About
Hello, my name is Lucienne Reed! I was born and raised in southern California and attended the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. As a white student who attended a predominantly white institution, I acknowledge that my positionality creates gaps in my knowledge and limits my ability to fully grasp the understanding of displacement and discrimination that the Black community has faced throughout history and still today. My hope for this project is to trace the history of exclusion in the state of Oregon and to learn from and engage with the Black community of Albina in the pursuit of becoming a better advocate for those whose voices have been systemically silenced.
After graduating in May 2026 with a B.A in History, I moved to Southeast Portland and began doing research on the historically Black neighborhood of Albina that was redlined, which began in the 1930s and ended in the 1960s. Based on archival materials, census data, and organizations in Albina, this research aims to expose the historical nature of racial discrimination in housing policies in Oregon and how community driven nonprofits are striving today to rebuild the displaced Black community and their future in Albina. Having the opportunity to learn and connect with the community that I was researching, through walking tours, talking with local archivists, and residents of Albina, has been a fundamental aspect of my research that I will take with me for my future projects.
This digital history project was graciously funded by the Mellon Foundation Humanities for All Time grant and the University of Puget Sound’s Crime, Law and Justice grant, which allows student researchers to engage with the wide variety of interdisciplinary work that is encompassed under the CLJ banner. Additionally, I would like to thank the archivists at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library for creating a welcoming and engaging environment and my advisor Andrew Gomez, who has been a constant supporter of my academic and career endeavors during my time at UPS and beyond.
If you have any questions or further inquiries about this project, please email: luci46reed@gmail.com.
Sources
Consulting with the Oregon Historical Society Research Library archivists, James Scott and Scott Daniels:
Albina Vision Trust. “Restorative Redevelopment.” Albina Vision Trust. Accessed June 30, 2026 https://albinavision.org/.
Belasco, Christina. “Losing Albina.” Vimeo, May 8, 2015. Accessed July 21, 2026, https://www.wweek.com/portland/blog-33285-watch-a-short-documentary-on-north-portlands-lost-jazz-scene.html.
“The Black Pioneers.” Oregon Black Pioneers, 2022. Accessed July 30, 2026, https://oregonblackpioneers.org/exhibit/the-black-pioneers/
Burke, Lucas N. N., and Judson L. Jeffries. “Making and Remaking Albina: The Long Civil Rights Movement in Portland.” In The Portland Black Panthers: Empowering Albina and Remaking a City. University of Washington Press, 2016.
Coleman, Kenneth R. Dangerous Subjects: James D. Saules and the Rise of Black Exclusion in Oregon. Corvallis: Oregon State University, 2017.
Fair Housing Council of Oregon. “Urban Renewal History and the I-5 Rose Quarter Improvement Project.” Fair Housing Council of Oregon, Accessed July 9, 2026, https://fhco.org/urban-renewal-history-and-the-i-5-rose-quarter-improvement-project/.
Gibson, Karen J. “Bleeding Albina: A History of Community Disinvestment, 1940–2000.” Transforming Anthropology 15, no. 1 (2007): 3–25. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48874056.
Greater Portland Fair Housing Council statement “Why Housing Integration is of Crucial Importance to All,” MS 1585 Box 11, Folder 10, Greater Portland Fair Housing Council 1965-1968, Stella Maris House Collection, Oregon Historical Society Research Library, Portland, Oregon.
Hughes, Jena. “Historical Context of Racial Planning: A History of How Planning Segregated Portland.” City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, September 2019. Accessed July 10, 2026, https://www.portland.gov/sites/default/files/2019-12/portlandracistplanninghistoryreport.pdf.
Jacobs, Jane. The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York, New York: Vintage Books. 1961.
Lang, William L. “Oregon Treaty, 1848.” Oregon Encyclopedia, February 2, 2026. Accessed July 30, 2026,https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/oregon-treaty/.
Leeson, Fred. “Billy Webb Elk Lodge.” the Oregon Encyclopedia, 2022. Accessed July 24, 2026, https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/billy_webb_elks_lodge/
Mahoney, Barbara. “Provisional Government.” Oregon Encyclopedia, February 7, 2023. Accessed July 30, 2026, https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/provisional_govt_conference_in_champoeg_1843/
Mapping Inequality. Portland, Oregon, Mapping Inequality. https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/map/OR/Portland/areas#mapview=full&loc=12/45.5133/-122.6575
Mapping Inequality. “Area D2: Lower Albina,” Mapping Inequality. Accessed July 15, 2026 https://dsl.richmond.edu/panorama/redlining/map/OR/Portland/area_descriptions/D2#loc=11/45.5624/-122.5267&scan=3/76.9405/-114.1692
Mcelderry, Stuart. “Building a West Coast Ghetto: African-American Housing in Portland, 1910-1960.” The Pacific Northwest Quarterly 92, no. 3 (2001): 137–48. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40492659.
McGregor, Michael N. “The Vanport Flood.” Oregon History Project, 2003. Accessed July 18, 2026, https://www.oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/essays/the-vanport-flood/.
McLagan, Elizabeth. A Peculiar Paradise: A History of Blacks in Oregon, 1788-1940, 2nd Edition. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2022.
NAACP Portland Branch. “About Us.” The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Accessed July 24, 2026,https://www.pdxnaacp.org/.
Nokes, R. Gregory.“Black Exclusion Laws in Oregon.” Oregon Encyclopedia, May 17, 2024. Accessed July 30, 2026, https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/exclusion_laws/.
Nokes, R. Gregory. Breaking Chains: Slavery on Trial in the Oregon Territory. Corvallis: Oregon State University Press, 2013.
NoraJane. “Black History Walking Tour of Portland.” Walking tour, Oregon Black Pioneers. Portland, OR, June 27, 2026.
Oregon Constitution. 1857. Article XVIII, sec. 5.
Oregon Black Pioneers, “About Us,” Oregon Black Pioneers, Accessed July 21, 2026, https://oregonblackpioneers.org/about-us/.
Oregon Black Pioneers. “Hidden Landmarks of Albina’s Black Community.” Oregon Black Pioneers. Accessed July 23, 2026, https://oregonblackpioneers.org/exhibit/hidden-landmarks/
Oregon Historical Society. “Vanport.” Accessed July 16, 2026, https://www.ohs.org/museum/exhibits/vanport.cfm .
Pearson, Rudy. “‘A Menace to the Neighborhood’: Housing and African Americans in Portland, 1941-1945.” Oregon Historical Quarterly 102, no. 2 (2001): 158–79. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20615135 .
Porter, Doug. “Herman Plummer Named Albina Center Director.” The Oregon Daily Journal, February 15, 1969. Newspaper.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/1091970596/.
Portland City Planning Commission, “Central Albina Study,” MS 1585 Box 11, Folder 8, Central Albina Study 1962, Stella Maris House Collection, Oregon Historical Society Research Library, Portland, Oregon.
Portland Realty Board: Code of Ethics, 1928, MS 1511, Box 35, Folder 6, Associations and Institutions 1860-2015, Oregon Historical Society Research Library, Portland, Oregon.
Records of House Bill 1549, 1967, Mss 2004, Box 2, Folder 13, NAACP of Portland, Oregon Records, 1942-1989. Oregon Historical Society Research Library, Portland, Oregon.
Rothstein, Richard. The Color of Law. New York, New York: W.W Norton & Company, 2017.
Scott, Hugh A. “Experience Related by Negro Home-Owner Shows That Property Values Fail To Suffer.” The Oregonian (Portland, OR), May 12, 1953. Newspapers.com, https://www.newspapers.com/image/1088274834/
Slater, Gene. Freedom to Discriminate. Berkeley, California: Heyday Books, 2021.
Urban League of Portland Flyer refuting housing myths circa 1952, COLL 963, Folder 1, Urban League of Portland, Oregon Historical Society Research Library, Portland, Oregon.