1 00:00:00,920 --> 00:00:10,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from dot Com. Hello, 2 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:14,120 Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson and 3 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:18,600 Speaker 1: I'm Holly Frying. Today's podcast as yet another listener requests, 4 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:21,000 Speaker 1: but it's one that was already on my to do list, 5 00:00:21,079 --> 00:00:23,119 Speaker 1: so I haven't made note of who I'll ask for it. 6 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:30,639 Speaker 1: On a flood destroyed Vanport, Oregon. Fifteen people were killed, which, 7 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:33,320 Speaker 1: in light of some of the other disasters we've been 8 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:36,720 Speaker 1: talking about on the show lately, probably seems like a 9 00:00:36,840 --> 00:00:41,640 Speaker 1: relatively small number, but the property damage involved was colossal. 10 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:45,120 Speaker 1: And what really makes the story more than a historical 11 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:48,400 Speaker 1: footnote is how it is tied into the racial makeup 12 00:00:48,479 --> 00:00:51,839 Speaker 1: of both Portland and Oregon as a whole, uh and 13 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 1: a lot of the stresses and difficulties that went on 14 00:00:55,640 --> 00:00:59,080 Speaker 1: with racism and race relations both before and after the flood. 15 00:00:59,520 --> 00:01:02,360 Speaker 1: The history iCal context for the Vanport flood goes back 16 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:05,720 Speaker 1: to before Oregon became a state in eighteen fifty nine. 17 00:01:06,000 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: The issue of slavery within Oregon wasn't a totally simple one. 18 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:12,839 Speaker 1: While it ultimately joined the Union as a free state, 19 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:16,399 Speaker 1: there were people living there who were in favor of slavery. 20 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:18,640 Speaker 1: This is one of several reasons why the people of 21 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:23,560 Speaker 1: Oregon voted against holding a constitutional convention three separate times 22 00:01:23,600 --> 00:01:27,440 Speaker 1: before a vote finally succeeded. Among other things, putting off 23 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:31,759 Speaker 1: a constitutional convention meant putting off a final decision on slavery. 24 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:36,200 Speaker 1: Oregon did actually outlast slavery while it was still a territory. 25 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:39,440 Speaker 1: In eighteen forty three, it's residents voted to incorporate language 26 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:43,280 Speaker 1: from the Northwest Ordinance into its own laws. That language 27 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:47,840 Speaker 1: was quote, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude 28 00:01:47,960 --> 00:01:51,800 Speaker 1: in the said territory, otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, 29 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:56,640 Speaker 1: whereof the party she'll have shall have been duly convicted. However, 30 00:01:57,560 --> 00:02:00,400 Speaker 1: a little less than a year later, the Provisional Governman's 31 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:03,760 Speaker 1: Legislative Council changed that eighteen forty three law with an 32 00:02:03,800 --> 00:02:08,160 Speaker 1: amendment that had the rather odd effect of simultaneously outlawing 33 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: slavery and allowing it for a short period of time. 34 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:16,320 Speaker 1: Slaveholders were given a deadline to remove their slaves from Oregon, 35 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:20,080 Speaker 1: and if they refused, the slaves would be freed. The 36 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 1: amendment went on to specify that those previously enslaved persons 37 00:02:24,240 --> 00:02:28,200 Speaker 1: also needed to leave Oregon. Free blackmails had two years 38 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:31,280 Speaker 1: to do so, and free black females had three years. 39 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:35,120 Speaker 1: The punishment for refusing to leave after being freed it 40 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 1: was lashing. This law was nicknamed Peter Burnett's Lash Law, 41 00:02:39,240 --> 00:02:41,560 Speaker 1: after the head of the legislative council that passed it. 42 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:45,360 Speaker 1: A little later in the year, the punishment was shifted 43 00:02:45,440 --> 00:02:48,880 Speaker 1: from being lashing to forced labor, and the law itself 44 00:02:48,919 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 1: was repealed in eighteen forty five before its punishment clause 45 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:55,920 Speaker 1: went into effect after Jesse Applegate replaced Peter Burnett on 46 00:02:55,960 --> 00:03:00,079 Speaker 1: the council. Then, on September twenty st, eighteen forty I 47 00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:04,840 Speaker 1: and the territorial legislature enacted another racial exclusion law in Oregon, 48 00:03:05,280 --> 00:03:08,320 Speaker 1: which remained on the books until eighteen fifty four. This 49 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:11,360 Speaker 1: law stated that, in Oregon, quote, it shall not be 50 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:15,560 Speaker 1: lawful for any Negro or Mulatto to enter into or reside. 51 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:20,440 Speaker 1: When Oregon finally did assemble a constitutional convention on the 52 00:03:20,520 --> 00:03:23,680 Speaker 1: road to becoming a state in eighteen fifty seven, two 53 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:28,600 Speaker 1: proposals were placed before its delegates. One would have legalized slavery. 54 00:03:28,720 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 1: The other was an exclusion clause similar to the one 55 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:35,200 Speaker 1: enacted in eighteen forty nine. Both of these passed by 56 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:38,720 Speaker 1: a wide margin. Oregon ultimately did not want to be 57 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:41,760 Speaker 1: a slave state, but it also did not want African 58 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:46,160 Speaker 1: Americans living there. As a result, Article one, section thirty 59 00:03:46,160 --> 00:03:49,240 Speaker 1: five of the Constitution of the State of Oregon read quote, 60 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:53,480 Speaker 1: no free negro or mulatto not residing in this State 61 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:56,520 Speaker 1: at the time of the adoption of this Constitution shall 62 00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:00,400 Speaker 1: come reside or be within the state, or or hold 63 00:04:00,440 --> 00:04:04,560 Speaker 1: any real estate, or make any contracts, or maintain any 64 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 1: suit therein. And the Legislative Assembly shall provide by penal 65 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 1: laws for the removal by public officers of all such 66 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:16,359 Speaker 1: Negroes and mulatto's, for their effectual exclusion from the state, 67 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:19,320 Speaker 1: and for the punishment of persons who shall bring them 68 00:04:19,360 --> 00:04:25,200 Speaker 1: into the state, or employ or harbor them. These articles 69 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:28,919 Speaker 1: made Oregon's constitution unique among the free states. It was 70 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:31,440 Speaker 1: the only one whose constitution was written to try to 71 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:35,160 Speaker 1: exclude black people. The legislature did, not, in the end 72 00:04:35,200 --> 00:04:38,480 Speaker 1: provide penal laws for the removal of African Americans from 73 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:43,480 Speaker 1: the state. Though the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, 74 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:48,799 Speaker 1: ratified on July nine, eighteen sixty eight nullified Oregon's exclusion clause. 75 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:51,400 Speaker 1: As a refresher, the Fourteenth Amendment was one of the 76 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:54,440 Speaker 1: reconstruction amendments that followed the end of the Civil War. 77 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:57,120 Speaker 1: It's the one that gives all citizens of the United 78 00:04:57,160 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: States the right to do process and equal protection under 79 00:04:59,920 --> 00:05:04,360 Speaker 1: the laws. The Fifteenth Amendment, ratified in eighteen seventy, also 80 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:08,159 Speaker 1: invalidated a different article in the Oregon Constitution that denied 81 00:05:08,240 --> 00:05:13,320 Speaker 1: quote Negroes, Chinaman, and Mulatto's the rights of vote. However, 82 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:18,120 Speaker 1: even though the Fourteenth and fifteenth Amendments invalidated them, those 83 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:22,960 Speaker 1: two exclusionary articles weren't actually repealed in Oregon until ninety 84 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:27,880 Speaker 1: six and ninety seven, respectively, and they're obsolete. Text, along 85 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:31,000 Speaker 1: with other language that alluded to race, like specifying the 86 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:34,080 Speaker 1: white population needed to increase the number of state Supreme 87 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:38,080 Speaker 1: Court justices, were actually still present in the Oregon Constitution 88 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:41,760 Speaker 1: until a measure to remove it past in two thousand two, 89 00:05:42,240 --> 00:05:44,599 Speaker 1: and even then it only got seventy one percent of 90 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:48,120 Speaker 1: the vote. People cited as their reasons for voting now 91 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:53,880 Speaker 1: things like unwillingness to tamper with a historical document, so 92 00:05:53,920 --> 00:05:56,919 Speaker 1: it's not clear exactly what the motivation of everyone was, 93 00:05:57,160 --> 00:05:59,599 Speaker 1: but it was definitely kiliar with the motivation of some 94 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:03,480 Speaker 1: of them was. Although the state had never passed enforcement 95 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 1: measures to go along with these racial exclusion laws, and 96 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:09,560 Speaker 1: the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments had been invalidated those laws 97 00:06:09,600 --> 00:06:12,200 Speaker 1: after the Civil War, the fact that they were written 98 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:15,920 Speaker 1: into the state's foundational documents and had been passed at 99 00:06:15,960 --> 00:06:19,160 Speaker 1: all had a big effect on who did or didn't 100 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:23,719 Speaker 1: move to Oregon In the migration that followed the Civil War. 101 00:06:24,279 --> 00:06:27,800 Speaker 1: The people who moved into Oregon were overwhelmingly white, and 102 00:06:27,880 --> 00:06:30,320 Speaker 1: some of those who did did so because they found 103 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:34,520 Speaker 1: that constitutional language appealing. By the nineteen hundreds, the Ku 104 00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:38,479 Speaker 1: Klux Klan, perhaps the most notorious white supremacy organization in 105 00:06:38,520 --> 00:06:42,480 Speaker 1: the United States, had more than fourteen thousand members in Oregon, 106 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:46,840 Speaker 1: nine thousand of them in Portland. By comparison, very few 107 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:50,279 Speaker 1: black people moved into Oregon after the Civil War. According 108 00:06:50,320 --> 00:06:52,960 Speaker 1: to the United States Census Bureau, by nineteen forty, just 109 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:55,440 Speaker 1: a few years before the vanport fled, more than a 110 00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:59,200 Speaker 1: million people lived in Oregon. Only two thousand, five hundred 111 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:02,000 Speaker 1: sixty five were African American, or less than a quarter 112 00:07:02,040 --> 00:07:05,080 Speaker 1: of a percent of the population. Nearly all of them 113 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:08,720 Speaker 1: lived in one small, segregated district in Portland, which, thanks 114 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:12,560 Speaker 1: to racist laws, housing policies, and real estate practices, was 115 00:07:12,640 --> 00:07:16,280 Speaker 1: the only place in Oregon most black people could find housing. 116 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:21,360 Speaker 1: The racial demographics of the area around Portland changed dramatically 117 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:25,440 Speaker 1: before and during World War Two, and the circumstances are 118 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:28,080 Speaker 1: tied directly to the Vanport flood, and we're going to 119 00:07:28,160 --> 00:07:30,000 Speaker 1: talk about that, but first we are going to have 120 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:33,800 Speaker 1: a word from one of our fabulous sponsors. To get 121 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:35,840 Speaker 1: back to our story. We're going to talk about the 122 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:39,400 Speaker 1: beginnings of the city of Vanport. During World War Two, 123 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:42,920 Speaker 1: the ship building industry in Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington 124 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:47,160 Speaker 1: grew really tremendously in response to military needs. Most of 125 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:49,400 Speaker 1: this growth came by a shipyards that were owned by 126 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:53,119 Speaker 1: the Kaiser Company later Kaiser ship Building Corporation, which began 127 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:55,760 Speaker 1: working with the British Navy to build ships in nineteen 128 00:07:56,760 --> 00:07:59,680 Speaker 1: The industry as a whole grew from a few thousand 129 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:03,200 Speaker 1: people to more than a hundred and forty thousand employees 130 00:08:03,280 --> 00:08:06,560 Speaker 1: by late nineteen forty three. The Kaiser Company, which was 131 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:10,720 Speaker 1: named for its founder, employed nearly all of them. This 132 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:13,680 Speaker 1: huge influx of workers really put a strain on the 133 00:08:13,720 --> 00:08:17,080 Speaker 1: housing supply in and around Portland, thanks in part to 134 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:21,680 Speaker 1: a longstanding resistance to public housing. Many residents were afraid 135 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:24,800 Speaker 1: that affordable housing would lower their property values and bring 136 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 1: in a quote undesirable class of people. When it came 137 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:32,520 Speaker 1: to the Kaiser Companies wartime employees, another issue on the 138 00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 1: minds of the Portland majority was that many of them 139 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:38,679 Speaker 1: were black. Particularly in the earlier years of World War two, 140 00:08:38,840 --> 00:08:41,560 Speaker 1: black men were not seen as fit for military duty. 141 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:44,920 Speaker 1: We've talked about this in other episodes before, so as 142 00:08:45,040 --> 00:08:48,000 Speaker 1: white men were drafted into the military, black men, along 143 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:50,680 Speaker 1: with women of all races, were the ones to very 144 00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:53,400 Speaker 1: often fill those jobs. The same was also true for 145 00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:57,400 Speaker 1: newly created wartime work, in part because so many of 146 00:08:57,440 --> 00:09:00,439 Speaker 1: the people were moving into Portland to get these jobs 147 00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:03,560 Speaker 1: were black. Meetings in the city about how to address 148 00:09:03,600 --> 00:09:07,000 Speaker 1: the housing shortage were met with pickets and protests. So 149 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:09,960 Speaker 1: in the summer of ninety two, the Kaiser Company worked 150 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:12,400 Speaker 1: out a deal with the U. S. Maritime Commission to 151 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:16,439 Speaker 1: build a town to house its workers, situated outside the 152 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:19,600 Speaker 1: city limits of Portland in the Columbia River floodplain. The 153 00:09:19,640 --> 00:09:24,160 Speaker 1: town was originally called Kaiserville because it was being built 154 00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:27,760 Speaker 1: in bottom land and a floodplain. Thirty foot tall dikes 155 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:29,960 Speaker 1: were built on two sides of the town to keep 156 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:33,640 Speaker 1: the water out. On a third side, a railroad embankment 157 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:36,880 Speaker 1: fulfilled the same function, but it had not been constructed 158 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:40,120 Speaker 1: as a dike. It was built by filling dirt in 159 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:44,480 Speaker 1: and around a wooden railroad chestel. Going through the US 160 00:09:44,559 --> 00:09:47,840 Speaker 1: Maritime Commission let the Kaiser Company do an end run 161 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:51,920 Speaker 1: around the Housing Authority of Portland. Neither the Housing Authority 162 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:54,320 Speaker 1: nor the people of Portland got much of a say 163 00:09:54,320 --> 00:09:56,400 Speaker 1: in what was being built or who would live there. 164 00:09:57,040 --> 00:09:59,400 Speaker 1: The homes were built quickly and cheaply, and they were 165 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:03,960 Speaker 1: intended as temporary wartime housing, not as permanent structures. They 166 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:07,560 Speaker 1: were apartment buildings made of wood on wooden foundations, and 167 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:10,680 Speaker 1: in the end there were nearly ten thousand of these units. 168 00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:14,679 Speaker 1: This housing was really pretty incredibly basic. The units had 169 00:10:14,679 --> 00:10:17,160 Speaker 1: a small bedroom, a kitchenette with a hot plate, and 170 00:10:17,240 --> 00:10:19,720 Speaker 1: only one window that could open that was in case 171 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:23,199 Speaker 1: of a fire. Units were furnished with tenants expected to 172 00:10:23,240 --> 00:10:26,520 Speaker 1: supply only personal items like linens and dishes and silverware, 173 00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:29,559 Speaker 1: but because the buildings were so cheaply made, they were 174 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:32,280 Speaker 1: also quite noisy. There was very little to dampen the 175 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:35,600 Speaker 1: sound between the units, and since the ship building industry 176 00:10:35,679 --> 00:10:39,720 Speaker 1: during wartime ran literally around the clock, Vandport was also 177 00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:44,040 Speaker 1: really noisy. Around the clock. Fires were a problem, although 178 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:47,760 Speaker 1: fortunately these were mostly small and none of them swept 179 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:50,760 Speaker 1: through the nearly all wooden city, which would have been 180 00:10:50,760 --> 00:10:56,079 Speaker 1: a definite possibility. This temporary housing became the largest wartime 181 00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:59,760 Speaker 1: housing development in the United States and the second largest 182 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:02,839 Speaker 1: city the in Oregon, although since the government owned it, 183 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:06,480 Speaker 1: it wasn't technically a real city. It was renamed van 184 00:11:06,559 --> 00:11:11,479 Speaker 1: Port by combining the names of Vancouver and Portland in November, 185 00:11:11,559 --> 00:11:15,280 Speaker 1: and its first residents moved in on December twelve. Headlines 186 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:19,480 Speaker 1: hailed it as a quote masterpiece of urban planning. All 187 00:11:19,559 --> 00:11:22,240 Speaker 1: that happened in so you can tell how quickly all 188 00:11:22,240 --> 00:11:24,920 Speaker 1: of this was put together, since the Kaiser Corporation only 189 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:28,040 Speaker 1: started working on it in the summer. As those first 190 00:11:28,160 --> 00:11:31,720 Speaker 1: families moved in, Vanport mostly offered housing and nothing else. 191 00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:36,600 Speaker 1: Although the city was roughly equidistant from Kaiser's three shipbuilding facilities, 192 00:11:36,640 --> 00:11:39,440 Speaker 1: which meant that there were shortages of rubber and gasoline. 193 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:42,559 Speaker 1: People could walk to work, it was not really convenient 194 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:45,360 Speaker 1: to getting into Portland or to any kind of transit. 195 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:49,800 Speaker 1: The first residents had trouble getting basic supplies. Often it 196 00:11:49,880 --> 00:11:52,600 Speaker 1: was pressure from the Kaiser company, who was afraid that 197 00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:54,840 Speaker 1: they would lose their workers if they couldn't get the 198 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:59,040 Speaker 1: basic staples that they needed that got things done. But 199 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:02,760 Speaker 1: eventually Vanport did get a lot of amenities that you 200 00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:06,000 Speaker 1: would expect in a city, including a hospital, a movie theater, 201 00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:09,880 Speaker 1: and some shopping centers. Since it was built as worker housing, 202 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:12,720 Speaker 1: it also had twenty four hour child care services. In 203 00:12:12,760 --> 00:12:17,120 Speaker 1: addition to schools, the Vanport Extension Center, which would eventually 204 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:21,679 Speaker 1: grow into Portland State University, taught classes there. During the war, 205 00:12:21,880 --> 00:12:26,160 Speaker 1: Vanport eventually got its own ration board. The Housing Authority 206 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:29,280 Speaker 1: of Portland wound up essentially acting as a landlord and 207 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:33,360 Speaker 1: in some ways as the city government. The Housing Authority oversaw, 208 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:35,880 Speaker 1: among other things, the creation of a fire department and 209 00:12:35,960 --> 00:12:39,960 Speaker 1: a school district. Law enforcement came from the county sheriff Department. 210 00:12:41,559 --> 00:12:45,280 Speaker 1: The relocation of black workers from all over the United States, 211 00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:48,320 Speaker 1: but especially from the Deep South and the Southwest into 212 00:12:48,400 --> 00:12:52,400 Speaker 1: Vanport was the first major migration of African Americans into 213 00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:56,920 Speaker 1: Oregon in the state's history. Between nineteen forty and nineteen fifty, 214 00:12:57,080 --> 00:13:00,120 Speaker 1: the percentage of Oregon's population that was African American and 215 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:03,520 Speaker 1: grew from point to to point eight per cent. This 216 00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:07,600 Speaker 1: is still tiny percentage, that a massive increase in all 217 00:13:07,640 --> 00:13:11,079 Speaker 1: going into the same place. In the face of this 218 00:13:11,240 --> 00:13:15,680 Speaker 1: influx of African Americans to the area around previously overwhelmingly 219 00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:19,920 Speaker 1: white Portland, whites only signs that are more often associated 220 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:23,320 Speaker 1: with the South became a lot more common, especially in 221 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:26,080 Speaker 1: the parts of Portland that were closest to the railroad station, 222 00:13:26,120 --> 00:13:28,160 Speaker 1: which would have been how most people were getting there. 223 00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:33,760 Speaker 1: Vamport itself was also informally but fairly strictly segregated, with housing, 224 00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:38,440 Speaker 1: medical facilities, and recreational facilities all separated along racial lines. 225 00:13:39,040 --> 00:13:43,920 Speaker 1: The schools, however, were integrated, including hiring black teachers. Overall, 226 00:13:44,160 --> 00:13:47,640 Speaker 1: white residents of Portland were so distressed by the influx 227 00:13:47,679 --> 00:13:50,960 Speaker 1: of Black Americans that the Portland Art Museum arranged a 228 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:54,479 Speaker 1: series of special exhibitions to try to calm their fears. 229 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:59,240 Speaker 1: They were titled War Time Housing Ships for Victory and 230 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:03,800 Speaker 1: Migration of the Negro, and they framed Portland as a tolerant, welcoming, 231 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:08,400 Speaker 1: diverse place full of patriotic duty. Wartime Housing was an 232 00:14:08,440 --> 00:14:11,400 Speaker 1: adapted Museum of Modern Art exhibition that had been used 233 00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:14,800 Speaker 1: in other cities that, for various reasons, objected to the 234 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:18,600 Speaker 1: building of mass housing for wartime workers. Migration of the 235 00:14:18,640 --> 00:14:22,000 Speaker 1: Negro was a Museum of Modern Art exhibition as well, 236 00:14:22,040 --> 00:14:24,520 Speaker 1: and was chosen because of a huge amount of anti 237 00:14:24,560 --> 00:14:28,520 Speaker 1: Southern bias being shown in Portland's white and black residents alike. 238 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:31,960 Speaker 1: Ships for Victory, on the other hand, was funded in 239 00:14:32,000 --> 00:14:34,600 Speaker 1: part by Kaiser Corporation, and, in the words of an 240 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:38,520 Speaker 1: article on the matter in Pacific Northwest Quarterly Quote, by 241 00:14:38,520 --> 00:14:41,960 Speaker 1: the time the final object list was completed, Ships for 242 00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:46,240 Speaker 1: Victory violated nearly every curatorial convention and would by no 243 00:14:46,360 --> 00:14:49,880 Speaker 1: means have been considered a worthy exhibition for a museum 244 00:14:49,880 --> 00:14:53,280 Speaker 1: of art, but for the exigencies of war. Basically it 245 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:57,160 Speaker 1: was propaganda. By December of ninety four, the city of 246 00:14:57,240 --> 00:15:01,160 Speaker 1: Vamport was filled nearly to capacity. Its population was about 247 00:15:01,200 --> 00:15:04,680 Speaker 1: forty two thousand people, but as the war neared its end, 248 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:08,960 Speaker 1: in wartime manufacturing slowed down, its population started to drop. 249 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:12,040 Speaker 1: Most of the people who moved out were white. They 250 00:15:12,040 --> 00:15:15,000 Speaker 1: had the means and the opportunity to find housing elsewhere. 251 00:15:15,600 --> 00:15:19,960 Speaker 1: Vanport's black residents, though, were effectively stuck. There wasn't enough 252 00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:23,600 Speaker 1: room for them in Portland's tiny, segregated black neighborhood, and 253 00:15:23,640 --> 00:15:26,560 Speaker 1: they weren't welcome anywhere else, And because many of them 254 00:15:26,560 --> 00:15:29,360 Speaker 1: were laid off from their wartime shipbuilding jobs, they also 255 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:32,120 Speaker 1: didn't have the financial means to just relocate to a 256 00:15:32,160 --> 00:15:35,960 Speaker 1: completely different state. As the war drew to a close, 257 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:40,120 Speaker 1: authorities started talking about what to do with Vanport. On 258 00:15:40,240 --> 00:15:44,840 Speaker 1: June seventeenth, The Oregonian reported that city officials hoped that 259 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:48,080 Speaker 1: the black residents of Vanport would leave to prevent any quote, 260 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:54,360 Speaker 1: racial problems. After the war, Vanport quickly developed a bad reputation. 261 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:57,960 Speaker 1: Even though its crime rate wasn't statistically very different from 262 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:01,000 Speaker 1: the city of Portland and there was no proportionate crime 263 00:16:01,040 --> 00:16:05,320 Speaker 1: among its black residents. People perceived Vanport as being crime 264 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:09,240 Speaker 1: written and shoddily built. The latter criticism was valid, but 265 00:16:09,320 --> 00:16:12,480 Speaker 1: as to the former Captain j Earl Stanley, head of 266 00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:15,600 Speaker 1: the County Sheriff's office in Vanport, was quoted in a 267 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:19,200 Speaker 1: ninety seven article on the city is saying, quote, I 268 00:16:19,240 --> 00:16:21,680 Speaker 1: have been stationed at Vanport for only a year, but 269 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:24,400 Speaker 1: I am constantly surprised that we have as little major 270 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:27,600 Speaker 1: crime as we do, considering the conditions under which people 271 00:16:27,640 --> 00:16:30,880 Speaker 1: are forced to live. The walls between the apartments are 272 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:34,600 Speaker 1: certainly far short of being soundproofed. This makes for trouble, 273 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:39,360 Speaker 1: particularly when two families have children. The decades that have 274 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:41,760 Speaker 1: passed since that time, there's been a lot of research 275 00:16:41,920 --> 00:16:46,000 Speaker 1: on what the psychological effect is of just being constantly 276 00:16:46,040 --> 00:16:49,920 Speaker 1: immersed in noise. This is a real issue in Vanport. 277 00:16:50,040 --> 00:16:51,920 Speaker 1: Like that was, it was constantly noisy, and it was 278 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:54,800 Speaker 1: noisy around the clock because there were people working literally 279 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:58,840 Speaker 1: every shift. So what he's remarking on here was later 280 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:02,400 Speaker 1: proved by science. It was probably a little surprising that, 281 00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:05,600 Speaker 1: given the fact that people were immersed in a noisy, 282 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:09,320 Speaker 1: chaotic environment they couldn't escape. Things were actually running along 283 00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:11,800 Speaker 1: the same lines as they were in Portland in terms 284 00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:16,359 Speaker 1: of things like crime. All of the powers involved in 285 00:17:16,400 --> 00:17:19,040 Speaker 1: this were still debating what to do about Vamport in 286 00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:22,320 Speaker 1: the spring of ninety eight, when the Columbia River started 287 00:17:22,359 --> 00:17:24,800 Speaker 1: to rise due to a combination of heavy rains and 288 00:17:24,840 --> 00:17:28,280 Speaker 1: melting snow from the mountains. Flood stage for the Columbia 289 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:30,880 Speaker 1: River was considered to be fifteen feet which the river, 290 00:17:31,000 --> 00:17:34,560 Speaker 1: which the river reached and passed early in May. By May, 291 00:17:35,320 --> 00:17:38,080 Speaker 1: the river had reached twenty three ft. That was the 292 00:17:38,119 --> 00:17:41,400 Speaker 1: day that patrols started inspecting the dikes that surrounded Vamport. 293 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:46,040 Speaker 1: On May, the river reached twenty eight point three feet 294 00:17:46,200 --> 00:17:49,159 Speaker 1: and the tracks along the railroad embankment started to sink 295 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:53,719 Speaker 1: by a couple of inches. On the morning of May eight, 296 00:17:53,800 --> 00:17:56,679 Speaker 1: of bulletin from the Housing Authority of Portland was placed 297 00:17:56,720 --> 00:18:00,480 Speaker 1: on every door in Vanport, which ended in the word quote, 298 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:03,719 Speaker 1: remember dikes are safe at present. You will be warned. 299 00:18:03,760 --> 00:18:07,639 Speaker 1: If necessary, you will have time to leave. Don't get excited, 300 00:18:08,600 --> 00:18:11,440 Speaker 1: but listen. Also contained information on what to do if 301 00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:15,120 Speaker 1: the Army Corps of Engineers ordered an evacuation. I've read 302 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:19,040 Speaker 1: these instructions and I found them a little patronizing. They 303 00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:23,600 Speaker 1: said things like, don't get panicky exclamation point, well it 304 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:27,159 Speaker 1: probably maybe wasn't intended. Is patronizing. It's hard to know 305 00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:30,280 Speaker 1: the intended tone of the writer on those. I always wonder. 306 00:18:31,119 --> 00:18:34,000 Speaker 1: But that same day, a crew detected seepage in the 307 00:18:34,119 --> 00:18:38,199 Speaker 1: railroad embankment and started reinforcing it with sandbags. But at 308 00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:41,240 Speaker 1: four seventeen PM, a hole formed in the embankment and 309 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:46,920 Speaker 1: water started rushing towards Vanport, both fortunately and unfortunately because 310 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:50,000 Speaker 1: it certainly saved lives, but it also kept people from 311 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:53,040 Speaker 1: being able to save any of their possessions. It was 312 00:18:53,119 --> 00:18:55,879 Speaker 1: Memorial Day and the weather was good. A lot of 313 00:18:56,000 --> 00:19:00,160 Speaker 1: Vanport's at that point eighteen thousand residents were away from 314 00:19:00,160 --> 00:19:02,800 Speaker 1: the city, having picnics or hiking, or just visiting people 315 00:19:02,800 --> 00:19:05,360 Speaker 1: who lived elsewhere, so they weren't home when the flood happened. 316 00:19:06,200 --> 00:19:10,320 Speaker 1: A series of muddy swampy areas called slews slowed the 317 00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:13,240 Speaker 1: water down as it approached Vanport, giving the people who 318 00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:16,560 Speaker 1: were home about half an hour to escape, and once 319 00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:19,000 Speaker 1: it reached the town, the water knocked the wooden houses 320 00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:23,040 Speaker 1: completely off their wooden foundations. People described the scene as 321 00:19:23,080 --> 00:19:27,280 Speaker 1: looking like cork floating in a current. Vanport was virtually 322 00:19:27,480 --> 00:19:32,359 Speaker 1: completely destroyed. Fifteen people died, although rumors persisted that it 323 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:36,760 Speaker 1: was really a lot more, and numerous conspiracy theories swirled 324 00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:39,480 Speaker 1: around the event long after, supposing that there was a 325 00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:42,080 Speaker 1: giant cover up of a lot more deaths that wasn't 326 00:19:42,119 --> 00:19:46,119 Speaker 1: made public. More than a thousand of the displaced families, 327 00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:49,800 Speaker 1: or about six thousand three d people total, were black. 328 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:54,000 Speaker 1: That was about a third of Vanport's population. And we're 329 00:19:54,000 --> 00:19:56,720 Speaker 1: going to talk about the aftermath of the flood and 330 00:19:56,760 --> 00:20:00,760 Speaker 1: what happened after that in Vanport right after we pause 331 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:04,040 Speaker 1: for a word from one of our fantastic sponsors. So 332 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:06,639 Speaker 1: to get back to what happened after the flood, the 333 00:20:06,680 --> 00:20:10,320 Speaker 1: city of Portland knew ahead of time that it did 334 00:20:10,359 --> 00:20:14,200 Speaker 1: not have adequate emergency housing in the event that something 335 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:17,040 Speaker 1: like this occurred. The housing authority had said that it 336 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:20,199 Speaker 1: could house about fifteen hundred people, and the Red Cross 337 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:23,240 Speaker 1: said that it could house seventy five hundred. This was 338 00:20:23,359 --> 00:20:28,000 Speaker 1: roughly half the population of Vamport at the time. Overall, 339 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:31,520 Speaker 1: white families had an easier time of finding shelter than 340 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:35,800 Speaker 1: black families. Residents resisted the idea of using churches and 341 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:39,479 Speaker 1: schools in white neighborhoods as shelter for black people, and 342 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:43,280 Speaker 1: churches in the black neighborhood were quickly beyond their capacity. 343 00:20:43,960 --> 00:20:47,200 Speaker 1: According to local historians, there were white families who welcomed 344 00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:50,640 Speaker 1: black refugees from the flood, but According to the oral 345 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:54,720 Speaker 1: histories of black survivors, this was pretty rare. Many black 346 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:57,280 Speaker 1: families displaced by the flood wound up being housed in 347 00:20:57,359 --> 00:21:01,399 Speaker 1: abandoned shipyard barracks on Swan Island. The feeling of a 348 00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:04,840 Speaker 1: lot of people who were displaced a Swan Island was 349 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:07,320 Speaker 1: that it was dangerous, like a lot of the housing 350 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:09,600 Speaker 1: was right next to the water and there was no 351 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:12,240 Speaker 1: buffer between the housing and the water, and so a 352 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:14,200 Speaker 1: lot of these were families with children, and people were 353 00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:17,439 Speaker 1: very concerned about the fact that their children could drown 354 00:21:17,640 --> 00:21:20,760 Speaker 1: just being outside of the house, or not even the 355 00:21:20,800 --> 00:21:24,159 Speaker 1: house outside of the barracks. Five days after the flood, 356 00:21:24,400 --> 00:21:28,200 Speaker 1: refugees asked the Housing Authority of Portland for non discrimination 357 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:31,960 Speaker 1: policies to be part of any plans for repairs or 358 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:35,720 Speaker 1: new housing. A Vanport Tenants League was formed to try 359 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:39,200 Speaker 1: to address former tenants issues with the Housing Authority, which, 360 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:43,200 Speaker 1: as you remember, had been basically acting as the government 361 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:48,000 Speaker 1: of Vanport. In response, city officials branded the Tenants League, 362 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:52,800 Speaker 1: which had a significant black membership, as communist. Survivors of 363 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:55,760 Speaker 1: the Vanport flood also tried to get some relief in court, 364 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:59,320 Speaker 1: but they hit numerous dead ends. Several suits were filed 365 00:21:59,320 --> 00:22:02,639 Speaker 1: against the House authority, but were dismissed under an Oregon 366 00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:06,280 Speaker 1: sovereign immunity law, which protected the government from being sued. 367 00:22:07,000 --> 00:22:09,760 Speaker 1: More than seven hundred claims were then filed against the 368 00:22:09,880 --> 00:22:13,280 Speaker 1: United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act, but the 369 00:22:13,359 --> 00:22:15,880 Speaker 1: United States was protected under a law that the federal 370 00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:19,159 Speaker 1: government couldn't be liable for flood damage. The fact that 371 00:22:19,160 --> 00:22:21,679 Speaker 1: the federal government, the railroad, the State of Oregon, and 372 00:22:21,800 --> 00:22:25,800 Speaker 1: a private enterprise were all involved in Vanport's very existence 373 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:29,920 Speaker 1: made the whole thing an astoundingly complex legal tangle. President 374 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:33,400 Speaker 1: Harry S. Truman visited Vanport after the flood, and cleanup 375 00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:37,640 Speaker 1: was assisted by the American Red Cross. However, Portland's white 376 00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:43,560 Speaker 1: community strenuously resisted additional public housing, and voters repeatedly rejected 377 00:22:43,560 --> 00:22:48,480 Speaker 1: attempts to build public housing after the flood. Consequently, Portland's 378 00:22:48,480 --> 00:22:52,719 Speaker 1: one segregated black neighborhood, which became known as Albina, became 379 00:22:52,880 --> 00:22:56,240 Speaker 1: even more overcrowded than it had been before the war. 380 00:22:56,840 --> 00:22:59,920 Speaker 1: This effect became even more pronounced in the nineteen fifties 381 00:23:00,040 --> 00:23:03,320 Speaker 1: when a stadium was built in Albina's lower tip, which 382 00:23:03,359 --> 00:23:06,160 Speaker 1: displaced the people had living there, who had been living there, 383 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:09,400 Speaker 1: into the farther north, but into an area that wasn't 384 00:23:09,440 --> 00:23:14,320 Speaker 1: really any Bigger arguments began in a class action lawsuit 385 00:23:14,359 --> 00:23:17,800 Speaker 1: against the government. On August six of nineteen fifty one. 386 00:23:18,119 --> 00:23:20,520 Speaker 1: The court issued its opinion more than a year later, 387 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:24,320 Speaker 1: on September twenty three of nineteen fifty two. The court 388 00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:26,600 Speaker 1: found that the Army Corps of Engineers work at the 389 00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:30,560 Speaker 1: dikes and railroad embankment was quote honest and competent. It 390 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:34,320 Speaker 1: also found no agency involved, not the Army Corps of Engineers, 391 00:23:34,359 --> 00:23:37,560 Speaker 1: not the housing authority, not anyone to be negligent in 392 00:23:37,600 --> 00:23:40,760 Speaker 1: the matter of the flood, the failure of the railroad embankment, 393 00:23:40,960 --> 00:23:43,160 Speaker 1: or the fact that people have been told that morning 394 00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:47,280 Speaker 1: that they were safe. The plaintiffs appealed, and in December 395 00:23:47,359 --> 00:23:50,240 Speaker 1: nineteen fifty four, the Ninth Circuit Court affirmed the lower 396 00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:53,879 Speaker 1: courts ruling on the matter. I read the original ruling 397 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:56,879 Speaker 1: and in a lot of ways it was infuriating because 398 00:23:56,880 --> 00:23:59,080 Speaker 1: it had language in it about like, it's not proven 399 00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:01,520 Speaker 1: that the fact that the railroad trestle wasn't really a 400 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:05,480 Speaker 1: dike was responsible for why it failed. But the legal 401 00:24:05,520 --> 00:24:07,840 Speaker 1: scholar who wrote the paper on it was of the 402 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:13,359 Speaker 1: opinion that all of these rulings made sense from a 403 00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:17,200 Speaker 1: legal standpoint, like the ore agaon really did have a 404 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:19,840 Speaker 1: sovereign immunity law, and the federal government really could have 405 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:22,760 Speaker 1: laws protecting it against being liable for flood damage. Like 406 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:26,080 Speaker 1: all of these things really legally added up, But none 407 00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:30,120 Speaker 1: of that really erases the fact that the eventual response 408 00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:33,199 Speaker 1: was basically to do nothing. The Urban League in the 409 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:37,280 Speaker 1: Portland and Double A CP tried to combat racist housing policies, 410 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:40,520 Speaker 1: but even so, by the sixties, four out of five 411 00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:43,520 Speaker 1: black people in Portland lived in Albina, and even today 412 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:46,560 Speaker 1: the majority of black residents of Portland live in its 413 00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:52,719 Speaker 1: northeast quadrant. In The Oregonian published a series called Blueprint 414 00:24:52,800 --> 00:24:57,760 Speaker 1: for a Slum, detailing redlining and other discriminatory housing practices, 415 00:24:57,960 --> 00:25:01,280 Speaker 1: as well as corruption and the morgan lending industry that 416 00:25:01,400 --> 00:25:05,280 Speaker 1: made these same neighborhoods ineligible for home loans. It was 417 00:25:05,280 --> 00:25:06,880 Speaker 1: a lot of the same kind of stuff we talked 418 00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:09,720 Speaker 1: about in our two part episode on red Learning last year. 419 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:15,040 Speaker 1: By fourteen, the focus had shifted to the concept of gentrification. 420 00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:18,200 Speaker 1: At this point, housing policies have changed. People can get 421 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:22,640 Speaker 1: mortgages in those neighborhoods, but the result has been the 422 00:25:22,640 --> 00:25:26,360 Speaker 1: erasure of a lot of previously affordable housing. So now 423 00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:30,200 Speaker 1: the conversation is about how to improve neighborhoods without pricing 424 00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:32,879 Speaker 1: the people who live who live there out of the 425 00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:38,840 Speaker 1: neighborhood with no other place to go. That's the Vanport flood. Uh. 426 00:25:39,000 --> 00:25:41,600 Speaker 1: It's the thing. I've thought about doing this before, but 427 00:25:41,680 --> 00:25:43,800 Speaker 1: it is another thing that has made me feel like 428 00:25:43,880 --> 00:25:47,199 Speaker 1: we need a not just in the South tag on 429 00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:53,000 Speaker 1: our website for the Times that people ask us how 430 00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:56,560 Speaker 1: come these things only happen in the South. That is 431 00:25:56,600 --> 00:26:03,359 Speaker 1: not true. Uh. Have some listener mail though it's about 432 00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:06,920 Speaker 1: a similarly unhappy topic. But the listener mail itself is 433 00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:11,000 Speaker 1: actually not not unhappy. I said that as though I 434 00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:14,720 Speaker 1: were saying not not unhappy, but just one knot is fine. 435 00:26:14,720 --> 00:26:18,040 Speaker 1: The listener mail is not unhappy. It's from Sam. Sam says, Hi, 436 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:20,440 Speaker 1: Tracy and Holly. I'm a longtime fan of your show. 437 00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:23,800 Speaker 1: Thanks for bringing it to us. Your recent schoolhouse blizzard 438 00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:26,479 Speaker 1: episode struck a chord with me because my mom's family 439 00:26:26,600 --> 00:26:30,439 Speaker 1: is from rural central Wisconsin and lived through that that 440 00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:34,760 Speaker 1: storm back in even now, well over a hundred years later, 441 00:26:35,119 --> 00:26:38,560 Speaker 1: it's still part of the family lore. My grandma was 442 00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:41,639 Speaker 1: born on the family farm in nine so her early 443 00:26:41,720 --> 00:26:44,359 Speaker 1: childhood memories are from the time of the Great Depression, 444 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:47,080 Speaker 1: when that community was struggling to make it by. She 445 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:49,800 Speaker 1: had many stories about how her town responded to the 446 00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:52,720 Speaker 1: challenges of that time, including the intense winters and the 447 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:56,560 Speaker 1: grinding poverty. My grandma's family was fortunate enough to be 448 00:26:56,600 --> 00:26:59,679 Speaker 1: able to afford horses and farm equipment, and because my 449 00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:02,560 Speaker 1: great grandparents were of the generation that had lost friends 450 00:27:02,600 --> 00:27:06,680 Speaker 1: and neighbors in the storm, they sought as their responsibility 451 00:27:06,720 --> 00:27:09,239 Speaker 1: to help the local kids home when the snow came in. 452 00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:12,920 Speaker 1: During storms, my great grandfather used to hitch the horses 453 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:14,960 Speaker 1: to their wagon and head to the schoolhouse to pick 454 00:27:15,040 --> 00:27:18,000 Speaker 1: up the local children and bring them home safely. This 455 00:27:18,200 --> 00:27:21,119 Speaker 1: was one of my grandma's most sentimental memories, and it 456 00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:24,480 Speaker 1: was directly related to that schoolhouse blizzard thirty plus years 457 00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:27,440 Speaker 1: before she was born. And then Sam goes on with 458 00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:31,520 Speaker 1: some totally different stuff, including more of a personal note 459 00:27:31,520 --> 00:27:34,560 Speaker 1: to me and a suggestion. So thank you so much 460 00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:40,200 Speaker 1: Sam for writing um. We've gotten several notes from people 461 00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:44,840 Speaker 1: about either family stories that date all the way back 462 00:27:44,880 --> 00:27:50,040 Speaker 1: to the schoolhouse blizzard, or family stories from other devastating 463 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:54,400 Speaker 1: blizzards elsewhere in the United States, which is both interesting 464 00:27:54,440 --> 00:27:57,240 Speaker 1: to read and I hope everybody is staying warm. We 465 00:27:57,359 --> 00:28:00,760 Speaker 1: coincidentally had that episode come out right before that massive 466 00:28:00,800 --> 00:28:02,960 Speaker 1: snowstorm hit that you stur in the United States, and 467 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:06,600 Speaker 1: as we're recording today's episode, a lot of people are 468 00:28:06,720 --> 00:28:10,760 Speaker 1: still digging out from that. However, in Boston, we only 469 00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:13,119 Speaker 1: got about four inches and it was clear by the 470 00:28:13,119 --> 00:28:16,560 Speaker 1: next morning, which was sort of a knock on wood 471 00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:21,080 Speaker 1: blessed relief compared to last year's hundred ten inches. We 472 00:28:21,280 --> 00:28:26,000 Speaker 1: got about one centimeter at our Yeah, a lot. I 473 00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:28,160 Speaker 1: still know lots of people in Atlanta, and I've had 474 00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:33,440 Speaker 1: lots of pictures in my Facebook feed of people's children 475 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:43,000 Speaker 1: sledding on what was effectively like a dusting over dirt. Yeah. Yeah, 476 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:47,120 Speaker 1: I've seen pictures of a few very tiny snowmen. But yep. 477 00:28:48,480 --> 00:28:50,240 Speaker 1: So you would like to write to us, We're at 478 00:28:50,320 --> 00:28:53,440 Speaker 1: History Podcasts, How Stuffworks dot com. We're also on Facebook 479 00:28:53,440 --> 00:28:55,640 Speaker 1: at Facebook dot com slash miss the History and on 480 00:28:55,680 --> 00:28:58,520 Speaker 1: Twitter at miss in History. Are tumbler as miss in 481 00:28:58,560 --> 00:29:01,320 Speaker 1: History dot tumbler dot com or also on Panterrist adventrist 482 00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:03,880 Speaker 1: dot com slash missed in History. You can come to 483 00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:06,240 Speaker 1: our parent company's website, which is how stuff works dot com. 484 00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:10,000 Speaker 1: Uh you can look up all kinds of fascinating information there. 485 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:12,520 Speaker 1: Also at our website, which is missed in History dot com, 486 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:15,120 Speaker 1: you'll find an archive of all of the episodes that 487 00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:17,800 Speaker 1: we've ever done, show notes on the episodes that Holly 488 00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:19,720 Speaker 1: and I have done that include lists of all of 489 00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:22,640 Speaker 1: our sources. If you did not hear our two part 490 00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:25,400 Speaker 1: series on redlining last year and you are now curious 491 00:29:25,480 --> 00:29:27,160 Speaker 1: about what that was all about at the end of 492 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:30,560 Speaker 1: today's episode, those episodes are on there, so you can 493 00:29:30,600 --> 00:29:32,400 Speaker 1: do all that and a whole lot more at how 494 00:29:32,440 --> 00:29:39,320 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com or miss than history dot com 495 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:41,760 Speaker 1: for more on this and thousands of other topics. Is 496 00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:55,400 Speaker 1: it how stuff works dot com