From Vanport to Kenton: A Day of Living History
On September 12th, the Kenton Neighborhood Association hosted Kenton Roots in partnership with Vanport Mosaic, at the Historic Kenton Firehouse. The event included a narrated bus tour, a pop-up exhibit, and a community Story Harvest.
The tour followed the communities who made North Portland home and kept building their lives here through WWII, the 1948 Vanport flood, residential segregation, and urban renewal.
Vanport Mosaic's docents anchored the day. Vanport Elders Ed Washington and O.B. Hill and Vanport Descendants LaVeta Gilmore Jones and Eva Red Bird shared their histories.
The tour made two stops. The first stop was the Vanport marker at Delta Park where some attendees stayed on the bus and heard about Vanport’s history from our docents, while others exited the bus to walk and listened to Vanport Mosaic’s audiowalk on their headphones.
The second stop was the Expo Center where Chisao Hata spoke about the experience of Issei and Nisei (first and second generation Japanese Americans) who were unjustly incarcerated the U.S. government during WWII.
Many attendees told us that hearing these stories firsthand, while standing in the very places where they happened, was the most powerful part of the day.
Lunch and refreshments at the firehouse provided an opportunity for participants to stay, and talk with each other about what they'd learned and experienced. Everyone also had an opportunity to view the pop-up exhibit, Vanport: A Story Lived. A Story Told.
Three community members contributed to the Story Harvest: a descendant who brought in family photographs from her grandmother, a teacher who donated a recording of a radio broadcast from the day of the flood, and a longtime Kenton resident who lived in Vanport as a child and recorded a video oral history. All three are now preserved in Vanport Mosaic's community archive.
Our community is stronger when we know its history.
Thank you to Vanport Mosaic, our docents, everyone who joined us throughout the day, and to our sponsors whose financial support made the event possible: Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods, the Office of Community & Civic Life, and the Port of Portland.
