Oral history interview with Ida Mae Shepherd

Collection

Identifier: SR 1305

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This oral history interview with Ida Mae Shepherd was conducted by Greta Smith Wisnewski from August 14 to October 26, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the interview was conducted using Zoom, a video conferencing software. Shepherd was nominated by Oregonians to be interviewed as part of a program by the Oregon Historical Society Research Library to enhance and expand the range of voices in the library's collections. Interviewees are selected from the pool of nominees by a staff committee appointed by the historical society's executive director. The interview was conducted in five sessions.

In this interview, Shepherd discusses her family background and life in the Albina area of Portland, Oregon, particularly the Eliot neighborhood. She describes her experiences living in Vanport during World War II, including her escape from the 1948 flood that destroyed Vanport. She speaks at length about her involvement with Albina Fair Share, and also shares her thoughts about the mass displacement of Black residents during the construction of Interstate 5 in the 1960s and the expansion of Legacy Emanuel Hospital in the 1970s.

Dates

2020 August 14-October 26

Creator

Shepherd, Ida Mae, 1929-2022 (Interviewee, Person)

Conditions Governing Access

Portions of the interview have been restricted by Ida Mae Shepherd, and the audio and transcript have been redacted. The remainder of the interview recording and transcript are open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following statement: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Biographical note

Ida Mae Shepherd, nee Gross, was born in Portland, Oregon, in 1929. Her parents divorced when she was around 13, and when her mother remarried, the family moved to Vanport. After the 1948 flood that destroyed Vanport, they briefly lived in Guild’s Lake. She married three times, first to Theodore Cassidy Powell, with whom she had one child. They divorced, and she briefly remarried, to Curley Massey, in 1958. In 1964, she married Emmett Edwin Shepherd, and they later had three children. Ida Mae Shepherd worked in housekeeping and janitorial services, and was active in Albina Fair Share. After her retirement in the late 1980s, she volunteered for multiple organizations in Portland, including as a tutor at Boise-Eliot/Humboldt School. She died in 2022.

Extent

1.31 Gigabytes (5 audio files (WAV, 6 hr., 7 min., 32 sec.) + transcript (192 pages))

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

Oral history interview with Ida Mae Shepherd conducted by Greta Smith Wisnewski from August 14 to October 26, 2020. Shepherd discusses her life in the Albina area of Portland, Oregon, particularly the Eliot neighborhood, as well as her involvement with Albina Fair Share.