African American Railroad Porters Oral History Collection, 1983-1992

Title: African American Railroad Porters Oral History Collection, 1983-1992

ID: OH 029

Primary Creator: Grice, Michael, 1948-

Extent: 0.4 cubic feet. More info below.

Arrangement: The interviews are arranged alphabetically by interviewees' last name. The collection is arranged into two series: 1. Interviews, 1983-1982; 2. "Black Families and the Railroad in Oregon and Northwest" documentary, 1985.

Date Acquired: 00/00/2015

Languages of Materials: English [eng]

Abstract

The African American Railroad Porters Oral History Collection is primarily made up of thirty reel-to-reel sound recordings containing interviews between filmmaker Michael Grice and African-American railroad porters employed in the Portland area. The interviews cover a variety of topics, including the day-to-day work of porters, labor unions, and racism in the Portland area. These recordings formed much of the background research used for Grice's 1985 film, "Black Families and the Railroad in Oregon and the Northwest." Copies of the film are included in the collection and is available online.

A website for the oral history interviews including digitized audio along with interview transcriptions can be found at: http://scarc.library.oregonstate.edu/oh29/index.html

Scope and Content Notes

The African American Railroad Porters Oral History Collection consists of thirty oral history interviews collected from 1983-1992 by filmmaker Michael Grice with retired African American railroad porters. The interviews were originally recorded to open reel tapes, which are described in this finding aid. In the mid-2010s, the Oregon African American Railroad Porters Oral History Preservation Project, funded by a grant from the Oregon Cultural Trust, digitized Grice's interviews and had them professionally transcribed. A dedicated web portal for this content was subsequently created and launched on October 12, 2016.

The narrators featured in Grice's interviews are: Lawrence Alberti, Daniel Allen, James Brooks, Eddie Butler, George Canada, Vernon Gaskin, Si Greene, Congressman Augustus Hawkins, E. Shelton Hill, Cliff Jackson, Hazel Murray, Alfred Richardson, Walter Reynolds, Willie Rice, Otto Rutherford, Cleophas Smith, Jimmy Sullivan, Lonnie Wilson and Woodrow E. Wilson. More information about each of these individuals is available below in the item descriptions.

VHS and DVD copies of Grice's film, "Black Families and the Railroad in Oregon and Northwest" are also included in the collection. The production has been digitized and made available online.

Biographical / Historical Notes

These oral histories recount the work of Portland's African American railroad porters in the early and mid-20th century, at a time when job opportunities for African American males were largely limited to service jobs. The subjects featured in these interviews include prominent figures both within and beyond the African American community.

To highlight the significance of these interview subjects, the following is a brief overview of the work of a selection of interviewees: Otto Rutherford was involved in the Portland chapter of the NAACP and played an important role in the successful passage of the Public Accommodations Bill, also known as the Oregon Civil Rights Bill, in the state legislature in 1953; E. Shelton Hill arrived in Portland in 1941 as a railroad employee, served as president of the Urban League of Portland from 1959 to 1973, and successfully advocated for the rights of Oregon’s African Americans; and James Brooks who served as director of the Urban League of Portland from 1974-1978, after heading several of the League's programs.

An educator and co-founder of the World Arts Foundation, Michael "Chappie" Grice has been an advocate for the preservation of African-American culture. In 2010, he was honored by the National Education Association with the H. Councill Trenholm Memorial Award. His film on African-American railroad porters was featured at the Oregon Historical Society exhibit "Railroading and Portland's Black Community." The interviews described in this collection form much of the background research used for Grice's 1985 film, "Black Families and the Railroad in Oregon and the Northwest."

Author: CJ Garcia

Administrative Information

More Extent Information: 1 cubic foot box, including 30 reel-to-reel tapes, 1 VHS videotape and 1 DVD

Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.

Acquisition Note: Michael Grice donated the collection to the Special Collections & Archives Research Center in 2015.

Related Materials:

This collection is a component of the Oregon Multicultural Archives, which also houses the Oregon Multicultural Archives Oral History Collection (OH 018).

Preferred Citation: African American Railroad Porters Oral History Collection (OH 29), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.

Processing Information:

We acknowledge that materials in SCARC collections and the language that describes them may be harmful. We are actively working to address our descriptive practices; for more information please see our SCARC Anti-Racist Actions Statement online.

Please be aware that some of the contents in the African American Railroad Porters Oral History Collection may be disturbing or activating. In several instances, interviewees relay stories that recount a culture of racism and the use of racist, derogatory language toward African Americans, including the N word. Connected to this are stories of trauma, both personal and community-wide.

[Date of acknowledgement: May 2023]

Finding Aid Revision History: This finding aid replaces an earlier version of the finding aid that was published online in 2015.

African American Railroad Porters Oral History Collection, 1983-1992

Collection Overview

Abstract

Scope and Content Notes

Biographical / Historical Notes

Administrative Information

Creators

People, Places, and Topics

Forms of Material

Box and Folder Listing