‘We opened a door nobody knew existed’: How displaced Black families won reparations in Portland

‘We opened a door nobody knew existed’: How displaced Black families won reparations in Portland

For decades, the Albina district in Portland, Oregon, was the center of the city’s Black community. Local musicians transformed the neighborhoods into a hotspot for the West Coast’s jazz, blues, and soul music scenes, earning Albina the nickname “Jumptown” in the 1940s and ‘50s. Milestones in Oregon’s civil rights struggle grew out of meetings in Albina’s parks and gathering halls. It was residents of Albina who started a citywide tree-planting program responsible for many of Portland’s now-famous blooming cherry trees.

But by the ‘70s, much of it was gone. Government officials had carved up the area in the name of urban renewal, displacing hundreds of Black families, Next City report