Stepping Into Portland Stories

Grace Fortson and Vy-An Nguyen
Directed by Dr. Molly Hiro

In “Stepping into Portland Stories,” our team sought to overlay the stories of Black Portlander’s displacement onto the physical spaces of the city. We created an interactive online resource to engage the public with these narratives in place using a web-builder called StoryMaps which facilitated this central thematic connection. Our StoryMap includes background historical research about the Black community in Portland, summaries of the literature used in our research, key themes analyzed from the literature, additional resources, and a public forum for reflection. This project has given us the opportunity to explore research in a field outside of our majors, underscoring the importance of trans- and inter-disciplinary work, particularly in public facing projects.

We hope that this resource can be used as an educational tool for Portland communities, on the University of Portland’s campus and beyond. Understanding the individual impacts of historical and contemporary displacement in Portland in the context of spaces that Portlanders live, work, and relax in today is vital to creating powerful allyship for the Black community.

Check out our StoryMap here!