Urban League of Portland flyer refuting housing myths
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of a flyer sent by the Urban League of Portland, Oregon, titled "Don't Be Mis-Led!" The flyer disputes claims that a Black family moving into a majority-white or all-white neighborhood or Black people attending church in such a neighborhood will cause property values to decrease. The flyer states that the factors that cause property values to decrease are unrelated to race, religion, or nationality, and cites a 1952 survey in San Francisco, California, that found that the presence of Black residents in neighborhoods did not lower property values. The flyer also notes that the 1950 census showed that non-white families lived in 60 of Portland's 61 census tracts. There are notes, unrelated to the flyer's contents, written by the family the flyer was mailed to, the Milskis, on the title page.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1952
Creator
- Urban League of Portland (Portland, Or.) (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.
Historical Note
The Urban League of Portland was founded in 1945, with the goal of improving race relations and fighting racism and discrimination against Black residents of Portland, Oregon. Its work in the 1950s included advancing housing opportunities for Black people. The league sent out "testers" to gauge the level of discrimination in local real estate practices, and conducted surveys to prove that Black people moving into majority-white neighborhoods did not lower property values.
Source: "The Urban League of Portland: On the Road to Equality: A 50 Year Retrospective," by Darrell Millner (Portland, Oregon: Urban League of Portland, 1995).
Extent
0.1 Cubic Feet (1 folder in shared box)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Flyer from the Urban League of Portland providing evidence against claims that Black people moving into or attending church in majority-white neighborhoods would cause property values to decrease. The Urban League of Portland is a civil rights and advocacy organization for Black residents of Portland, Oregon, that was founded in 1945.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Peter Boag, February 2021 (RL2021-008).
- Title
- Guide to the Urban League of Portland flyer refuting housing myths
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Jeffrey A. Hayes
- Date
- 2023
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid is written in English.
Repository Details
Part of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library Repository
1200 SW Park Ave.
Portland OR 97205 United States
5033065204
5033065240
libreference@ohs.org