Walk where Oregon’s Black history happened! Oregon Black Pioneers' walking tours explore locations around Oregon, including Portland’s historically Black Albina neighborhood, connected to Black-owned businesses, community change, and civil rights. Join us! oregonblackpioneers.org/tours

Joe Lillard was a multi-sport athlete recruited to play football at the University of Oregon. He led the Ducks to a 7-2 record in 1930. He went pro and was the leading scorer for the Cardinals in 1933, but in 1934 the NFL prohibited Black players. He was the last Black player in the NFL until 1946.

Richard Lee Washington led Portland’s Benson HS to state champs in 1971 and 73. At UCLA he reached the Final Four, won the 75 NCAA Tournament, and was named most outstanding player. Drafted by the Kings in 76, he played 6 seasons in the NBA. oregonblackpioneers.org/oregon-black-all-stars-cards

“Lightning Ray” Lampkin began training at Portland’s Knott Street Gym at 10, won five Golden Gloves before turning pro in 1968. He won 21 fights and earned the NABF lightweight title in '74. In '75, he fought lightweight champion Roberto Duran for the WBA title; Lampkin lost via 14th-round KO.

Jimmy Claxton was a pitcher for independent Black baseball ca 1910s-20s. He was the first Black player to appear on a baseball card, and the last Black player to play in integrated professional baseball until Jackie Robinson in 1947. Join us at @hillsborohops.bsky.social Robinson night, Tue 4/21!

Katherine Hall Bogle was a journalist and a civil rights advocate for Black Oregonians. She spent much of her youth in Marshfield, Oregon (today the city of Coos Bay). Read more in this Black History Spotlight! oregonblackpioneers.org/black-history-spotlight-katherine-hall-bogle/

Walk where Oregon’s Black history happened! Oregon Black Pioneers' walking tours explore locations around Oregon, including Portland’s historically Black Albina neighborhood, connected to Black-owned businesses, community change, and civil rights. Join us! oregonblackpioneers.org/tours

Who is Amanda Gardner Johnson? Read this remarkable firsthand account told to Fred Lockley, a very rare opportunity to hear a formerly enslaved woman's Oregon Trail story in her own words. Read it here! oregonblackpioneers.org/conversations-with-pioneer-women-amanda-gardner-johnson

See OBP's newest exhibit, A Man Called York, on view at Prineville’s Bowman Museum 4/1 – 5/31. York was the only African American member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. For two centuries, his story was rarely told. Want to showcase this or any of OBP's exhibits in your community? Get in touch!

Third Eye Books has what you need if you need to know your Oregon Black history.

You’re probably familiar with the iconic Go By Train sign at the top of Union Station, in Portland. But did you know that this railroad station is deeply connected to Oregon’s Black history? Mariah has more in this Oregon Black History Snap Shot!

Black History Spotlight: Grafton Tyler Brown, the first Black professional painter in the Pacific Northwest. Born in Harrisburg, PA in 1841 to free Black parents, he moved to Portland, Oregon around 1884. Read more at the link! oregonblackpioneers.org/black-history-spotlight-grafton-tyler-brown/

BOLT is one of our esteemed partners in the Letitia Carson Legacy Project!

Oregon has Black history everywhere!

Who was Cleo Kelly and what do these bootleggers' stills have to do with her? Join Black History Quest host Mariah Rocker as she welcomes LeeAnn O'Neill on Wednesday, March 25 at 7:00PM, to discover more! Stream BHQ on Facebook, or live/archived on YouTube. www.facebook.com/share/1DwefziGAx/

Did you know Oregon Black Pioneers now has three newsletters? Yep, the OBP monthly newsletter, our quarterly Education newsletter, and the seasonal Letitia Carson Legacy Project newsletter. We've got all the Oregon Black history news YOU can use! Sign up here: bit.ly/OBPNews

Who was Cleo Kelly and how did she navigate the challenges and opportunities of prohibition-era Central Oregon? Black History Quest host Mariah Rocker welcomes LeeAnn O'Neill, Principal of Allyship in Action, Wed. 3/25 at 7PM to explore more! Stream live on Facebook and YouTube!

"The Evergreen" takes a look back at Maxville, a segregated logging town that a Missouri-based lumber company built in northeastern Oregon. Archaeologists have just discovered artifacts from the town’s lost Black neighborhood.

Oregon's Black History Keepers: 2020s Born and raised in Portland, Taylor Stewart launched the Oregon Remembrance Project to pursue truth and reconciliation around the 1902 lynching of Alonzo Tucker in Coos Bay, Oregon.

Oregon's Black History Keepers: 2010s In the early 2000s, Gwen Trice of LaGrande, Oregon, began an intensive research project to uncover the forgotten history of the Maxville logging community and its diverse workforce, which included more than 50 African American loggers.

Oregon's Black History Keepers: 2000s Salem resident Gwen Carr joined the Board of Directors of Oregon Black Pioneers in 2004. Alongside Willie Richardson and Kimberly Moreland, Gwen spent years researching and presenting stories of Oregon’s Black history.

Hello from the Mims Houses in Eugene, OR! These two houses sit side-by-side on High Street. The white house was built in 1870 and the green house was built in 1867, and they are the oldest homes in Eugene once owned by a Black family. Let Zachary tell you more in this Oregon Black History Snap Shot!

Tennessee-born Quintard Taylor began his academic teaching career at Washington State University in the 1970s, concentrating on the early Black histories of Oregon and Washington. In 1999, he joined the faculty of the University of Oregon, teaching classes on Black history in the American West.

Oregon's Black History Keepers: 1980s Michael “Chappie” Grice was born in Portland in 1948. He followed in his father’s footsteps by working for the railroads as a young man. Chappie then had a 50-year career as a school teacher.

How did early African Americans on the Oregon Coast make a living? Today, Zachary Stocks with @oregonblackpioneers.org shares some of Oregon’s Black history. Head to the link to learn more about Oregon Black Pioneers’ work: visittheoregoncoast.com/travel-guide...

One of the nation’s most ambitious projects to reclaim a gentrified community is happening right here in Portland. https://www.koin.com/hidden-history/black-history-month/black-project-reclaim-portland-gentrified-albina-community/#/questions/5294859?cid=bluesky_ 

Eugene, go see this exhibit! Jeremy Okai Davis talks about his stunning portraits of some of Oregon's earliest Black pioneers.

Oregon's Black History Keepers: 1970s Dr. Darrell Millner came to Eugene in 1970 to attend the University of Oregon. After earning his doctorate, Darrell began teaching History and Afro-American Literature at Portland State University.

Must-see vintage Portland Black Community TV from our friends at Albina Music Trust.

Did you know Oregon has Black history everywhere?

Oregon's Black History Keepers: 1960s Martha Anderson was born in 1910 and spent the first 30 years of her life in Colorado, Idaho, and Nevada. In 1940, she married Walter Anderson and moved to his ranch in Harney County, OR. When Walter’s health worsened in 1953, the couple moved to Portland.

Shout out to the Astoria Heritage Museum in Oregon. "Blocked Out: Race and Place in the Making of Modern Astoria" documents some of Astoria's lesser known history. Thanks to @oregonblackpioneers.org and James and Janet Aalberg for making this exhibition possible and asking the important questions.

Oregon's Black History Keepers: 1950s Verdell Burdine Rutherford moved with her family to Portland in the 1920s. She married Otto Rutherford, and for decades they fought for civil rights as leaders with the NAACP, Urban League, and other groups.

Oregon's Black History Keepers: 1940s During WWII, African Americans from across the country made their way to Vanport to work in the shipyards. One of them was Clara Mae Peoples of Muskogee, Oklahoma.

Oregon's Black History Keepers: 1930s Reverend Daniel G. Hill, Jr. was born in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1896. After studying divinity in Pennsylvania and Colorado, Daniel became minister of Portland’s Bethel AME Church in 1928.

Oregon's Black history, present, and future in Eugene. Don't miss this exhibit!

Oregon’s coast has more stories than you think 🌊 This Black History Month (and beyond), take the road trip, learn the stories, and see the coast through a deeper lens. visittheoregoncoast.com/travel-guide...

Looking for Oregon Black Pioneers’ Black History Month events? Find them at the link! oregonblackpioneers.org/where-is-oregon-black-pioneers-2026

Oregon's Black History Keepers: 1920s In honor of the 100th anniversary of Black History Month, we're highlighting a century of Black history keepers here in Oregon. Without them, so many stories would be lost. We honor and appreciate their essential work this month, and all year round.

Oregon Black Pioneers’ revised educational curriculum and a new Education newsletter are here! Guided by feedback, ideas, and passion from educators, we’ve refreshed our materials to better support classrooms around the state. OBP brings Oregon’s Black history to life—lesson by lesson. Link below

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year.

This is what we do. Showing up for families at events like OMSI’s Black Community Science Night. If this work matters to you, like it does to us, we hope we can count on your support! oregonblackpioneers.org/donate/

Things are difficult for people everywhere, and the last thing you need right now is to worry about whether or not our organization is going to survive. I have good news for you: Oregon Black Pioneers is gonna be alright. oregonblackpioneers.org/donate

"We're here and we're making our marks, we're telling our story. We're a constant thread in Oregon's fabric, that's who we are. And this organization strives every day to make sure of that. ~ Willie B. Richardson, Oregon Black Pioneers

You can't know the U.S.'s history without knowing the U.S.'s Black history. “America does not have a full accounting of itself without the historic Black press,” says Nicole Carr, author, investigative journalist, and professor at Morehouse College in Atlanta.

Explore the stories of six Black Oregon pioneers with colorful NEW Black Oregon Pioneer posters and fun, fact-filled digital storybooks for K-5 classrooms, plus a map activity for 4th grade learners. Free to download, these materials bring Oregon history to life oregonblackpioneers.org/educators

Abner Hunt Francis was an abolitionist, social activist, and business owner in early Portland. He and his brother Isaac opened a mercantile along the Portland waterfront. They were targeted for expulsion under Oregon's Black exclusion law. But something unique happened...

Welcome to the former Henry H. Hawkins homestead. The house was built over a century ago and still stands today, a rare structure connected to the legacy of a Black Oregon homesteader. Let Mariah tell you more in this Oregon Black History Snap Shot! #oregonblackhistory

Allen & Louisa Flowers had a prominent Black family in early Portland. They raised four sons, owned property, raised horses, and were active in local social & civic affairs. Read more in this Oregon Black History Spotlight! oregonblackpioneers.org/black-history-spotlight-allen-and-louisa-flowers

Oregon's Black history, and future.