Abstract:
The story of Tent City is one of harsh treatment of African Americans who were migrating to Eugene, Oregon in the 1940s. It is a story of descrimination and racism in the West where these issues were not as visible as they were in the South. It is a story of a settlement built of scrap lumber on the muddy floodplain of the Willamette River, held together by a stong sense of community and a faith in a better future. Listen to the story of Willie Mims as he recounts his childhood life in the the settlement where Alton Baker Park sits today.