Vanport Day Of Remembrance

Saturday, May 30th; 11:30am-3:30 PST

FREE// If you can, please support our memory activism collective by a tax-deductible donation to >> vanportmosaic.org/donate

A “miracle city.” A “sociological experiment.” A “municipal monstrosity.” A “nasty ghetto.”
During its short life span (1942-1948) Vanport, Oregon’s second largest city and the nation’s largest public housing project - drew national attention and conflicting opinions. For over 40,000 people who lived there, Vanport was simply their home.

When the Columbia River flooded on May 30th 1948, Memorial Day, the entire city was erased from the map and from much of Portland’s memory in a single day.

>>>>Join us on the 72nd anniversary of the Vanport Flood for online presentations, screenings of oral histories part of the Vanport Mosaic living archive, music, poetry and interactive conversations.

PROGRAM

• Land Acknowledgement: Ed Edmo // Native Drumming and Songs: John Edmo

• Lost City, Living Memories: Vanport Through The Voices of Its Residents, a screening of multimedia oral histories from the Vanport Mosaic living archive - curated and produced by Story Midwife Laura Lo Forti

• The True Story of the Miracle City: a presentation and Q&A by James Harrison

• Vanport Virtual Tour: by Berkeley Sherman AKA Grasshopper (a student at De Vinci Middle School in Portland, OR. ) and historian Tanya Lyn March / Slabtown Tours

• Don't let no one turn you 'round //A 'haiku choo-choo'
  in honor of Vanport survivors written and presented by Ken Yoshikawa

• With the special musical tribute by jazz and gospel singer Marilyn T. Keller
  
  This event is part of the VIRTUAL VANPORT MOSAIC FESTIVAL 2020 - an online series of memory activism opportunities curated by Story Midwife Laura Lo Forti (laura@vanportmosaic.org)