Yet as the city became more progressive and weird, full of artists and techies and bikers, it did not have a conversation about its racist past. please see the Vintage 2022 release notes available here: Release Notes. But specifically Southeast has a lot of great food on Division Street, and fun small owned shops on Hawthorne Blvd. Today, the African American population of Portland (6.3%) is more than three times the Oregon average, with more than two-thirds of all African American residents of Oregon living in the city. She wants a bigger commitment to subsidizing homeownership and bolstering financial capacity by helping young professionals with student debt. Vanport, Oregon - Wikipedia Further exclusion laws prohibited Black people from owning property and businesses in Oregon, make any contracts within Oregon, or intermingle with other races, namely Indigenous folks because then Black people would get tribal enrollment. And racism persists today. Central NE has about 46,000 residents, the least of any neighborhood area. From the Mexican border, through California, through Oregon, through Washington, and up to Canada. I expected them to be worseto show more folks had been chased out.. (Or, more exactly, the state ratified the amendment in 1866, rescinded its ratification in 1868, and then finally ratified it for good in 1973.) Tons of great restaurants, with new spots opening LITERALLY every week. By the 1980s, the value of homes in Albina reached 58 percent of the citys median. Or rather, I should say it FEELS that way. If youre reading this, youre probably a Black person on their way to starting a new life in Portland, Oregon. ), but I have a lottt of content coming! Sothere were only a handful, and even then, they were either enslaved and taken along with their white slave owners family, or they were free, but still accompanied their white employer on the journey. Its a piece of cake compared to ANY other major city in America. The state had the highest per-capita Klan membership in the country, according to Imarisha. The inability of blacks to get mortgages to buy homes in Albina led, once again, to the further decimation of the black community, Gibson argues. That all changed on the brink of the Civil War. On one hand, becoming a state would mean federal relief, federal funding for infrastructure and education, federal protection, etc etc. The vintage year (e.g., V2022) refers to the final year of the series (2020 thru 2022). I am one of those people. Those that remain are increasingly marginalized and blocked from taking part in the amazing transformation of Portland into one of the most livable places in the country. Indigenous Nations would be forced to share the reservation with other communities who many times did not share the same culture or even language as each other. Portland is a walk in the park for me. Violently forced between a rock and a hard place, the US government forced their hand into signing treaties that would place their communities onto reservations in exchange forwell, the US government not continuing to kill them and take away their livelihood. While York was not technically the first documented Black person in Oregon (there are records of people of African descent on sailing voyages from other countries well before American colonization), York WAS the first documented Black American in the land we now call Oregon. But the Portland African American Leadership Forum wrote a letter protesting the development, arguing that the Trader Joes was the latest attempt to profit from the displacement of African Americans in the city. Okayyyy now with all of the background info and rough details out of the way, lets get on with making being Black in Portland a liiiiitle bit easier, year? If you grew up in NYC, Chicago, LA, Atlanta, Philly, Detroit, DC, Oakland, Little Rock, Bawlmor, Minneapolisyoure gonna be alright. Both California and Washington (specifically Seattle area) have much higher rates of homelessness. 21.9% #2. Portlands tactic when it comes to race up until now, has been to ignore it, says Zev Nicholson, an African American resident who was, until recently, the Organizing Director of the Urban League of Portland. Finding community of course! Nicholson, of the Urban League of Portland, says that when the black community has tried to organize meetings on racial issues, community members havent been able to fit into the room because 60 white environmental activists have showed up, too, hoping to speak about something marginally related. Because these companies attract a lot of candidates from all over the country and the world, Beaverton (and Hillsboro) has a bit more diversity than Portland. Fancy condos with balconies line the street, next to juice stores and hipster bars with shuffleboard courts. For one, the outdoor industry ALREADY has a history of being antiBlack and fatphobic (which steams from antiBlackness), and it makes those activities seem very unwelcoming to us. We'll send you a newsletter with what you need to know every week. In Portland, you will find a large concentration of unhoused folks in downtown Portland and Chinatown/Old Town. Paul Knauls, who is African American, moved to Portland to open a nightclub in the 1960s. Ill make this quick, but let me start from the beginning. The gentrification of the historically black neighborhood in central Portland, Albina, has led to conflicts between white Portlanders and longtime black residents over things like widening bicycle lanes and the construction of a new Trader Joes. please see the Vintage 2022 release notes available here: Release Notes. What is the Percentage of Black / African American Population in Portland, OR? How Oregon's statistics on race often get misinterpreted - OPB Five years later, another law was passed that forbade free African Americans from entering into Oregon, according to the Communities of Color report. Portland is part of the fifth-whitest major metropolitan area in America. Homeownership is also out of reach for most Black Portlanders. Also, check out this dope post in Fodors about Hiking as a Hot Girl! A locked padlock Oregon has been slow to dismantle overtly racist policies, the report concluded. Portland's whiteness is often treated more as joke than a blemish on its reputation, but its lack of diversity (in a city of some 600,000 residents, just 6 percent are black *) stems from its. Secure .gov websites use HTTPS Its honestly the best donation anyone could give I really appreciate it! Black or African American Percent of Total Population 1970-2010 North/Northeast Portland by Census Tract; Information Sheets . In Vintage 2022, as a result of the formal request from the state, Connecticut transitioned from eight counties to nine planning regions. The Portland Development Commission, the citys urban-renewal agency, offered the company a steep discount on a patch of land to entice them to seal the deal. Because of this history, and even after the last exclusion laws were overturned for good, Black people didnt really want to go to Oregon. Los Angeles has entire blocks and neighborhoods where unhoused people create shelter for themselves, away from residential areas, businesses, and tourist spots. Or even know where to begin with hiking. This isnt the sole reason for incidents like the alleged racial abuse at Daimler Trucks, or for the threats Imarisha faces when she traverses the state. While annual incomes for whites nationally and in Multnomah County, where Portland is located, were around $70,000 in 2009, blacks in Multnomah County made just $34,000, compared to $41,000 for blacks nationally. [6], Cat Goughnour,award-winning, Oregon-born human rights advocate specializing in applied equity policy;founder/principal,Radix Consulting Group;@CatGoughnour, @right2root, [1]https://www.kgw.com/article/news/how-market-forces-and-bias-displaced-african-americans-in-portland/283-446257644, [2]https://www.kgw.com/article/news/how-market-forces-and-bias-displaced-african-americans-in-portland/283-446257644, [3]https://www.kgw.com/article/news/how-market-forces-and-bias-displaced-african-americans-in-portland/283-446257644, [4]https://www.portlandmaps.com/bps/phb/about.cfm#aboutPrefPol, [5]https://ips-dc.org/report-right-to-root/, [6]https://www.portlandoregon.gov/phb/article/653184(p115), Copyright 2023 NCRC. Top 10 Zip Codes with the Highest Percentage of Black / African American Population in Portland, OR are: #1. Similarly, while human trafficking is bad in Portland, largely because of I-5, cities like Tampa, Dallas, DC, Los Angeles, and Chicago have higher rates. Between 2019 and 2020 the population of Portland, OR grew from 645,291 to 650,380, a 0.789% increase and its median household income grew from $71,005 to $73,159, a 3.03% increase. This gave rise to racial tensions once again. If the city talked about race, though, it might acknowledge that its mostly minorities who get displaced and would put in place mechanisms for addressing gentrification, Imarisha said. Silly little teenage me was like oh, free money! Measuring America's People, Places, and Economy, Population Estimates, July 1, 2022, (V2022), Population estimates base, April 1, 2020, (V2022), Population, percent change - April 1, 2020 (estimates base) to July 1, 2022, (V2022), American Indian and Alaska Native alone, percent, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, percent, White alone, not Hispanic or Latino, percent, Owner-occupied housing unit rate, 2017-2021, Median value of owner-occupied housing units, 2017-2021, Median selected monthly owner costs -with a mortgage, 2017-2021, Median selected monthly owner costs -without a mortgage, 2017-2021, Living in same house 1 year ago, percent of persons age 1 year+, 2017-2021, Language other than English spoken at home, percent of persons age 5 years+, 2017-2021, Households with a computer, percent, 2017-2021, Households with a broadband Internet subscription, percent, 2017-2021, High school graduate or higher, percent of persons age 25 years+, 2017-2021, Bachelor's degree or higher, percent of persons age 25 years+, 2017-2021, With a disability, under age 65 years, percent, 2017-2021, Persons without health insurance, under age 65 years, percent, In civilian labor force, total, percent of population age 16 years+, 2017-2021, In civilian labor force, female, percent of population age 16 years+, 2017-2021, Total accommodation and food services sales, 2017 ($1,000), Total health care and social assistance receipts/revenue, 2017 ($1,000), Total transportation and warehousing receipts/revenue, 2017 ($1,000), Mean travel time to work (minutes), workers age 16 years+, 2017-2021, Median household income (in 2021 dollars), 2017-2021, Per capita income in past 12 months (in 2021 dollars), 2017-2021, Total employment, percent change, 2020-2021, Men-owned employer firms, Reference year 2017, Women-owned employer firms, Reference year 2017, Minority-owned employer firms, Reference year 2017, Nonminority-owned employer firms, Reference year 2017, Veteran-owned employer firms, Reference year 2017, Nonveteran-owned employer firms, Reference year 2017. The violent crime rate is still MUCH lower than cities of comparable size and population. ) or https:// means youve safely connected to This history resulted in a very white state. But, trust me, its all interesting and its all very useful information. It was the only place black people were allowed to buy homes after, in 1919, the Realty Board of Portland had approved a Code of Ethics forbidding realtors and bankers from selling or giving loans to minorities for properties located in white neighborhoods. While Portland has grown a lot, it doesnt have the same big city feel of other cities. So while there werent many, it was an opportunity. 97204. In their OWN WORDS, white politicians in Oregon stated, it would be highly dangerous to allow free Negroes and mulattoes to reside in the Territory, or to intermix with Indians, instilling feelings of hostility toward the white race.. I am a participant in the Amazon Affiliates Program, so basically I earn a small commission if you use any of the affiliate links on this post - at no extra cost to you! (Portlands Black population as a percentage of total population remained unchanged from 2010 to 2020 at about 7.9%. Of the. Harmon Johnson says the new census numbers show the city is nibbling around the edges of gentrification instead of attacking it head on. For more details, The Racist History of Portland, the Whitest City in America A 2014 report by Portland State University and the Coalition of Communities of Color, a Portland nonprofit, shows black families lag far behind whites in the Portland region in employment, health outcomes, and high-school graduation rates. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Race and Hispanic origin in Portland as a percentage of the total population, expressed as percentage point difference from Maine. BUT if youre short on time and want the quick SparkNotes version, here are the basic pros and cons of being Black in Portland. Measuring America's People, Places, and Economy, Total employment, percent change, 2020-2021, Population Estimates, July 1, 2022, (V2022), Population estimates base, April 1, 2020, (V2022), Population, percent change - April 1, 2020 (estimates base) to July 1, 2022, (V2022), American Indian and Alaska Native alone, percent, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone, percent, White alone, not Hispanic or Latino, percent, Owner-occupied housing unit rate, 2017-2021, Median value of owner-occupied housing units, 2017-2021, Median selected monthly owner costs -with a mortgage, 2017-2021, Median selected monthly owner costs -without a mortgage, 2017-2021, Living in same house 1 year ago, percent of persons age 1 year+, 2017-2021, Language other than English spoken at home, percent of persons age 5 years+, 2017-2021, Households with a computer, percent, 2017-2021, Households with a broadband Internet subscription, percent, 2017-2021, High school graduate or higher, percent of persons age 25 years+, 2017-2021, Bachelor's degree or higher, percent of persons age 25 years+, 2017-2021, With a disability, under age 65 years, percent, 2017-2021, Persons without health insurance, under age 65 years, percent, In civilian labor force, total, percent of population age 16 years+, 2017-2021, In civilian labor force, female, percent of population age 16 years+, 2017-2021, Total accommodation and food services sales, 2017 ($1,000), Total health care and social assistance receipts/revenue, 2017 ($1,000), Total transportation and warehousing receipts/revenue, 2017 ($1,000), Mean travel time to work (minutes), workers age 16 years+, 2017-2021, Median household income (in 2021 dollars), 2017-2021, Per capita income in past 12 months (in 2021 dollars), 2017-2021, Men-owned employer firms, Reference year 2017, Women-owned employer firms, Reference year 2017, Minority-owned employer firms, Reference year 2017, Nonminority-owned employer firms, Reference year 2017, Veteran-owned employer firms, Reference year 2017, Nonveteran-owned employer firms, Reference year 2017. Theres also no income tax in Washington, just throwing that out there (but you have to both live AND work in Washington). And for most of the year, the weather isnt too great, limiting backyard BBQs and cookouts. Why Portland, the Center of the Black Lives Matter Protests, Is So White They didnt come in [saying] We want to be a part of you. They came in with this idea, were here and were in charge Its like the revitalization of racism.. Nkenge Harmon Johnson, CEO of the Urban League of Portland, says anybody who walks the neighborhood near her organizations North Russell Street headquarters can see and feel the change wrought by developers whove gobbled up land along thoroughfares like North Williams Avenue. If you want to stay in town, but want to find a new way to move your body outside, Id recommend joining the Deadstock Run Club, and like the name suggests it it is a running (and walking!) The Sellwood/Moreland and Woodstock areas are a bit slower and more residential, while closer to the river has more activity. But again, surprisingly, Portland doesnt even rank top 15 for highest homeless population (meanwhileEugene, Oregon, does). The settlers brought violence, disease, and land encroachment. But I get it, it can be intimidating, especially being Black in PORTLAND the literal whitest major city in America with equally white dominated outdoor spaces! Share sensitive information only on official, 97203. Population of Algeria 2020, by city + Demographics Poverty headcount ratio in Algeria 2021-2024 International Total population of Algeria 2021, by gender Statista Accounts: Access All. When you come to Portland, yes, you will see tents and encampments. In terms of hiking and camping and all that outdoor stuff outside of Portland, then definitely join one of the outdoor events withPeople of Color Outdoors (POCO) or Wild Diversity. In August 2000, the Portland City Council approved theInterstate Corridor Urban Renewal Area Plan. Meaning a lot of I-5 in California, Oregon, and Washington are largely unmonitored. The vintage year (e.g., V2022) refers to the final year of the series (2020 thru 2022). Black folks already in Oregon (either free or enslaved) had to get out 2 years for men, 3 for women. This has made I-5 a notorious super highway for both drug trafficking AND human trafficking. For more information, please visit the 2021 5-year ACS Comparison Guidance page. It still tends not to, even as gentrification and displacement continue in Albina and other neighborhoods. Portland has THE BEST Thai food in the country, and overall an amazing selection of Asian cuisine. Europeans (and then Americans) traded with the Indigenous peoples of the area and though the relationship wasclunky, putting it lightly, it continued for a while. Whites are the most common race group citywide." [1] Portland, Oregon - Wikipedia QuickFacts data are derived from: Population Estimates, American Community Survey, Census of Population and Housing, Current Population Survey, Small Area Health Insurance Estimates, Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, State and County Housing Unit Estimates, County Business Patterns, Nonemployer Statistics, Economic Census, Survey of Business Owners, Building Permits. Much of Albinas African American population would not benefit from this process, though. Scope: population of Oregon and Portland -4% -2% 0% +2% % ref. By 1920, there were about 2,000. Namely the onset of the Oregon Trail (1840-1860, the mass migration of white settlers from the Midwest to the west coast), the mindset of Manifest Destiny (1845, the ideology that white Americans DESERVED all of the land from the east coast to west coast), and the Oregon Donation Land Law (1850, any single white male could claim 320-acres of land if he settled in Oregon, or 640-acres if he was married to a white woman OR mixed white-Indigenous woman). In area schools, African American students are suspended and expelled at a rate four to five times higher than that of their white peers. U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Portland city, Maine Source: PSU Shannon Callahan, director of the Housing Bureau, says she's disappointed in the decline, which occurred even as Albina overall grew substantiallyby 11,400 people. Lock Your help supports local, independent journalism that informs, educates, and engages our community. According to the 2017 U.S. census data, Portland's population is 77.4 percent white while the Black population has dwindled from a high of 7.7 percent in 1990 to just 5.7 percent today. Portland is the whitest big city in America, with a population that is 72.2 percent white and only 6.3 percent African American. But Im not gonna front, being Black in Portland can be challenging. A lock ( Any black person remaining would be flogged publicly every six months until he left. (Tim Saputo). At that time, free Black people in Oregon worked as farmhands, seamstresses, or in the lumber or mining industry. I know. In fact, the vast majority of unhoused people in Portland are Oregonians, with some coming from rural parts of Oregon who do not have support systems in place. If you are Black in Oregon and recently (or not so recent) moved here, let me know in the comments below where youre from and what was the most shocking thing to you about Oregon! What is the Percentage of Black / African American Population in Oregon? Hipster bars, restaurants and coffee joints contribute to jacked-up rents. Even those who owned started to leave; by 1999, blacks owned 36 percent fewer homes than they had a decade earlier, while whites owned 43 percent more. Copy and paste the folowing code into any webpage where you would like this interactive chart to display. Andthe elephant in the room, but Ill touch on that in a bit. If they didnt, the law stated they would be lashed. Oregons homeless population. A promising policy, if more broadly applied, is Portlands unique Right to Return Preference Policy.[4]. That was one-tenth the average number of loans in similarly sized census tracts in the rest of the city. The city's black community accounts for just 5.7 percent of the population. Imarisha travels around Oregon teaching about black history, and she says neo-Nazis and others spewing sexually explicit comments or death threats frequently protest her events. One incident captures how residents are failing to hear one another or have any sympathy for one another: In 2014, Trader Joes was in negotiations to open a new store in Albina. Percentage of Black / African American Population in Portland is 5.6%. Whats more, the estimated homeownership rate for Portlands Black households dropped sharply by more than 10 percentage points from 2000 to 2015. Estimates are not comparable to other geographic levels due to methodology differences that may exist between different data sources. But he says that in recent years hes experienced things that seem straight out of another time. There are about 38,000 African Americans in the city in Portland, according to Lisa K. Bates of Portland State University; in recent years, 10,000 of those 38,000 have had to move from the center city to its fringes because of rising prices. Please note that new Connecticut county level geographies are not availabe within the map. Just your friendly neighborhood travel blogger! Youre in a new place. Yet after the war, blacks were encouraged to leave Oregon, Millner said, with the Portland mayor commenting in a newspaper article that black people were not welcome. What is the Percentage of Black / African American Population in the United States? This, of course, was land taken from native people who had been living here for centuries. Oryoure not Black and youre just curious about what Im going to say. Portland is the whitest big city in America, with a population that is 72.2 percent white and only 6.3 percent African American. Or owned a piece of hiking gear. Interstate-5, also known as I-5, runs all along the west coast. Required fields are marked *. But I wont go into that today. Today, North Williams Avenue, which cuts through the heart of what was once Albina, is emblematic of the new Portland. Recognizing that past city actions have marginalized and displaced many longtime residents of North and Northeast Portland, the Portland Housing Bureau (PHB) developed the Affordable Housing Preference Policy as a tool to prioritize impacted households for housing opportunities in affected areas. The Black Population of Inner North and Northeast Portland Continues to In Multnomah County, the2014 Report Card on Racial and Ethnic Disparitieswarns that this pattern is only expected to continue, with losses to every community with significant numbers of Black residents. Much of Portland's Black community, which is 6% of Portland's population, is concentrated within the northeast Portland area; Alberta Arts District and King are both rife in African American . In 2020, 66.4% of city residents identified as non-Hispanic white, according to census data, down from 72.2% a decade earlier and 75.5% two decades before that. Official websites use .gov Dope right? He also was able to vote for decisions made during the federally funded expedition, technically making York the first Black American to cast a federal vote. But on the other hand, becoming a state would mean that ONE, they would be forced to be a free state because they were above the Missouri Compromise line. But Portland only recently became a progressive city, said Millner, the professor, and its past still dominates some parts of government and society. Black Residents of Multnomah County Face a Greater Risk of Homelessness But what can I say, a LOT goes into being Black in Portland and not only surviving, but also becoming acclimated to your new home and feeling like you actually enjoy it a little bit. What are the Top 10 Zip Codes with the Highest Percentage of Black / African American Population in Portland, OR? But that investment did not reverse the trend. A .gov website belongs to an official government In addition to the Housing Bureaus work, Prosper Portland, the citys economic development agency, allocated another $32 million to preserve and bolster Black-owned businesses in the Interstate Urban Renewal Area, which includes Albina. Since 2000,all ten of the citys majority minority neighborhoods have becomemajority white, where investment and racialized displacement resulting in net losses of over 900 African Americans. The opinions expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect the views of NCRC. And small businesses, unfortunately. Prospects of jobs and a fresh start was one thing, but Oregon is also a beautiful state with clean air and relatively easy access to the outdoors. Thankfully, there are a lot of organizations to help you ease into outdoor spaces. Callahan says its too early to say for sure, but that gain may be the result of Housing Bureau developments, which have added 500 new affordable rental housing units in the area and have given preference to former residents pushed out by gentrification. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you. Newly released U.S. Census Bureau data shows Portlands historically Black neighborhoods continued to see an exodus of Black residents, even as city officials have focused money and energy on reversing that decline. Share sensitive information only on official, I know you said youre not sponsored, so why not have a link for visitors to your site to donate if they choose? Percentage of Black / African American Population in Portland by Zip This essay is part of a series that accompanies NCRCs 2019 study ongentrification and cultural displacement. With the passage of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments, Oregons laws preventing black people from living in the state and owning property were superseded by national law. Its a sad storyits pretty ugly on the floor there. (Daimler said it could not comment on pending litigation, but spokesman David Giroux said that the company prohibits discrimination and investigates any allegations of harassment.). But many African Americans in Portland say theyre not surprised when they hear about racial incidents in this city and state. The Black population in North and Northeast Portland declined by 13.5% over the last 10 years as more than 3,000 Black residents moved away, new numbers from the 2020 census show. Bleeding Albina: A History of Community Disinvestment, 1940-2000. organization in the United States. The sudden and IMMENSE introduction of all these new white settlers to the Oregon territory was devastating to the Indigenous Nations. Scope: population of Maine and Portland -10% -5% -0% +5% % ref. In 2020, Portland, OR had a population of 650k people with a median age of 37.5 and a median household income of $73,159. The Demographic Statistical Atlas of the United States - Statistical Atlas Black people in Albina were being displaced to far-off neighborhoods that had traditionally been white. They also lag behind black families nationally. Reservation land allotments were DRASTICALLY smaller than agreed upon, and placed in parts of Oregon that had very low access to water and food. In 2011,Nikole Hannah Jones wrote in The Oregonian about this process: Those who left didnt move to nicer areas.