Skip to main content
Oregon Black Pioneers, the state’s only historical society dedicated to African American history, began giving walking Black history tours of the city in 2023.
Mariah Rocker, OBP’s public programs and exhibits manager, designed and hosted the early tours.
“It’s commonplace for us to interact with folks who don’t know that there’s any Black history here in Oregon,” Rocker says. “We wanted to create opportunities for folks to see that firsthand, by walking around the communities that they live in.”
The two-hour tours cost $10 and take place every other Saturday through September. The next tour is on July 25. While the route has grown and evolved over time, it’s always highlighted the Albina neighborhood—once the center of Portland’s Black community. This summer, it starts and ends in front of the Matt Dishman Community Center.
One stop on the walk through lower Albina is Dean’s Beauty Salon and Barber Shop, the oldest continually operating Black-owned business in Oregon.
Another is the Billy Webb Elks Lodge. Over the years, the former YWCA center, which dates to 1926, has hosted an impressive spread of Black community organizations: the local NAACP chapter, the Oregon Association of Colored Women, the Urban League of Portland and the Congress of Racial Equality, to name a few.
While the building was heavily damaged in a 2021 fire, Rocker says she’s working with the lodge to create an online exhibition of its history.
Of course, the walking tours are primarily a way of engaging with history, but Rocker also says, in her experience, getting their steps in helps visitors process all of the information.
“It’s just such a robust history in the Albina area,” she says. “We could do 20 different versions of this tour, and we’ll hopefully continue to iterate and update it as we move forward.”
OBP started with tours in Portland and Jacksonville, the small, historic town near Medford that was home to Oregon’s most significant Black population during the Gold Rush.
Today, the organization leads tours in Astoria, Eugene and Oregon City, each focusing on local Black histories and communities.
GO: Oregon Black Pioneers’ walking tours. See the OBP website for details. 10 am July 25, Aug. 8, Aug. 22, Sept. 12 and Sept. 26. $10.
