***Please Note: This month’s event will be held on the 2nd to last Monday (5/18), due to Memorial Day Weekend! Thank you.*** 

Join us for beer and history, sponsored by the Oregon Historical Society, Holy Names Heritage Center and McMenamins, in which you’ll hear lively local or regional history while you enjoy a frosty pint or two of handcrafted ale. Gather in the theater at Kennedy School every last Monday of the month. 

In May: “Swept Away: Vanport and the Memorial Day Flood of 1948,” a discussion by Donna Sinclair 

As massive numbers of shipyard workers poured into Portland and Vancouver during WWII, a serious housing shortage emerged. In 1942, Vanport, a hastily built city of public housing units was constructed between the Portland boundary and the Columbia River. Some 40,000 people lived in Vanport, including large numbers of African Americans, who had migrated from the South. On May 30, 1948, a massive flood destroyed the city, killing untold numbers and leaving thousands homeless. Donna Sinclair examines the history of the Vanport flood, including the racial tensions that existed before and afterward. Former Vanport residents will also be on hand to share their memories. 

Speaker Bio: 
Donna Sinclair is program manager at the Center for Columbia River History (CCRH). She formerly directed the oral history programs for the Oregon Historical Society, Reed College and the U.S. District Court of Oregon. She has an M.A. in History from Portland State University and is in the PSU Urban Studies Ph.D. program, focusing on Women and Minorities in the U.S. Forest Service. She wrote about Vanport for the CCRH website (www.ccrh.org) and continues to explore the impact of the Vanport flood on regional communities.