Sessums 1 Cole Sessums Professor Leslie Batchelder Portland 2 November 2013 Conspiracy Rumors or Racial Injustice?

The 1940s and 1950s were engulfed in difficulty for the city of Portland. From a catastrophic flood destroying the largest wartime housing project in Portland to the racial and social injustice possessing the city, residents of the City of Roses were finding their charming home a little unbearable. The influx of African American migrants to the city was beginning to cause tension amongst Portlanders. In 1940, the state was estimated to have had a population of fewer than 1,800 African Americans, but by 1946 that estimation had grown to be around 18,000. Many older residents of Portland, some blacks included, did not enjoy the fact that African Americans were increasingly migrating to the area and believed that their presence would prove to be nothing but a problem. To make matters even worse Portland had become littered with rumors and a general distrust of government and authority figures. When the great flood of 1948 hit the Portland housing project, Vanport, matters only became increasingly worse in Portland. In the midst of disaster and turmoil, fingers began to point blame at various different groups of people while rumors ran rampant through the city. But would these rumors have risen if a sense of social and racial injustice had not already existed with in the community? Or was the Portland community simply so shaken by the disaster that they did not know how to react? Many Oregon-specific authors and scholars have

Sessums 2 examined this topic and most would agree with Stuart McElderry, author of Vanport Conspiracy Rumirs and Social Relations in Portland, 1940-1950, in saying that, Race was another factor underlying the Vanport conspiracy rumors (McElderry 154). It is very understandable how residents of Portland could have believed the Vanport rumors and conspiracy theories once realizing the way in which Vanport residents were displayed, treated, and categorized. Almost immediately following the flooding of the Columbia River, leading to the destruction of the Vanport wartime housing project, rumors began to spread like wildfire. Residents and townspeople could see the horrendous destruction caused by the flood as houses were destroyed and cars were flipped upside down. Soon thereafter rumors about casualties from both public officials and citizens began to pour into newspapers and every other news source. Newspapers began to print that casualties were estimated to be in the hundreds, even though the only proof they had were eyewitness accounts. The accounts ranged from seeing dozens of bodies being carried down the Columbia river to a submerged schoolbus reportedly filled with children (McElderry 135). Two days later, as the floodwater cleared, not a single body had yet been recovered. As this news hit the public, conspiracies and rumors of cover-ups began to develop rapidly. One well-circulating rumor contended that, the HAP (Housing Authority of Portland), the Army Corps of Engineers, the Portland Chamber of Commerce, and others had conspired to disguise the real death toll in order to lessen the magnitude of HAPs blame for the tragedy and to avoid cancellation of the Portland Rose Festival, scheduled to take place in two weeks (McElderry 135). Another rumor stated around 600 bodies had

Sessums 3 been hidden by authorities in the Downtown Terminal Ice & Cold Storage Facility, while even another claimed that government officials had secretly loaded the bodies onto a ship to Japan, where they would be placed in flag-draped coffins and presented as fallen American soldiers. The overwhelming development and spread of these rumors and conspiracy theories alarmed local government and authority; publications such as Oregonian, The Oregon Journal, and even the New Yorker published articles discrediting these rumors and discouraging the continuing spread and speculation of the heinous statements. Within the first two weeks following the flood, fifteen total bodies were recovered and the list of missing persons had drastically dwindled; and with it so did the rumors. But why were Portlanders so quick and eager to accept the wild rumors and theories as fact? How could they have honestly believed that the entire incident was a government cover-up or political scandal? McElderry says that, People turn to rumors in an effort to make sense of the changes and uncertainties in their immediate environment (McElderry 137). While this may be true, there is another reason why Portlanders were so quick to acknowledge and accept these rumors. During the 1940s, and the years leading up to, Portland residents had expressed a general distrust in government and authoritative figures. This disposition may have resulted from shady interactions made by the government towards the general public, possibly including news blackouts, uneasiness about the war, or recent revelations regarding secret military experiments. African American residents had a completely different reason to not trust authorities. During this time period, blacks were still not being treated justly in

Sessums 4 Portland. Although the population had drastically increased, a majority of the new residents were only able to purchase property in certain parts of Portland. The difference between the African American experience and that of the European immigrants was deeply embedded racial discrimination. Realtors urged each other to confine home sales to blacks to Albina (Abbot 106). In most cases, blacks would only be sold homes in either Albina or Vanport. This was Portlands way of keeping the city segregated, and in-turn, keeping it safe. Local government created little available housing for blacks, and what they did have was often a very small, badly managed piece of property. This, of course, was purposeful; Portland representatives and officials had already made it very clear that they did not want African Americans residing in Portland. Robert E. Colbert wrote in his 1946 article, The Attitude of Older Negro Residents Toward Recent Negro Migrants in the Pacific Northwest, Historical references show that from the early days Portland did not want a so-called Negro Problem (Colbert 696). Since blacks were mostly limited to Albina and Vanport, both areas became associated with having a highly African American population. Vanport, especially, was considered to be nothing more than a ghetto. It was Portlands largest wartime housing project, created by The Kaiser Company in 1943. In two short years Vanport, originally known as Kaiserville, was housing approximately 42,000 people. The HAP (Housing Authority of Portland) managed Vanport, but did so unwillingly and uncaringly, causing a lot of complaints from Vanport residents. A genuinely unsatisfied and disapproving public opinion surrounded Vanport and its residents, especially in 1945 when, Vanport became home to a growing number of unemployed laborers, war veterans, and African

Sessums 5 Americans (McElderry 150). Vanport became a center known for housing societys undesirables. The public soon began voicing their opinions and belief that Vanport should be shut down. The HAP, along with other companies, was eager to do so; the government even agreed. Certain circumstances involving the HAP prevented the immediate destruction of Vanport, but Portland business and political elites made it very clear that, migrants were to vacate the public-housing projects, if not to leave town altogether (McElderry 152). After taking into consideration the fact that the public, government, and societal elites wanted to close down Vanport, it is easier to understand how Portlanders of the 1940s may have believed the outrageous rumors and conspiracy theories regarding the Vanport flood. Since the population of Vanport was believed to be mostly black, even though it was not, many people believed that the HAP may have knowingly let the flood happen to easily resolve the issue surrounding the influx of African American migrants or to rid themselves of the Vanport community altogether. Because of the deep-rooted racial discrimination in Portland at that time, people were more likely to believe the rumors surrounding the Vanport flood. This goes to show that racial and social injustice in a community will eventually only lead to corruption and internal conflict.

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Works Cited 1. Abbott, Carl. "Chapter 5: Modern Times." Portland In Three Centuries: The Place and the People. Corvallis: Oregon State UP, 2011. 106. Print. 2. Colbert, Robert E. The Attitude of Older Negro Residents Toward Recent Negro Migrants in the Pacific Northwest. The Journal of Negro Education. Vol. 15, No. 4. 1946. 696. Print. 3. Holbrook, Stewart. The Dead Were Stacked Like Cordwood. Oregonian. May 30, 1958. 6. Print.
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McElderry, Stuart. "Vanport Conspiracy Rumors and Social Relations in Portland, 1940-1950." Oregon Historical Quarterly 99.2 (1998): 13463. Oregon Historical Society. Web. 16 Oct. 2013. <http://www.jstor.org/stable/20614894>.