Two hundred people said they care. Do you?
“Last night I really felt like a celebrity. And I just came home so elated.” That is what Mrs. Violet Young told us on Sunday, the day after we shared her oral history ("Violet and the photographer", produced by Meredith Lawrence) at the screening at PCC, with an audience of about 200 people. As she walked up the aisle people put their hands on her arms and shoulder “just recognizing me,” she said.
An audience of about 200 people gathered on 12/5/2015 to watch Vanport Mosaic multimedia oral histories at Portland Community College.
Thank you to each and everyone of you who showed up to watch our new multimedia oral histories on Vanport, and honored the experience of those who shared their memories. As a city and as a State we forgot about Oregon’s second largest city that was home, at its peak, to 40,000 people who came from all over the U.S. to build a new life, attracted by job opportunities and affordable housing. But workhop after workshop, screening after screening, we are showing that as a community we are committed to re-discover and remember this sociological, racial experiment that forever changed the demographics of the region.
Our crowdfunding is another testimony of community support. Eighty-two people have contributed so far, and we are only $3700 away from reaching our full goal! Your tax-deductible donation ( by December 17th!) will allow us to offer more free oral history/media production workshops, train more story-gatherers, and interview those who lived in Vanport, now in their 80s and 90s, before their historical memory is no longer available to us.
Please help Vanport Mosaic keep history alive:
www.oregonskitchentable.org/crowdfunding/vanport-mosaic