Summertime Arts and Education at DSPDX Annex

We are excited to partner with Oregon Black Pioneers on Saturday, July 15!

We’re excited to host a free presentation with Oregon Black Pioneers - Join us at 10am on July 15 for the first of multiple workshops and presentations we will be hosting in partnership! Events will take place at our office, the DSPDX Annex, at 927 NW Everett.

People of African descent have lived and worked in Oregon since before the founding of the earliest English-speaking settlements in the Americas. Despite this, the popular narrative of our state's history excludes the experiences of African Americans before the mid-20th century. This erasure is the result of historic legal and social marginalization that contributes to the ignorance of Oregon's Black heritage, as well as influences contemporary disparities in housing access, community investment, and policing. For this presentation, Oregon Black Pioneers will attempt to correct the record by highlighting key individuals and events that characterize Oregon's unique and centuries-old Black history.