Our Civil Rights History, Revisited
November 2015 - March 2016
Our Civil Rights History, Revisited are re-creations of historical photographs depicting some of the most pivotal images in the civil rights movement, both locally and nationally. PSU undergraduate students and 5th-grade students at Dr. MLK Jr. School studied these images and events, and restaged photographs of these moments in history. The project is permanently installed in the hallway near the school office.
Civil Rights March, Washington DC USA.
Photo by Warren K Leffler, August 28, 1963
Civil Rights March (1963), 2015
Mycah Alemseghed, A’Kiyah Gittens, Alahna Henry, Sinai Jones, Gerard Reyes-Gonzalez, Alondra Salinas, Atticus Salmon, D’Shay Simpson, Anthony Tolbert, Ja’kyia Weeks, Juliana Santiago-Hernandez, Xavier Hirsch, London White, Veaney Apolonio-Carrasco from Ms. Putney’s 5th Grade Class, with Sophia Klicker (PSU) and Julie Keefe (Community Artist)
On August 28, 1963, about a quarter-million people participated in the historic March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom gathering near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. Leaders of the six prominent civil rights groups at the time joined forces in organizing the march.
More than 3,000 members of the press covered this historic march, in which Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous, “I Have a Dream” speech.
After a decade of continued lobbying of Congress and the President led by the NAACP, plus other peaceful protests for civil rights, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Civil Rights Act of 1964. One year later, he signed the National Voting Rights Act of 1965. Together, these laws outlawed discrimination against blacks and women, effectively ending segregation, and sought to end disenfranchisement by making discriminatory voting practices illegal.
On the Road, Selma March, Selma, Alabama, USA.
Photo by Steve Schapiro, 1965
Selma-to-Montgomery March (1965), 2015
Mycah Alemseghed, A’Kiyah Gittens, Alahna Henry, Sinai Jones, Gerard Reyes-Gonzalez, Alondra Salinas, Atticus Salmon, D’Shay Simpson, Anthony Tolbert, Ja’kyia Weeks, Juliana Santiago-Hernandez, Xavier Hirsch, London White, Veaney Apolonio-Carrasco from Ms. Putney’s 5th Grade Class, with Sophia Klicker (PSU) and Julie Keefe (Community Artist)
The Selma Marches were a series of three marches that took place in 1965, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with the Southern Christian Leadership Council (SCLC) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Activists walked in protest for 54 miles and 5 days on the highway from Selma to the Alabama state capitol of Montgomery. People marching in protest were confronted with deadly violence from local authorities and white vigilante groups.
The Selma Marches were organized to protest the blocking of Black Americans' right to vote by the systematic racist structure of the Jim Crow South. TThe historic march raised awareness of the voting barriers Black people faced and contributed to the passage that year of the Voting Rights Act, a landmark federal achievement of the 1960s American Civil Rights Movement.
Albina Tree Planting program, ca. 1964, Credit: Oregon Historical Society, #52657
Albina Neighborhood Improvement Project (Tree Planting) (1964), 2015
Mycah Alemseghed, A’Kiyah Gittens, Alahna Henry, Sinai Jones, Gerard Reyes-Gonzalez, Alondra Salinas, Atticus Salmon, D’Shay Simpson, Anthony Tolbert, Ja’kyia Weeks, Juliana Santiago-Hernandez, Xavier Hirsch, London White, Veaney Apolonio-Carrasco from Ms. Putney’s 5th Grade Class, with Sophia Klicker (PSU) and Julie Keefe (Community Artist)
In the early 1960s hundreds of homes and businesses in the north and inner northeast neighborhoods of Portland were being destroyed and their residents displaced as a result of federal renewal projects. The Albina Neighborhood Improvement Project—comprised of African American and white residents—focused on rehabilitation rather than demolition. This group of dedicated citizens were able to restore more than 300 homes and complete numerous neighborhood improvements north of Fremont Street.
Oregon's Civil Rights Bill, 1953, Photographer Unknown. Credit: Oregon History Project.
Signing the Oregon Civil Rights Bill (1953), 2015
Mycah Alemseghed, A’Kiyah Gittens, Alahna Henry, Sinai Jones, Gerard Reyes-Gonzalez, Alondra Salinas, Atticus Salmon, D’Shay Simpson, Anthony Tolbert, Ja’kyia Weeks, Juliana Santiago-Hernandez, Xavier Hirsch, London White, Veaney Apolonio-Carrasco from Ms. Putney’s 5th Grade Class, with Sophia Klicker (PSU) and Lauren Blankenship (PSU)
In 1953, Oregon’s Civil Rights Bill was signed by Governor Paul L. Patterson, making Oregon the twenty-first state in the union to pass legislation outlawing discrimination in public places. The bill was passed in the senate under the leadership of Philip S. Hitchcock aided by the efforts of Mark O. Hatfield. Pictured here are major advocates for the passing of Oregon’s Civil Rights Bill. Seated, from left: Philip S. Hitchcock and Mark O. Hatfield. Standing, from left: Edgar Williams, Marie Smith, Ulysses Plummer, Rev. J. Harold Jones, Lorna J. Marple, Verdell Rutherford, and Otto G. Rutherford.
A photograph of Dr. DeNorval Unthank (1899-1977), photographer unknown. Credit: Oregon History Project
Dr. Unthank Speaking (1967), 2015
Mycah Alemseghed, A’Kiyah Gittens, Alahna Henry, Sinai Jones, Gerard Reyes-Gonzalez, Alondra Salinas, Atticus Salmon, D’Shay Simpson, Anthony Tolbert, Ja’kyia Weeks, Juliana Santiago-Hernandez, Xavier Hirsch, London White, Veaney Apolonio-Carrasco from Ms. Putney’s 5th Grade Class, with Sophia Klicker (PSU)
Dr. DeNorval Unthank was a civil rights advocate and highly respected leader in the African American community of Portland. Throughout the 1930s, Dr. Unthank was Portland’s only black medical practitioner. For 40 years Dr. Unthank was a dedicated doctor and a friend to any minority group in the city as well, serving patients who could not receive medical treatment in public facilities because of segregation laws. In 1969, the City named Unthank Park in honor of his work to break down racial barriers in Portland.
