In the 1940s, Vanport, Oregon was Oregon’s second largest city and the largest federal housing project in the nation. It was also one of the most racially diverse communities in the Pacific Northwest and remains central to the story of Black migration to the Pacific Northwest. Floodwaters from the Columbia River destroyed the community on Memorial Day in 1948; Vanport’s thousands of residents were displaced, and numerous residents died in the flood waters. Hear stories of life in Vanport and flood experiences from the voices of its residents in this Corvallis premiere screening of short documentaries. These recorded oral histories are part of the Vanport Mosaic's living archive - an on-going participatory oral history project facilitated by Story Midwife Laura Lo Forti.

A Black History Month event, presented by The Center for the Humanities and made possible by the Oregon Historical Society, The Kinsman Foundation, Oregon Arts Commission, and Regional Arts & Culture Council. Free, open to all.

Vanport Mosaic is a memory-activism platform that amplifies, honors, and preserves the silenced histories that surround us in order to understand our present and write a new chapter where we all belong. www.vanportmosaic.org , info@vanportmosaic