The (OBP) have been working to uncover, preserve, and tell the stories of Black Oregonians throughout the history of the state.
Underground History host Chelsea Rose sat down with Kim Moreland, president of the Oregon Black Pioneers Board of Directors, to discuss the process of creating the reports and black history in Oregon.
The work includes preserving sites and locations of historical significance, such as historical black-owned businesses, churches, and homes. Recently, OBP launched a line of for four historic black-owned businesses on the Oregon Coast.
A much more complex project was the creation of multiple property documents (MPDs). These were submitted to the National Register of Historic Places as a means to consolidate information about related properties into one document and provide a framework for the nomination of individual sites to the National Register.
In 2020, OBP released an MPD identifying sites with Black historical significance in Portland, which led to at least to the National Register.
In 2024, OBP encompassing the entire state of Oregon. It spans from the first known arrival of an African-American in Oregon in 1788 to 2002, when Oregon voters approved the removal of all remaining race-related language from the Constitution.
This was not a simple project, particularly considering the long history of erasure of black history in the historical narrative.
