Photos

"Spreading the Black Joy Virus" is a community- and youth-enrichment campaign envisioned in Portland (OR), during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. We want it to celebrate the fact that, for centuries, the Black community has always made a way out of no way. And when challenging moments like this arise, the Sankofa bird within the JOY reminds us to reach back and fetch our ancestral resilience, creativity and sense of community.

Jefferson High School Student attending graduation ceremoney - June 3, 2019

Jefferson High School Student attending graduation ceremoney - June 3, 2020

Mercedes Muñoz, Oregon's 2020 Teacher of the year, accepts her award for helping students with disabilities and survivors of traumatic events.

Mercedes Muñoz, Oregon's 2020 Teacher of the year, accepts her award for helping students with disabilities and survivors of traumatic events.

Morehouse graduate Leland Shelton is congratulated as he is acknowledged by President Obama.


Angela M. Brown, an American dramatic soprano, at Roosevelt High.

2nd Grader reading Ten Apples up on Top! by Dr. Seuss.

Internation Youth Leadership Conference attendee - February 28. 2020

Harriet Tubman Middle School students attending 8th Grade Promotion - June 4, 2019

Harriet Tubman Middle School student attending 8th Grade Promotion - June 4, 2020

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School First Day - April 2, 2021

Metropolotin Learning Center Student attending graduation ceremoney - June 6, 2021

da Vinci Arts Middle School Black History Month (BHM) Door Decorating Contest.

da Vinci Arts Middle School Black History Month (BHM) Door Decorating Contest.

da Vinci Arts Middle School Black History Month (BHM) Door Decorating Contest.

Jefferson High School Student attending graduation ceremoney - June 5, 2022

Between 2013–2015, only 18% of bachelor’s degrees in computer and information science were awarded to women with only 11% and 9% being awarded to Black and Hispanic students, respectively. As the technology industry grows in Portland and internationally, we must ensure diverse women are ready to enter the field. We must start by inspiring girls to see technology as a viable career.

All nine nine black Greek-letter organizations representing either a fraternity or sorority.

Spelman Women holding up their admissions decisions. Spelman College is a private, historically black, women's liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia. It is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta.

Quartz observes that 57 percent of American video gamers between 6 and 29 will be people of color in less than 10 years.

POIC + RAHS Portland Opportunities Industrialization Center + Rosemary Anderson High School is committed to the success of at-risk youth and adults, providing the highest quality services in education, mentoring, family outreach, employment training, and placement.

For more information go to: https://www.eyeseeme.com/pages/book-fair

Boys & Girls Club of America Empower LGBTQ Youth Through Inclusive Practices campaign

Black pioneers were among the earliest non-Native people to settle in Oregon, but it was not until World War II that thousands of African Americans migrated to the Northwest to find work in the shipyards and keep the railroads running. Today, Portland is home to more than 41,000 Black Americans, most living on the east side of the Willamette River.

For decades, HBCU campuses have been targeted by politicians wishing to suppress what is essentially a bloc vote. Election officials at the state and local level have manipulated the rules to make it more difficult for students to participate in the political process and students have responded with persistent activism, lobbying, and litigation. Though this is happening at many campuses, there is currently no space where this political work can be viewed together or where student activists can network with each other. This will be a tremendous benefit to students who can learn the political history of their own campuses in the context of a larger HBCU history. Like the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in the 1960s, it will connect like-minded students in an attempt to form coalitions and conceive a national response to the problem of voter suppression.

As a result, the platform will serve as both a digital museum that can be curated by individual HBCUs to tell their own stories and a space to foster inter-campus cooperation among students who are currently doing a lot of this work in silos. We will begin with a full accounting of the experiences of students at Prairie View A&M University that really exemplify the modern battle against voter suppression for both African Americans and college students. Despite prevailing beliefs about the lack of youth engagement, students at Prairie View and other HBCUs offer an alternative narrative that should be better documented and highlighted.

From the lack of proper diagnosis and support for students with dyslexia and ADHD to the stigmatization of disorders like autism and Down syndrome, students with disabilities are not treated equally in our education system. And Black students with disabilities often have extremely different — and more difficult — school experiences than their peers, disabled or otherwise.

For more information go to: Black Students with Disabilities Deserve Better by Maya Pottiger https://michiganchronicle.com/2022/10/26/black-students-with-disabilities-deserve-better-school-experiences/

African Americans of Portland (Images of America)

Author Kimberly Stowers Moreland, on behalf of the Oregon Black Pioneers, brings a historical perspective of Portland’s African American experience using images collected from the Oregon Historical Society, Portland State University, and private family collections.

The Images of America series celebrates the history of neighborhoods, towns, and cities across the country. Using archival photographs, each title presents the distinctive stories from the past that shape the character of the community today. Arcadia is proud to play a part in the preservation of local heritage, making history available to all.

Isaka Shamsud-Din: Rock of Ages is an intimate exhibition celebrating the Portland artist’s masterful paintings, rich in a narrative combining personal stories and folklore. Shamsud-Din’s paintings also celebrate and honor individuals by capturing portraits. Tightly composed and with a vibrancy of color, the works invite viewers to be among these individuals and warm settings. The exhibition is titled after Shamsud-Din’s painting of his father, Rock of Ages (1976), the museum’s most recent acquisition of the artist’s work. Capturing his subject in the luscious garden that his father prided himself in—a setting that was particularly special for the very close father and son—Shamsud-Din invites the viewer to see this man. All of the paintings in this exhibition offers an intimate glimpse of Shamsud-Din’s subjects and the artist’s own practice as an artist.

Albina Head Start and Early Head Start proudly provide services to Prenatal Moms, Teen Parents and children birth to age 5 through our FREE Full Day Center Based or Weekly Home Based programs.

Albina offers Early Head Start and Head Start services to low income families living within North, North East and South East Portland.

For more information go to: https://www.albinahs.org/