of money to finance the study, and the interest and willingness to 
l 8committee on Race and Education, Race and Equal Educa-
tional Opportunity in Portland's Public Schools, p. 9; Oregonian, 
August 13, 1963, p. 1. 
19oregonian, August 13, 1963, p. l; Committee on Race and 
Education, Race and Equal Educational Opportunity in Portland's Public 
Schools, Herbert M. Schwab, Chairman (Portland: School District 
No. 1 , 19 6 4) , p. 2 21 . 
182 
work of the majority of the members, the report of the committee was a 
productive document. The school board had asked for answers to the 
following: 
1. Does the Portland school district, to any extent, deprive 
the children of one race of education opportunities equal to those of 
other races? If so, what corrective steps should be taken? 
2. What might be done to improve achievement of students in 
culturally deprived areas of the city in meeting the educational 
objectives of this school system? 
3. What might the school system do through its educational 
proces~es to eliminate unreasoned prejudice in the minds of children 
of one race against persons of another race? 2 O 
After considering the questions, the committee realized that 
the problems extended beyond the school itself. Schools alone, they 
said, could not break do\\111 residential restrictions, guarantee jobs, 
eliminate prejudice, abolish poverty, or conquer apathy and 
delinquency. Therefore, the committee broadened the study to 
include the larger social context within which the educational 
problems occurred. 21 
20committee on Race and Education, Race and Equal Educa-
tional Opportunity in Portland I s Schools, p. 3. 
183 
In the fall of 19 64, the chairman of the committee delivered to 
the school board a report of findings and a list of recommendations; the 
major one of which, i.e., establishment of a Model School program, 
would influence Jefferson High School several years later. Of more 
immediate influence was the recommendation to re-evaluate the 
adequacy of the high school curriculum in light of the educational 
problems that existed in Albina. The committee recommended the 
establishment of occupation-oriented programs of general education 
for those students who were not college-bound. 
The committee also recommended that a re-evaluation of the 
special-achievement program be made by a qualified independent group. 
This recommendation was important to Jefferson because in 1963-64, 
7 per cent of Jefferson's enrollment was classified as mentally retarded 
(MR). Of the 162 students in the MR class, 122 were Negro. In addi-
tion, 21 other black students classified as MR had been transferred to 
other schools. Portland's schools had designated 212 of the city's 
1,181 black high school students as mentally retarded. This figure was 
18 per cent of all black secondary-school students, an alarming statis-
tic to members of the committee. 2 2 
2 2Ibid., p. 146-47. 
184 
In spite of the recommendations of the Committee on Race 
and Education for curriculum changes at Jefferson High School, the 
changes that did occur were slow to come. 
Jefferson's classes were organized according to ability groups 
during the 1950's, a practice which continued in some subjects until 
19 68. The Educational Enrichment classes for gifted students resulted 
in at lea st a partial ability grouping. Heterogeneous grouping by 
ability and race, according to one teacher, was necessary to make 
classroom instruction bearable. He believed that a class composed 
entirely of low performers would be impossible to control. In a hetero-
geneous class, peer pressure exerted by the average students helped 
in the maintenance of some degree of order. 2 3 
Curriculum changes occurred throughout the 1960's but•not all 
were planned changes. Teachers at Jefferson claimed that the increase 
in disciplinary problems in the classroom caused the academic quality 
of class work to suffer. Many staff members attempted to maintain the 
requirements of previous years, but found that to be impossible; large 
numbers of the students simply did not respond to their teaching 
methods. Furthermore, the curriculum I s emphasis on the accomplish-
ments of white Americans contributed to black students I indifference 
toward school. 
2 3rnterview with Hugh McGinnis, January 7, 19 70. 
185 
Although the blacks had asked for courses which reflected the 
Negro contribution to the nation I s growth, the social studies course 
was not altered to any great extent until 1968-69. In 1964, however, 
school leaders selected an integrated textbook for the junior year 
history course which described contributions by both blacks and whites 
rather than dwelling only on one or the other. 24 Since 1964 an 
elective course in all the nation's minority groups has been offered to 
seniors. In January, 19 68, when the course was altered to allow con-
centration solely on the black minority, it attracted a larger black 
enrollment. 
In the later years, individual teachers who were interested in 
reaching black students altered elective courses to meet the desires of 
the blacks. A course in black literature, i.e., the use in a literature 
course of works written by black authors, was well-received. In the 
winter of 1969-70 the instructor commented that he would not concen-
trate solely upon black authors after that year. He believed that the 
black students at Jefferson were sophisticated enough to benefit from a 
course in modern literature which would include the best of black and 
white authors. 25 His classes were held in high repute among both 
24oregonian, October 3, 1963, p. 26. 
25 rnterview with William See: teacher at Jefferson High 
School since 1954, November 5, 1969. 
186 
black and white students because the dignity of the individual was 
respected. 
Changes in curriculum to increase availability of vocational 
courses did not materialize until the end of the sixties. A work-study 
program for the special-achievement classes was launched in 1967 
with the aid of Federal funds. By the 1968-69 school year, a number of 
employers agreed to provide employment on a part-time basis for those 
slower students. 
A course in horticulture was added when the school district, 
at the urging of businessmen, acquired a greenhouse in northeast 
Portland. Other changes were proposed, but auto-mechanics training 
and food processing and management courses were not scheduled to 
commence until the 1969-70 school year. 
When proposed additions to the vocational course offerings 
were announced, a mixed reaction came from the black community. 
The old controversy that had originated between W. E. B. DuBois and 
Booker T. Washington concerning an academic versus vocational -
education for Negroes again came to the surface. Militants adhering 
to DuBois' position denounced the courses. The food processing and 
management course, they claimed was directed simply toward 
preparing blacks to do kitchen work. Vocational courses for blacks 
187 
and academic courses for whites was, in their opinion, sheer racist 
discrimination. 26 
Other members of the black community favored the stand 
taken by Booker T. Washington. They believed it only practical to 
teach those who did not want to, or were unable to, go to college a 
skill with which to earn a living. To many of these blacks, a partial 
solution to the inner-city problems was economic. With a skill to 
sell and a steady income, many blacks might be able to alleviate 
other difficulties. 
These opposing ideological positions among blacks confused 
some whites who wanted to classify all blacks in a single category. 
Many whites were unaware that social-class structure has the same 
influence on blacks as it does on whites. Because of restrictive 
housing practices, blacks, however, do not have the spatial separation 
as do whites. Since, for the most part, blacks live in a common area, 
whites tend to overlook the blacks' socio-economic differences. The 
whites I tendency to lump all blacks together contributed to their lack of 
understanding of the blacks' problems. 
Blacks avowed that they had been ignored during the 1950's, 
so early in the 1960's, individual black students, in an effort to gain 
26 rnterview with Dr. R. William Clark, teacher and Dean at 
Jefferson since 1956, October 10, 1969. 
188 
recognition, began to speak out. Although these militant spokesmen 
were not well organized and had only a small following, they were 
successful in creating a disturbance. Throughout most of the decade, 
the school administration insisted that these students were being 
influenced and encouraged by non-students. 
Perhaps newspaper accounts and television broadcasts did 
influence black students at Jefferson. Even the administration recog-
nized the movement for civil rights by inviting black civil rights 
workers who had been in the South to speak at Jefferson's faculty 
meetings. Most of the teachers sympathized with the movement, but 
from comments made, a number of them still believed that all the 
blacks I problems were in the South. 2 7 
Within the school, blacks became more aggressive for their 
"place in the sun." The upper main hall at Jefferson was traditionally 
the domain of white athletes and other white students of high status. 
In 19 62-63, blacks who had previously clustered in the lower main 
hall began to move upstairs. 28 Tension increased and loud profane 
words interrupted classes. Order in classrooms became more difficult 
to maintain and some teachers found themselves spending large 
2 7rnterview with Hugh McGinnis, January 7, 19 70. 
28rnterview with Hugh McGinnis and R. William Clark. 
189 
amounts of time on disciplinary problems to the detriment of subject 
matter. 
In 19 63, a riot, "race riot II according to the newspapers, 
focused the city's attention on the black-white problems at Jefferson. 
The disturbance occurred after a Jefferson-Grant football game. The 
two schools were arch-rivals, and clashes between their students were 
commonplace; but, because of Jefferson's black enrollment, the racial 
aspects of the confrontation were emphasized by the news media. A 
twenty-one year old youth, who allegedly was carrying a dangerous 
weapon, was among the nineteen persons arrested as a result of the 
riot. 29 The presence of the older youth lent credence to the theory 
that "outside agitation II was causing most of the trouble at re fferson. 
In the fall of 19 64, a football game was the scene of another 
outbreak between black and white students. Convinced that a small 
group of hooligans was responsible, the principal asked the school 
board for a "get tough II policy. 11 Roy Malo Given Green Light to Oust 
Bum Apples," was The Oregonian's headline of the board's reply.30 
Most of the public approved of the newly adopted measures as did the 
teachers who were having difficulty with their classes. 
29oregonian, October 3, 1963, p. 26. 
30oregonian, Nevember 10, 1964, p. 1. 
190 
In the fall of 1966, another outbreak occurred between blacks 
and whites after a football game. The community's assumption that 
these periodic outbreaks were Jefferson's responsibility angered 
Jefferson I s personnel. One teacher declared that the troubles were not 
just Jefferson's problem: "It's a community problem and Jefferson just 
happens to be the hub around which it is spinning ... 31 The Committee 
on Race and Education had voiced the same opinion two years earlier, 
and the larger community still had not accepted responsibility for the 
problem. 
Instead, as a reporter remarked, "The whites are voting with 
their feet and moving out of Albina. 11 32 He was apparently correct. 
Jefferson's enrollment dropped from 2,315 in 1963 to 1,921 in 1966. 
Of course, a change in the south boundary of Jefferson• s attendance 
area, one of high black concentration, also affected the enrollment, 
but the percentage of blacks at Jefferson continued to increase 
significantly. 
The following summer, the Albina ghetto erupted with fires -
and vandalism. The black community's interpretation of the riot was 
that Albina youth were enraged because school budget restrictions had 
3loregonian, September 25, 1966, p. 26. 
32 Ibid. 
191 
made it necessary to cut back the athletic program at Jefferson. One 
white official declared that the riots should not be connected to the 
reduced school athletic program because Grant and Wilson high school 
students, while equally affected, had not created any disturbances as 
a result of the cutback. 33 This official, however, obviously did not 
appreciate the importance that the school athletic program had for the 
blc,wk students. Students at Wilson and Grant, schools located in 
middle-class sections of the city, had other outlets for their energies 
and other means of winning individual recognition. Young blacks to 
whom The Oregonian reporter talked, repeated the feeling of frustration, 
11 No one listens to us. 11 The youths accused reporters of always going 
to black adults for their information,, adults who, in the. y9uths' opinion, 
were 11 Uncle Toms. " "They don't speak for us, 11 the students 
declared . 3 4 
The fall term of school opened in a tense atmosphere. 
Scuffles, "shakedowns," and fights occurred in the halls and cafeteria. 
A teacher, injured while trying to break up a fight, required surgery to 
repair an elbow. 35 Teacher morale, already low, slumped further. 
33oregonian, August 6, 1967, Forum, pp. 6-7. 
34rbid. 
35oregonian, October 28, 1967, p. 15. 
192 
The official opinion was that most of the trouble stemmed from non-
student sources. Jefferson I s principal proposed four steps to reduce 
the problems: 
1. Keep non-student loiterers out of the school. 
2 . Expell trouble-makers. 
3. Reduce the traffic near the school. 
4. Reduce outside agitation. 36 
Administrative action accomplished the first three steps. The fourth, 
outside agitation, was primarily directed toward Upward Bound tutors 
from Reed College. Three boys who had attended the Reed Upward 
Bound program had, according to Jefferson 1 s principal, consistently 
created trouble since they returned to Jefferson from the summer pro-
gram. In addition, these students could find nothing worthwhile at 
Jefferson after their return. The "trouble-making 11 leaders were 
attracting some followers from the younger blacks, but the older 
students were ignoring them, he added. 3 7 
Race-related problems reflect the community in which they 
occur, claimed one Upward Bound tµtor from Reed College. He 
believed that a Black Student Union, which the boys were trying to 
3 6oregonian, Nove_mber l , 19 6 7, p. 12. 
37rbid. 
193 
create, was simply a means for them to become more involved with the 
school. These students were attempting to be heard and no one was 
listening to them. Ronda! Snodgrass, a teacher at Jefferson from 
1963-65 and then at Reed College, pointed out that "very few" Jeffer-
son teachers lived in Albina or could identify with the Albina area. 
He asked whether many of them should actually be teaching at Jefferson. 
Were they in sympathy with the student body? 38 One black student 
stated, "The student teachers from Reed have gotten closer to us in a 
few weeks than the regular teachers who've been here 20 years. It's 
no new game being shut out by a teacher. " He added, "We 1ve had that 
since grade school. .,39 
The editor of The Oregonian reflected the c0mmunity' s attitude 
later that week. In the past, he claimed, Portland school authorities 
had been strict regarding clubs and organizations in the schools. A 
Black Student Union, with the presumed associated violence, scarcely 
qualified under the school system's standards. 40 
The Church-Community Action Program (C-CAP), a group of 
interested citizens from diverse backgrounds, met to discuss the issue. 
3 8oregonian, November 3 , 19 67, p. I 8. 
39oregonian, April 11, 1968, p. 12. 
4 OEditoria 1, Oregonian, November 8 , 19 6 7 , p. 2 6 . 
194 
Ellen Law, a black teacher at Jefferson, charged that "about 20" of 
Jefferson I s teachers were prejudiced on racial matters. C-CAP asked 
school board members to studf the faculty situation at Jefferson. 41 
The committee members claimed that they were not taking any side 
but were simply seeking a solution to the problems of the school. 
Later that winter, Robert Nelson, chairman of a study 
committee on racial matters appointed by Mayor Terry Schrunk, sub-
mitted a report. "It seems as though the administration at Jefferson 
High School was more concerned with 1keeping the lid on I and control-
ling the situation, and getting tough than taking the lid off, looking 
into the pot, and saying, 1let 1 s see what can be done creatively. 11142 
His committee recommended that certain changes be made at Jefferson: 
1. Transfer ten or twelve teachers who Nelson declared 
"do not want to teach out there. " 
2 . Do a more complete job of teaching the Negro's role in 
American history. 
3. Recruit more Negro teachers. 
4. Employ a full-time race relations person. 
5. Curtail the transfer of white students from Jefferson. 43 
41oregonian, November 9, 1967, p. 33. 
42oregonian, December 12, 1967, p. 1. 
43 Ibid. , p. ZS . 
195 
Nelson claimed, "We are not sending our young people to school to 
learn to conform to a set of established prejudices, but rather to open 
their minds for a creative future. ,.44 
Again the attitude of Ellany people in the community was 
similar to the opinion the editor of The Oregonian expressed in his 
rebuttal to the committee's report. "The question is not, 11 he 
declared, "will there be too much forced conformity? It is: will a 
tiny minority of the student body--perhaps 30 or 40 students out of 
1900--be permitted to disrupt the school program for all. 1145 
The community was disturbed by the unsettled conditions at 
Jefferson. Responsible officials could not condone violence in the 
school, so the administrators suppressed the turbulent actions but they 
did little or nothing to correct the underlying causes. 
Jefferson High School attracted the attention of the community 
once more in the spring of 1968 when Dr. Martin Luther King was shot, 
Both blacks and whites cried together when President Kennedy was 
assassinated, one teacher explained, but when King was shot, the 
blacks drew off by themselves. A number of blacks were sincerely 
sorrowful and bitter. "I thought I had been accepted by the blacks," 
44Ibid. 
45Editorial, Oregonian, December 13, 1967, p. 40. 
196 
remarked one teacher, "but on that day, they let me know that I was 
white. 1146 
School leaders anticipated trouble at Jefferson following 
Dr. King 1 s assassination. Initially they announced that the school 
would be closed on April 8 and 9 to "cool off. 11 This directive was 
later rescinded; classes would be held on April 8, and all schools in 
the city would be closed on April 9 in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King. 
The occasion was marked by numerous school absences but no large-
scale violence. 4 7 
William Knouff announced later that spring to the school board: 
"We have tried to operate Jefferson just like any other high school. 
But it is perhaps time the board takes the stand that Jefferson is not 
any other high school and must be handled differently. n48 
The school board members reportedly began to seek a long-
range solution as well as some short-range relief for the strife at 
Jefferson. They designated Jefferson as part of the Model School Pro-
gram, thereby making available Federal monies for working with the 
school Is disadvantaged youth. The principal received additional 
_ 46 rnterviews with teachers who were at Jefferson at the time 
when Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated. 
47oregonian, April 10, 1968, p. 19. 
4 8oregonian, April 9 , 19 6 B, p. 16. 
197 
personnel to work in the problem areas. A full-time attendance officer 
was assigned to relieve the pressure on the vice-principals, and four 
community agents were hired. The latter would counsel students and 
assist those who needed clothing, lunches, books, and other supplies 
which their parents could not provide. 
Some officials discussed the possibility of closing Jefferson 
when the John Adams High School was completed. They suggested 
using the school as a community college or as an administrative build-
ing. School leaders generally were pessimistic about Jefferson's 
future. "Jeff will be all black in three years if the tide does not 
change, " predicted a vice-principal. 49 
White student leaders, when interviewed by a reporter for 
The Oregonian, asked that a firm hand be taken at Jefferson. They 
claimed that they saw certain people repeatedly commit violence, but 
that no action was taken against the "culprits. 11 50 The white 
students expressed the opinion that many of the school's problems 
stemmed from the administration 1s permissive policy toward blacks. 
The Oregonian interviewed four black student leaders to 
enable them to express their views. These blacks suggested that the 
49oregonian, April 10, 1968, p. 19, quoting vice-principal 
George Guthrie. 
5 0oregonia n , April 9 , 19 6 8 , p . 2 7 . 
198 
white students were becoming panicky because of the actions of a few 
trouble-makers. The blacks' opinion was that if the whites would 
cooperate, the students themselves could control the outbursts. 51 
Leadership had been nebulous among the black students during 
the first half of the decade. Several factions existed, but in the early 
years the militants received the major share of attention. Force, in 
addition to the usual peer group pressure, kept the militants' foll0wers 
in line. The staff classified two or three of these leaders as 
"hoods. 1152 The "hood" element was well known in the neighborhood, 
and the suggestion was made that one way to help Jefferson would be 
for the community to "clean up" the neighborhood. Ron Taylor, a 
Jefferson tr:itck star in 1962, told a reporter for The Oregonian in 1966 
that '' ... dope is sold on the streetcorners--there are whorehouses 8 
blocks from the school, ·but nobody says anything." He believed that 
he knew what was going on because only a few years prior to the 
interview, ". . . I was just a plain hood like the ones you say are 
causing the trouble ... 53 
51oregoni~n, April 11, 1968, p. 34. 
52rnterview with teach~rs who taught at Jefferson during the 
1950's and 1960's. 
53oregonian, October 5, 1966, p. 9. 
199 
The rowdy leadership eventually gave way to articulate and 
thoughtful blacks. Many were no less militant, but more objective. 
They neither encouraged nor desired violence, but they did press hard 
for their cause. 54 In the spring of 1968, Jefferson's black students 
attempted to inform white students about black culture by presenting a 
"Soul Assembly. 11 The black students hoped that through their music 
they could improve the relationship between blacks and whites. The 
presentation was so well-received that in May they performed before a 
large crowd at the Portland Civic Auditorium. 
Although the program was primarily designed to educate 
whites, the producers I and performers I remarks indicate that the effort 
also helped them to establish their ow~ identity as blacks. One 
seventeen-year-old boy said, 11We are finding a beauty in being 
black--finding there is no shame in it any more. The old ideas, 11 he 
continued, "that black is bad; kinky hair is bad; you are ugly; that is 
bad; are no longer important concepts. The way you think and the 
pride you have is the important thing . .,55 A senior involved in the 
production said, "We have been stuffed full of white ideas. The black 
man wouldn 1t relate to it. 11 Now, he claimed, blacks were exhibiting 
54rnterview with teachers who taught at Jefferson during the 
1960's. 
55oregonian, April 30, 1968, p. 19. 
200 
some aspects of black culture. He implied that blacks by now had the 
benefit of exposure to two cultures and wanted to be proud of them 
both. 56 
Pride had always been a tradition at Jefferson. A new 
principal, appointed in May, 1968, came to the school because "I 
think I saw hope--that the school could regain the pride and school of 
champions attitude it had for many years. 115 7 William Proppe was 
directed by the board merely to observe at Jefferson for the remainder 
of the school year. During the summer, he visited inner-city schools 
in other large cities so that he might become acquainted with the 
methods used at these schools to alleviate their problems. 
Before the end of the school year, the staff for the following 
year was selected. Heeding what members of the black community had 
said about racist teachers at Jefferson, all teachers who wanted to 
transfer from the school were given the opportunity to do so. The 
principal and the vice-principals then reviewed the remaining 
teachers and asked some to accept transfers. 58 
S 6rbid. 
5 7oregonian, December 8 1968, p. 10. 
58rnterview with Dr. William Proppe, principal of Jefferson 
since the 1968-69 school year, October 17, 1969. 
201 
A stringent screening system was initiated the following 
spring. The administration undertook the task of justifying the 
retention of each teacher at Jefferson. Three questions were asked 
about each teacher: 
1. Does he want to teach at Jefferson? 
2. Is he in sympathy with Jefferson's goals? 
3. Is he contributing toward these goals ? 59 
Even though tra se measures had been taken, teachers report 
that the 19 68-69 school year was unusually tense. Abundant help, 
however, was available: teacher-interns and tutors from Reed College 
and Portland State College, as well as practice teachers, were in the 
building. Additional blacks had been placed on the faculty and also in 
para-professional positions. Because the total enrollment had 
declined, space was ample and the large staff permitted a low teacher-
pupil ratio. The student body had more or less polarized as various 
factions of blacks and whites competed for positions of status in the 
school. Angry accusations and frequent assaults in the halls and 
school grounds created a strained situation. 
The percentage of black students at Jefferson had risen to 
over 40 per cent, but the actual number of blacks had decreased from 
202 
the previous year. John Adams High School, scheduled for completion 
by the fall of 1969, would require a boundary shift so the board 
members decided to wait until the Adams school was ready. 60 At the 
same school board meeting at which this decision was made, a growing 
division was apparent among school board members concerning educat-
ing the disadvantaged. Some members claimed too much attention was 
being paid to the racial aspects of education while other issues were 
being ignored. They suggested a balanced approach. 61 Board members, 
nevertheless, expressed continuing confidence in the new principal at 
Jefferson, William Proppe. 
Mob action, shortly after the school year started, again put 
Jefferson's name into the newspapers. A white Jefferson student was 
attacked and seriously injured by several other students. As a result, 
his parents transferred him to another school in the city. This boy and 
his family had been loyal to Jefferson; they had tried to make integra-
tion at the school a success. Proppe put the problem straight to the 
students. School leaders issued a bulletin describing the events 
surrounding the incident and stating the way in which the affair 
affected Jefferson. The bulletin then posed a series of questions to 
60oregonian, August 14, 1968, p. 15. 
61 Ibid. 
203 
which, according to one teacher, the school Is students gave serious 
thought. Some of the questions were: 
1. Why did it happen? 
2. Would you return to Jeff? 
3 . Is Jeff better or worse off for the incident? 
4. How do you get self-respect? 
5. How does Jeff get pride? 62 
Although some of the students, both black and white, were 
willing to discuss the issues, others were not. A three-way leadership 
struggle for control of student activities was occurring among the 
students: between black students and white students, between 
members of the black group, and between the "hood" element and the 
more serious students . 
Staff members report that they believe the leadership shifted 
from white to black at this time. The change was not the result of an 
actual confrontation, but was the result of a gradual sharing and 
shifting of power. Blacks were still outnumbered and would have been 
defeated in any "block" voting, but the leadership qualities of 
individual black students appealed to whites and blacks alike. 
62oregonian, October 10, 1968, p. 43. 
204 
Although white students were still prominent in student positions, in 
the decision-making groups, black voices predominated. 
The staff began to include students in making decisions_· 
regarding school matters. Assemblies, changes in cafeteria rules, and 
changes in student conduct codes, all involved student planners. In 
this way, students were shown that they were an important part of the 
over-all school organization. 
The teachers were at Jefferson because they wanted to teach 
in that school and the administration believed that each teacher had 
something significant to contribute. The new staff was young and 
included more Negro teachers. The median age in 1967-68 had been 39 
and in 19 68-69 it was 31. The median age for all high schools in Port-
land was 40. 63 But the popularly-accepted idea that the so-called 
communication gap is primarily a result of vast age difference was 
disproved at Jefferson. Although the median age was only 31, some 
of the most successful teachers on the staff had been teaching almost 
that many years. As one of the experienced teachers said, "The young 
teachers try very hard, but they often run out of resources and get 
63Administrative Research Department, "Salaries and Age 
Distribution of Instructional and Other Personnel, 1967-68 and --
1968-69, 11 Portland Public Schools. 
205 
frustrated. The older teacher just has more techniques to draw from 
and should be able to reach more students in his classroom. 11 64 
Staff and students reviewed the school's conduct rules, and, 
if they were found no longer applicable, they were abolished. Remain-
ing rules were expected to be followed. In an attempt to avoid direct 
confrontation, the staff employed all possible means to induce the 
students to use self-control and to conform to conduct acceptable to 
the student body and staff. Although fights among students were 
frequent, the relationship between the blacks and the administration 
seemed to improve. Nevertheless, because of the continued disrup-
tion at Jefferson, the school board again assigned a panel to study 
the case. 
Although the school year had been comparatively quiet, 
school board members were alarmed by newspaper reports of "over a 
hundred assaults at Jefferson. 11 One member emphatically declared, 
"We still have a dangerous and difficult situation over there, and we 
need some damned fa st staff recommendations toz: trying to solve the 
problems. "65 
' 
64rnformant from Jefferson High School. 
65oregonian, February 26;:, 1969, Section III, p. 7. 
206 
In an interview with a friendly reporter, students at Jefferson 
were given an opportunity to chide school board members for their 
apparently hostile attitude toward Jefferson. One student said, 11 You 
appear to look on Jefferson not as a learning institution but as an 
institution of violence .... 11 66 That the school had accemplished 
much, a spokesman for the board admitted, but suggested that board 
members recognize that the racial tension at Jefferson affeqted all the 
people of the city. "You are working it out while all the other pe0ple 
just talk about it, 11 another member said, "that's why you are real. 1167 
In March, white students began to react to the changes which 
had been occurring at the school. They complained that they felt little 
responsibility for the conditions of the blacks and resented the implica-
tion that they were accountable. Whites were tired of being assaulted, 
intimidqted, and at times "shook down." Administrative policies, 
which they believed to be solicitous of the black students' demands, 
appeared to be ignoring the whites. 68 
With placards and slogans , often borrowed from the blacks, 
the white students demonstrated. Observers said black students 
66oregonian, March 11, 1969, p. 11. 
6 7Ibid. 
68oregonian, March 23, 1969, p. 1. 
207 
standing in the school looking out on the demonstrators were somewhat 
confused. 11 Man, what have those guys got to complain about," was a 
typical reaction . 
The administration expressed willingness to talk about the 
issues with the white students just as they had with the blacks. 
Although much of the white students' reaction had been purely 
emotional, complaints were aired and tension was reduced. 
As the 1960 1s drew to a close, the principal of Jefferson 
stated that the prime requisite of a contemporary school staff is the 
ability to change and that only a small percentage of a high school's 
efforts should be devoted to training for conformity. "School today is 
a place to be. involved, not a place to sit at the feet of a pontifi-
cator. 1169 Jefferson High School had become an excellent setting for 
such involvement because it was reflecting the problems of the inner-
city and urban center. 
Numerous changes took place at Jefferson High School while 
the composition of the student body was becoming half white and half 
black instead of all white. Problems arising from this condition con-
tinue to plague the school's administration. Many people in the 
69John Guernsey, "Proppe: The Man at Jefferson, 11 
Oregonian, December 8, 1968, Magazine, pp. 10-11. 

209 
EPILOGUE 
Alterations in curriculum and teaching methods at Jefferson 
High School did not commence until near the end of the 1960 1 s. The 
questions arise: Why did it take so long to incorporate these changes? 
What are the future prospects for both whites and blacks at Jefferson? 
The bureaucratic system built up to operate the large district 
contributed to fostering uniformity throughout the school system. Of 
greater influence, perhaps, was the "myth of unitary community. 111 
Educators have long sustained the thought that for the design of a 
school program, the city is a unit. They did not recognize, for the 
purposes of education, various racial, ethnic, religious, and economic 
differences in the people of the city. 
According to the myth, education is a process that functions 
in the same manner regardless of class or geographic area. To provide 
courses or programs for one neighborhood which are not available in 
another would create group and class differences and widen the socio-
economic gap at the adult level. 2 Uniformity is equated with 
1 Robert H. Salisbury, "Schools and Politics in the Big City, " 
Harvard Educational Review, 37 (Spring, 1967), 412-13. 
2rbid. 
210 
egalitarianism. Educational leaders and most of the general public 
believe that "equality of 0pportunity" exists when the same courses 
of study are offered to all students. For each student to excel! under 
his own initiative is considered 11democratic 11 and the "American way." 
Such a policy denies minority groups an educational program designed 
to fit their requirements. Jefferson's lower-class black students 
struggled and failed in courses suitable for white middle-class 
students. 
Educational leaders in Portland adhered to the doctrine of the 
unitary community until protests from the black minority forced a 
re-appraisal. In the late 1960 1 s they initiated changes that directly 
applied to Jefferson. School officials became more concerned as the 
de facto segregation of northern cities came under as sharp attack as 
the de jure segregated schools of the South. Many national educators 
believed that compensatory education did not sufficiently offset the 
deficiencies of segregated schooling. In January of 1970, Dr. Robert 
Blanchard, Portland's superintendent of schools , recommended to the 
school board a radical change of the entire school system. 3 In order 
331anchard 1s recommendation to integrate the Portland schools 
has support not only from judicial decisions, but also recent educa-
tional resea~ch. James S. Coleman et al., in Equality of Educational 
Opportunity: Summary (Washington: U. S. Government Printing Office, 
1966), olaims that only through integration of the schools, can equal 
opportunity in education be accomplished. Various viewpoints of that 
211 
to reduce the concentration of blacks in the Albina schools, he 
recommended that the school district be divided into four sub-districts 
(later changed to three). Boundaries were drawn to give each sub-
district a social·,· racial, and economic balance in population. An 
assistant superintendent with near-autonomous control, and an 
advisory school board. will direct each sub-district. Such a reorganiza-
tion was designed to reduce the distance between the decision-makers 
and classroom problems. 4 
Jefferson High School's racial composition is directly affected 
by the establishment of the new school boundaries. The sub-district 
boundaries will divide Albina and the black community, Each sub-
district will have from 7 to 11 per cent black student population and no 
controversial report are featured in the Harvard Educational Review, 38 
(Winter, 1968). ·Nancy H. St. John conducted a study of de facto 
segregation in New England. She finds in "De Facto Segregation and 
Interracial Association in High Schools, 11 Sociology of Education, 37 
(Spring, 1964), 326-344, that integration in the elementary schools 
tends to foster .interracial. association in high school. Black leaders 
in high school tend to come from integrated elementary schools. 
Alan B. Wilson finds that boys from lower-class homes raised their 
levels of aspiration and educational goals when attending a school 
I 
with a substc:mHal number of students from higher socio-economic 
classes. "Residential Segregation of Social Classes and Aspiration 
of High School Boys," American Sociological Review, 24 (December, 
1959), 836-844. 
4oregonian, January 21, 1970, p. 1. 
212 
school will contain over 25 per cent black enrollment. 5 Jefferson will 
no longer be the 11 N egro high school. " 
Strangely, Jefferson I s black students and their parents 
received the announced change with marked lack of enthusiasm. The 
Jefferson staff1 s concerted effort over the last two years to in till in the 
blacks a pride for Jefferson has been successful. Black students 
espouse the same pride in their school as Jeffersonians have for sixty· 
years and they resent being forced to leave for other high schools. The 
recently acquired pride in their blackness influences many of the 
students. Blacks feel compelled to prove that "their" school can 
compete with whites and excell. 
Some of the militants interpret the planned division 0£ black 
students as an attempt to destroy Black Power in Portland's schools. 6 
Their pride in being black, their identification with the black group, 
will be lost, they explain, if the black students are divided among 
several schools. At Jefferson their numbers are sufficient to give them 
political strength. Scattered among several schools, they fear that, as 
in the 19 5 0 1 s, black students will become lo st in the crowd and 
ignored. At their new schools the blacks have misgivings about being 
5rbid. 
6oregonian, March 16, 1970, p.15. 
213 
pressed into classes which are academically-oriented and taught by 
teachers who may not be responsive to black students' problems. 
Jefferson's teachers have only in recent years become sensitive to 
blacks' needs. Blacks are reluctant to relinquish these hard-won 
gains. 
Will the educational myth of the "unitary community" function 
once again? On the other hand, will programs similar to the Jefferson 
Project receive adequate funding and teacher support to insure 
success? 
Whites criticize the reorganization because it threatens the 
traditional neighborhood school policy. Middle schools and high 
schools will be organized on a sub-district basis.. Whites not now 
included in Jefferson's attendance area resent their assignment to the 
school. White parents are fearful of sending their children there 
because so much of the news about Jefferson in recent years has 
concerned violence and black-white clashes. 
Others are concerned about control of the decision-making 
authority. School board members show anxiety over dividing the 
district and establishing competitive units. They believe that the 
school board should appoint advisory boards to aid each sub-district 
assistant superintendent. The board was reluctant to relinquish its 
214 
power and authority, for in essence the advisory boards would be 
merely extensions of the school board. 
An opposing point of view in the community is voiced by 
leaders of the Citizens I Committee for Better Schools who advocate 
that the advisory boards ·be petition-appointed by an independent 
committee rather than by the school board. Members should, they 
declare, include a cross section of residents, students, and teachers 
from different races, cultures, and income levels. 7 Their stipulation 
that half of the members be black does not meet with the school 
board I s approval. 
The battle lines are forming; the editor of The Oregonian, 
the members of the school board, and many white people favor the 
reorganization. Those opposed include a_ large portion of the black 
community and many of the school district's classroom teachers. 
The teachers resent their exclusion from the reorganization planning 
and fear that the change will not improve the educational quality of 
the schools . 8 
In the 1970-71 school year, the Portland school administra-
tion faces a tremendous challenge. An attempt by a large northern city 
7oregonian, March 16, 1970, p. 15. 
81bid. 
215 
to eliminate de facto segregation by a massive reorganization of the 
school system will attract widespread attention. The problems facing 
the administrators are formidable. In addition to the complications 
inherent in the decentralization, they face both angry and rebellious 
white and black parents. 
The changes in Portland's public school system instigated by 
the influx of black shipyard workers during World War II have not 
ceased. A static system, however, should not be the goal of any 
school administrator. When and if the problems caused by racial and 
socio-economic factors are solved in Portland's schools, change 
should still continue in order to meet the shifting needs of the 
community. 
216 
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i 
Williams, George H. "The 'Free State Letter' of Judge G, H. 
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227 
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Action. Washington: U.S. Department ofLabor,-1965. 
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Journal,' February .29, 195 6. . 
Guernsey, John. "Proppe: The Man at Jefferson." Oregonian, 
December 8, 1968, Magazine, 10-11. 
Hughes, Emmet J. "The Negroes' New Economic Life." Fortune, 
September, 1956. 
"Jim Crow, Northern Style." Look, Jun_e, 1956, 75-85. 
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Magazine. 
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Oregonian . (Portland)., 19 3 9 -6 9 . Various dates . 
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_____.  "The Negro in Portland: A Progress Report, 1945-57." 
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Portland , 19 5 7 . 
_____. . "Problems of Racial Justice in Portland." Portland City 
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Hills , Joy, and Emerson, D. A. , eds . 11 Report of the Oregon • 
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Policies, and Procedures Which Affect the Application of the 
Oregon 1959 Fair Housing Law. 11 Portland: League of Women 
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Opportunity in Portland. " Portland: League of Women Voters, 
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Letter from W. A. Oliver, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, to 
John S . Holley concerning black enrollment in Portland I s 
schools, dated October 27, 1961. Files of the Urban League 
of Portland. 
230 
Peninsula Publishing Company (compiler and editor}. The Peninsula: 
A Special Publication Giving Glimpses of Greater Portland 
and St. Johns. Portland, Oregon: Peninsula Publishing 
Company, 1909. 
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Portland , Oregon , 19 6 2 . 
Rose, Arnold M. "The Negro in Postwar America. " New York: 
Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, 1950. 
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.Q.!!. Secondary Education. Salem, Oregon: State Department 
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Salem, Oregon: State Printing Department, 192 7. 
Stewart, Maxwell S. "The Poor Among Us-~Challenge and Opportunity." 
Public Affairs Pamphlet No. 362. New York: The Public 
Affairs Committee, 19 64. 
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Prices in Portland, Oregon" and "Residential Attitudes Toward 
Negroes as Neighbors." Two surveys by Urban League of 
Portland , Oregon, 19 5 6 . 
Interviews 
Barrett, Don. Teacher at Jefferson High School and acting supervisor 
of school social workers for the school district. January 2 8, 
19 70. 
Casson, Ellis. Graduate of Jefferson High School, Assistant to the 
Superintendent of Schools for Intergroup Relations. 
January 28, 1970. 
Chapman, Vernon. Director of Education and Youth Incentive, 
Portland Urban League. January 14, 19 70. 
231 
Clark, R. William. Teacher and Dean at Jefferson High School since 
1956. October 10, 1967; January 7, 1970. 
Flegel, Dorothy. Graduate of Jefferson High School, teacher and vice-
principal at Jefferson 1923-1962. January 14, 1970. 
Guthrie, George. Graduate of Jefferson High School, teacher and vice-
principal 1958-1968. January 14, 1970. 
Hill, E. Simpson. Executive Director of Portland Urban League. 
October 15, 20, 1969. 
Hull, Bob. Teacher and counselor at Jefferson High School since 1952. 
January 7, 1970. 
Jones, Charles L. Graduate of Jefferson High School, teacher at 
Jefferson during the 1930's and principal 1950-196"0. 
December 5, 1969. 
Kleiner, Harold. Deputy Superintendent of Schools, Director of the 
Model School Program. October 6, 19 69. 
Law, Ellen. Teacher and vice-principal at Jefferson High School since 
1956. December 10, 1969. 
Malo, Roy. Teacher at Jefferson High School and principal of 
Jefferson 1961-1965. December 5, 1969. 
McGinnis, Hugh. Graduate of Jefferson High School, teacher and 
counselor at Jefferson since 1953. January 7, 1970. 
Nickerson, Nathan. Director of Economic Development and Employment, 
Portland Urban League. January 7, 16, 1970. 
-
Nunn, Josiah. Teacher and Dean at Jefferson High School since 1963. 
December 3, 19 69. 
Pazina, Dale. Student at Jefferson High School 1961-1965. October 21, 
1969. 
Robinson, John. Student at Jefferson High School 1945-1949; January 9, 
1970. 
232 
Schull, Martha. Teacher at Jefferson High School 1927-1967. 
February 2, 1970. 
See, William. Teacher at Jefferson High School since 1954. 
November 5, 1969. 
Vollbrecht, M.A. Associ<;1ted with Kaiser Shipbuilding Corporation 
Personnel Department during World War II; July, 1969. 
Woodward, Edna Mae. Teacher and counselor at Jefferson High 
School since 1955. November 21, 1969. 
233 
APPENDIX I 
NEGRO BUSINESS ENTERPRISES IN 1933 
Business Number Business Number 
Newspaper 1 Automobile Washing 1 
Club House 3 Second Hand Store 1 
Printing Shops 1 Dressmaking 2 
Pool Halls 5 Drayage 1 
Barber Shops 5 House Contractor 1 
Hotel 1 Interior Decorators 8 
Restaurants 8 Real Estate 2 
Tailoring Shop l Cabinet Making 1 
Cleaning Shops 2 Bakery 1 
Shoe Shining 15 Oregon Mutual Aid Ass 'n 1 
Beauty Parlors 10 Buil9-ing Association I 
Caterers 8 Laundry I 
Chicken Farm 1 Music Studi0 2 
(Source: Hill, "The Negro in Oregon: A Survey, 11 pp. 56-57) 
234 
APPENDIX II 
EMPLOYNIENT OF PORTLAND NEGROES IN 1931 
Business Number Business Number 
Pullman Porters 70 City (restrooms, etc.) 15 
Station Porters 10 Confectionary Store 2 
Railroad Shopmen 2 0 Pool Halls 5 
Pullman Yard Works 20 Clubs 3 
Barbershop, store 12 Hotels 15 
Building Porters 12 0 Music Teacher 3 
Hotel Waiters (Part time) 6 Printer 2 
Railway Waiters 42 Railroad Mail Clerk 2 
Railway Cooks 8 Chiropodist 2 
Private Car Crews 6 Florist 3 
Cooks, Housemaids 60 Car Washer 6 
Maids in Stores, Theaters, Bootblack 30 
and Restrooms 25 
Packing House Workers 20 Professional 
City Street Workers 15 Physician 1 
U.S. Gov't Employees 13 Lawyers 3 
County Employees 2 Dentist 1 
State Insurance Dept. 2 Ministers 6 
(Source: Hill, "The Negro in Oregon: A Survey," pp. 56-5 7) 
235 
APPENDIX III 
JOBS OF THE FATHERS OF THE NEGRO 
HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES 
(Jefferson High School 1961-65) 
Jobs or Places of Employment Numbera %b 
Laborer 66 29.0 
Foundryman 37 16.3 
Porter/waiter, railroad 29 12.7 
Janitor 16 7.0 
Bu tcher--whole sale 9 3.9 
Railroad depot worker 8 3.5 
United States Post Office 5 2.1 
Service Station worker 5 2.1 
Wai ter--hotel/re s ta uran t 5 2.1 
Hos pita! worker 4 1. 7 
Barber 4 1.7 
Military, enlisted man 3 1.3 
Auto mechanic 3 1.3 
Plumber 2 0.9 
Musician 2 0.9 
Longshoreman 2 0.9 
Minister 2 0.9 
Surveyor--state highway department 1 0.4 
Shoe repair 1 OA 
Floor finisher 1 0.4 
Social worker--county 1 0.4 
Real estate salesman 1 0.4 
Stockman--department store 1 0.4 
City park--recreation worker 1 0.4 
Rose City Transit--bus driver 1 0.4 
City ·police 1 0.4 
City civil servant 1 0.4 
Public school teacher l 0.4 
Grinder 1 0.4 
County deputy sheriff l 0.4 
House painter 1 0.4 
236 
APPENDIX III--Continued 
Jobs or Places of Employment Numbera %b 
Crane operator 1 0.4 
Grocery clerk 1 0.4 
Cook 1 0.4 
Truck driver 1 0.4 
Laundry worker 1 0.4 
Medical doctor--surgeon 1 0.4 
Self-employed 1 0.4 
Disabled and deceased 3 
Unemployed 2 
No information 115 
az 19 individuals 
bpercentage of employed 
(Source: Clark, "A Study of Negro Graduates 11 ) 
237 
APPENDIX IV 
JOBS OF THE MOTHERS OF THE NEGRO 
HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES 
(Jefferson High School 1961-65) 
Jobs or Places of Employment Numbera %b 
Domestic 56 44.8 
Hospital worker 29 23.2 
Machine sewing 6 4.8 
Registered_Nurse 5 4.0 
Sales clerk 4 3.2 
Cook 3 2.4 
Laundry worker 3 2.4 
Teacher--public school 3 2.4 
Presser 2 1.6 
Medical Ass't.--U. of O. Med. School 1 0.8 
Real estate sales 1 0.8 
Grocery clerk 1 0.8 
Laboratory technician 1 0.8 
Janitress 1 0.8 
Factory worker 1 0.8 
Surgery aid 1 0.8 
City civil servant 1 0.8 
Registered Practical Nurse 1 0.8 
Poultry worker 1 0.8 
United States Post Office 1 0.8 
Waitress 1 0.8 
Nursery worker 1 0.8 
Telephone company 1 0.8 
Housewife 133 
Aid to Dependent Children 15 
No information 97 
a1z5 individuals 
bpercentage of the employed 
(Source: Clark, "A Study of Negro Graduates") 
238 
APPENDIX V 
WHITE-NEGRO POPULATION IN OREGON: 1850-1960 
Year Total Negro % Negro 
1850a 13,141 54 " 
1860a 52,465 128 0.2 
1870a 90,923 346 0.4 
1880a 17~,768 487 0.3 
. 1890a 322,767 1,186 0.4 
1900a 413,536 1,105 Oo3 
1910b 672,765 1,492 0.2 
1920b 783,389 2,144 0.3 
1930b 953,786 2,234 0.2 
1940c 1,089,684 2 I 265 0o2 
19SQC 1,521,341 11,529 0.8 
196QC 1,768,687 18, 133 LO 
Source: 
au. S. Department of Commerce and Labor, Statistical 
Abstract of the United States: 1907, number thirty. 
bu. S. Department of Commerce, Statistical Abstract of the 
United States: 1934, fifty-si;;cth number. 
cu. S. Department of Commerce, Statistical Abstract of the 
United States: 1962, eighty-third edition. 
239 
APPENDIX VI 
WHITE-NEGRO POPULATION IN PORTLAND: 1900-1960 
Year Total White Negro % Negro 
1900 90,426 80,614 750 0~9 
1910 207,214 198,952 1,045 0.5 
1920 258,288 252,961 1,556 0.6 
1930 301,815 296,177 1,559 0.5 
1940 305;394 299,707 1,931 0.6 
1950 373,628 360,388 9,529 2.5 
1960 372,676 351,757 15,637 4.2 
Source: 
U. S. Census Office, Census Reports, Twelfth Census of the 
United States ""Taken in the Year~Til00, Population, Vol. II, Part 'II, p"!. 141. 
U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Thirteenth 
Census of the United States, 1910: Population, Vol. III, p. 523. 
U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Fourteenth 
Census of the United States, 1920: Population, Vol. III, p. 838. 
U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Fifteenth 
Census of the Uniteq States, 1930: Population, Vol. III, Pt. II, p. 621. 
U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Sixteenth 
Census of the United States, 1940: Population and Housing, Statistics 
for Census Tracts, Portland, Oregon, p. 4 
U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, U. §... 
Census of Population, 1950: Census Tract Statistics, Vol. III, 
Chapter 63, 'pp. 8-9 . 
U. S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, U. S. 
Census..Qf Population and Housing, 1960: Census Tracts, Vol. III, 
PHC (1)-121, pp. 19-26. 
240 
APPENDIX VII 
5920 SW 18th Drive 
Portland 19, Ore. 
October 29, 1954 
Mr. Ragnar 0. Johnson, Commissioner 
Oregon Real Estate Department 
State Office Building 
Salem, Ore. 
Dear Sir: 
Late in August, my wife and I decided to sell our home, at the above 
address. But we were not sure we could get for it what we put into it, 
so we didn't do any more than to consult with a couple or three real 
estate agents to see what they would advise. In September, we asked 
a friend of ours who· is a real estate agent if he would be interested in 
coming out to look at the place. He, Herman Plummer, was, and about 
October 6 did so. He brought two associates with him. All are 
Negroes. This was about one p.m. 
About 4-1/2 to 5 hours later, I went into the office of another real 
estate agent which was nearby--the Sunset Realty company, Sunset 
Realtors Inc., at 6320 SW Capitol highway. I had contacted them pre-
viously .and had taken mY family to see two other houses which we 
might be interested in buying if we sold our house. 
Almost immediately after I entered, Mrs. Lessler and Mr. McKay began 
to discuss our having Negro visitors, asked if we were thinking of 
selling to Negroes, etc. When I said yes, they immediately began 
lecturing me as if I were an errant child. They said I surely couldn't 
be thinking of ruining the beautiful neighborhood by selling our house 
to Negroes, that they "wouldn't think" of introducing a "foreign 
element" (those were McKay's words) into the neighborhood, etc. 
241 
APP' ENDIX VII--Continued 
They also said that if they were to do such a thing as to sell a house 
to a Negro family--the house being in a "white" neighborhood--they 
would lose their real estate license and couldn't even sell property 
in Oregon any more. They said they knew of one case out on Foster 
road where a real estate agent had sold property in a white neighbor-
hood to a Negro family and he had lost his license and was through 
as a real estate agent. 
Would you please give me your reaction to all this, including the 
statements in the last paragraph? 
Sincerely, 
Isl George B. Holcomb 
(Source: Housing File, Portland Urban League, Portland, Oregon) 
242 
APPENDIX VII--Continued 
STATE OF OREGON 
Real Estate Department 
Collection Agency Department 
Salem 
November 1, 1954 
Mr. George B. Holcomb 
5920 S. W. 18th Drive 
Portland 19 , Oregon 
Dear Mr. Holcomb: 
We acknowledge your letter regarding the sale of your property through 
Mr. Plummer to prospective purchasers who may be negroes. This 
question has been brought up many times in the past and has caused 
considerable discussion among real estate brokers. 
I believe that the statement regarding the introduction of a foreign 
element in a neighborhood can be found in the Realtors' Code of Ethics. 
I will quote Article 34 which, I believe, is the thought which Mr. 
McKay wishes to convey to you: "A realtor should not be instrumental 
in introducing into a neighborhood a character of property or use which 
will clearly be detrimental to property values in that neighborhood." 
It is the understanding in this office that discrimination because of 
race, color or creed is not intended by this article; however, should 
any action be taken against these brokers, it would have to be from 
his local board of realtors. There is nothing in the state law that 
would prohibit the sale of property to negroes. 
We hope that this answers your questions. Should you have any 
further questions, please feel free to contact us at any time. 
Sincerely yours, 
RAGNOR O. JOHNSON 
Real Estate Commissioner 
Isl H. P. Anderson, 
HPA:bw Field Representative 
(Source: Housing File, Portland Urban League, Portland, Oregon) 
Typed by: Marilyn C. Goodey 
Multilithed by: Margaret Pluid