The Story of Vanport, Oregon

By the end of World War II, more than 20,000 black people had moved to Oregon. Vanport was physically segregated from Portland and kept dry only by a system of dykes that held back the flow of the Columbia River. On Memorial Day, 1948, residents of Vanport woke up to driving rain in this letter from the Housing Authority of Portland. The dikes did not hold for long; shortly after 4 p.m., one hole opened up and roughly 18,500 people were displaced.