Oregon Humanities

"All Aboard" at the Oregon Historical Society

New exhibit remembers the lives of Portland's African American railroad workers

From the late nineteenth century through the beginning of World War II, the best jobs available to African Americans in Portland were on the dining cars that came through Union Station and at the hotels around it. Because white-owned businesses were largely closed to people of color, a community of black-owned businesses and social organizations grew in the area surrounding the station.

“All Aboard: Railroading and Portland’s Black Community,” a new exhibit created by Oregon Northwest Black Pioneers and the Oregon Historical Society, and funded in part by a grant from Oregon Humanities, explores the work and lives of Portland’s black railroad workers and their families. The exhibit opens Tuesday, January 15, at the Oregon Historical Society Museum, 1200 SW Park Ave., Portland, and runs through April 21.

The interactive exhibit, which was assembled with the help of an advisory committee of former railroad workers, children of railroad workers, and local historians, features period uniforms and articles from historical black newspapers, and places the stories of Portland’s railroad workers within the context of Oregon’s racial history.

The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free for OHS members and residents of Multnomah County, and $5–$11 for nonmembers from elsewhere in the state. For a calendar of related events, visit the OHS website.

08 January 2013 | Permalink | Comments? (0 so far)