The following sites were selected and the text written by Kim Fern. The supporting material, including photos and web links, was added by members of the Lewis and Clark College Political Economy Program. As Kim Fern explains, "This tour is an attempt to show you some of what isn't shown, what has been left out of our city's heritage and our "movement's" memory. This is for you to take to the library or the Historical Society or to the City Archives and spend hours finding details that make your heart race. This will show you people, organizations, groups, and events that have inspired and changed us."

There are many stops which have, unfortunately, been torn down. Those stops are marked with an asterisk (*).

MAP of History Tour sites

The Portland IWW hall was raided on September 6, 1917, as part of a national campaign led by the U.S. Attorney General against the IWW. Records and membership cards were seized. This raid marked the beginning of working relations between the city police and federal authorities.

IWW Organizing Posters

John Reed on Portland's IWW Halls

Tom Burns was known as the “Mayor of Burnside.” His watch shop housed a major lending library on labor history. Burns was an active IWW organizer throughout the free speech fights of 1913, and was jailed countless times. During the 1930s, he organized a weekly Tuesday night discussion group at SW. 4th and Alder.

Local Newspaper Coverage of Free Speech Struggle

In 1934, longshoremen struck along the entire west coast to protest low wages, long work hours, and unsafe and insecure working conditions. In Portland, a group of strikers boarded the ship Admiral Evans, which housed the “special” police (or more accurately, the company hired strike breakers). Most of the police jumped overboard. The strikers cut the anchor and the Admiral Evans became lodged against the Broadway Bridge. The strike ended in victory for the union. A 30 hour work week was established, with increased hourly and overtime pay, as well as hiring halls jointly managed by workers and management.

Discussion of 1934 General Strike in San Francisco

On May 10th, the second day of the 1934 longshore strike (see site 3), this hiring hall was used by the shipping companies to recruit scabs in an effort to break the strike. The strikers came to the hall and used their numbers to try and prevent the strike breakers from being loaded on busses and when that failed to overturn the busses. The police eventually escorted the scabs to the docks, but the strikers' actions greatly reduce their number.

In the early months of 1934, the Portland Police Bureau secretly organized and financed a group of “special citizens and officers” into the infamous Red Squad. This group was responsible for monitoring, tracking, collecting information, infiltrating, harassing, and intimidating members of the Communist Party and labor organizers throughout the 1930s, and also worked in cooperation during the 1950s with the Velde Commission/House Un-American Activities Committee investigation of Stanley Moore. The Red Squad used these offices with an unlisted phone number and address.

C.E.S. Wood (known as Col. Wood) came to Portland penniless in 1883. Over the next thirty years he came to live two separate lives. In one, he was a well-known poet and lawyer. He also founded the Portland Art Museum, directed the Portland Public Library, and was an influential member of Portland’s business and social elite. At the same time, Col. Wood thought of himself as a social anarchist and believed that American capitalism was an exploitative system. Therefore, in his second life, he was a vocal supporter of the IWW and defended Emma Goldman, Marie Equi, Tom Burns, and other IWW members, all for free. He was also a strong supporter of birth control, women’s rights, and civil rights. In fact, he quit the Oregon Bar Association in 1913, because it denied membership to an African American lawyer. He kept two different offices, reflecting his two different lives, but used the money he made from his business life to finance the radical causes he believed in. He left Portland in 1920 for Los Gatos, California, where he built an amazing house that still stands.

Soapbox orators were active throughout Portland in the early months of 1913 as part of an IWW free speech campaign. The corner of 6th and Washington was a favorite location. The newly elected mayor, immediately upon being sworn in, ordered an end to all public speaking except at religious meetings. IWW activists challenged the ruling, and many, including Marie Equi and Tom Burns, were arrested. This period marked the beginning of police violence against “radical” groups such as the IWW.

Local Newspaper Coverage of Free Speech Struggle

Mary Schwab and eight other women were arrested by the police and charged with disorderly conduct for their public speaking as part of the IWW free speech fight. Mary did get to make her speech, however, by climbing the telephone pole.

Dr. Marie Equi was an IWW activist, open lesbian, and one of the first women to graduate with a degree in Medicine from the University of Oregon. She was also a strong supporter of the Oregon Packing Company strike of 1913 and the IWW free speech fight. She was an articulate and effective voice for women’s rights, the working class, and minorities. She was also a fierce opponent of the Government’s effort to build support for U.S. involvement in World War I. At one rally she unfurled a banner which read “Prepare To Die, Workingmen, J.P. Morgan & Co. Want Preparedness For Profit.” She was tried for sedition (an act or threat of act against the U.S. government during wartime). In December 1918, despite a strong defense by C.E.S. Wood, she was found guilty and sentenced to San Quentin for a three year term; she ended up serving half that time. She was an active supporter, including financially, of the 1934 longshore strike. From 1928 to 1936, she lived with Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, a national IWW organizer, at her home at 1423 S.W. Hall. Equi was described as a "holy terror" even in her old age. She died on July 13, 1952 at Portland's Fairlawn Hospital.

The Heilig Theater was where Margaret Sanger spoke when she came to Portland on June 17th, 1916. Three men were arrested outside the theater for selling her book. They violated the Comstock Law, which made it against the law to distribute or publish birth control information.

In June 1954, the House on Un-American Activities Committee, also known as the Velde Commission because it was chaired by Rep. Harold Velde, came to Portland. Its purpose was to interrogate several local professors to determine whether they were members of the Communist Party. Its main target was Stanley Moore, professor of Philosophy at Reed College. The Velde Commission relied heavily on Red Squad information in its interrogations. Although the Commission never made its case against Moore, the Reed College Board of Trustees decided to dismiss him nevertheless. The courthouse was named after Gus Solomon who, in his younger years, became politicized by the Sacco and Vanzetti case. His greatest success was defending Dirk DeJonge against charges of criminal syndicalism. His work on this case earned him a promotion to a federal justice in 1950.

On August 7, 1915, Emma Goldman and her partner Ben Rietman were arrested for distributing birth control information, a violation of the Comstock Law. Emma was preparing to speak, having been introduced by C.E.S. Wood, when she was arrested by a plain clothes policeman and taken downtown. Wood bailed her out but she and Rietman received $100 fines. Emma spoke two more times in Portland, once against World War II, and the other time against monogamy.

The Communist Party organized “unemployment councils” during the depression, giving unemployed workers a means to support each other and struggle for political change in solidarity with employed workers. By the end of 1931, those in Portland had more than 3000 registered members. When efforts to work within the system failed, these councils often took direction action in defense of their members interests. For example, after some 400 unemployed stormed City Hall, the city agreed to provide housing and shelter for over 1000 unemployed working people.

The main council headquarters was the location for the infamous 1934 police raid at which Dirk DeJonge was arrested for violating the Criminal Syndicalism Law. Criminal syndicalism was defined as "the doctrine which advocates crime, physical violence, sabotage or any unlawful acts or methods as a means of accomplishing or effecting industrial or political change or revolution." DeJonge, once a Communist Party candidate for Mayor of Portland, was charged with engaging in criminal syndicalism for giving a speech at the council headquarters that charged the police with siding with the steamship and stevedoring companies in their effort to break the longshore strike. He was found guilty despite a lack of any evidence that he had violated the law. He appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court and in January 1937 he was cleared of all charges.

On June 27, 1913, over 50 of Oregon Packing Company’s all female staff walked out to protest low wages and unsafe working conditions. Their strike was met with repression, as the recently elected mayor authorized aggressive actions against the women. In one case a number of the strikers were trampled by police horses. The strike was immediately supported by the IWW, and especially by IWW women such as Marie Equi and Mary Schwab. The strike became tied to the free speech fight when strikers hung banners reading “Forty cents a day makes prostitutes” and were told that they could be arrested for such actions.

The International Labor Defense Organization was formed during the Sacco and Vanzetti trial. While she was in Portland, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was its chair. It eventually became the Oregon Civil Rights Congress. In 1948, the Portland School Board, under pressure from the Portland Police Bureau Red Squad, refused to rent the Benson High School Auditorium to the Congress for an event.

On Friday, August 15, 1975, after four days of camping out in front of the BPA building, approximately 100 members of the Survival of American Indians Association took over the BPA offices. The action was designed to call attention to the violation of human rights that was taking place on the Pine Ridge Reservation and the murder of Joe Stuntz at Wounded Knee, and to demand an end to the undeclared state of martial law in South Dakota. A six day march from Olympia proceeded the occupation.

On October 16, 1967, three people were arrested during a massive anti Vietnam War demonstration in front of the Selective Service Headquarters. The arrests were the result of a planned demonstration, the aim of which was “breaking down the effectiveness of the draft.” One of the people arrested had twice tried to gain entrance to the draft records room to seize the records. The protest was followed by another demonstration at the Armed Forces Examining Station at 424 S.W. Taylor.

The Black Panther dental clinic was open Mondays and Wednesdays, and saw an average of between 6 to 9 patients a day. In addition to dental services, the clinic also offered the community a monthly preventative hygiene program.

The Black Panther Party’s 10-Point Platform and Program

Dawson Park has been the meeting point for many African American and Black Panther rallies. Many Martin Luther King Jr. memorial events have been held here. It has also served as an important starting point for marches. Over 400 people began a march here after the 1963 assassination of Medger Evers, the NAACP Mississippi field secretary. On January 1, 1970, it was the starting point for a march of over 250 people protesting the unequal treatment of African American youth in Portland Public Schools.

The People’s Clinic operated for 9 years and offered programs for sickle cell anemia and lead posioning testing, as well as general health care. It also helped individuals arrange transportation to visit family members in prison. Members of the community rallied to save it, by picketing against a proposed expansion by Emanuel Hospital.

One June 13, 1969, Kent Ford, a leader of the Black Panthers, was brutally beaten by Portland Police when he tried to stop them from arresting a number of young people for curfew violation. The beating triggered a riot involving approximately 150 youths that lasted two days and resulted in over 12 arrests.

On June 18, 1906, federal agents raided the White Eagle Tavern to arrest a band of anarchists who were said to be plotting to assassinate President Roosevelt. The tavern was run by several Polish immigrants who were threatened with deportation should any of them become involved with the anarchist movement.

John Reed, commonly known as Jack, was a communist and journalist. He was born in 1887 into the wealthy Green family of Portland. The Green family home was located just above this intersection and was known as “Cedar Hill.” The only remains of the home are concrete steps (which probably led to the stables) at the end of Cedar, where it meets Cactus Drive. Jack left Portland at the age of 16 to attend East Coast private schools and college. After graduating from Harvard, Jack went to Mexico as a journalist. He rode with Pancho Villa for four months and described what he learned in his 1914 book, Insurgent Mexico. In early 1917, he went to Russia to cover the revolution there in monthly installments for The Masses. His writings were turned into another book, The Ten Days That Shook The World. This book became one of the most highly recognized historical texts about the revolution. John Reed’s body is buried in Moscow. In 2001, the Oregon Cultural Heritage Commission dedicated a plaque and bench in Washington Park to honor his memory.

During the 1934 longshore strike, Portland Mayor Carson recruited a “special” police force to attack the strikers. Only July 11, these specials opened fire on a number of strikers, killing four men.

As a result of WWII, Portland became a key shipbuilding center. In order to house the additional workers that would be required to meet the US defense department's demands for stepped up military production, government officials created the city of Vanport (combining the names of the two nearby cities, Vancouver and Portland). Vanport was to become the second largest city in Oregon; at its peak it had more than 80,000 residents. It offered those living there wartime employment and housing in close proximity to their workplace. It was supposed to be a breakthrough in urban planning and was advertised with cheery posters to recruit newcomers. What these newcomers were never told was that nearby dikes were not adequately constructed. In 1948, a dike holding back the Colombia River collapsed. The resulting flood destroyed the entire town, leaving thousands of people homeless. The Portland Welfare Commission was responsible for helping the victims of the flood, but it did little. Julia Ruuttila, an employee of the State Welfare Division and journalist, wrote a series of newspaper articles under a pen name exposing the Commission’s failings and pointing out that one reason for the agency’s lack of action was racism; many of those in need were people of color. The Commission found out who had authored the articles and Julia was fired.

The Portland Expo Center used to be the home of the Pacific International Livestock Exposition Hall. In the first months of World War II, the “Department of Public Safety” of the Portland Police rounded up over 3500 Japanese Americans and sent them to the stockyards at the Exposition Hall, where they were kept in animal pens while waiting transfer. The Exposition Hall was chosen because of its considerable space and location near the railroads. The Japanese American interns were eventually shipped to more permanent facilities, with most going to the Minidoka Relocation Center in Idaho. A 29 April 1942 headline in The Oregonian proclaimed that Portland would be the first U.S. city to rid itself of Japanese Americans.

On December 5, 1970, the headquarters of the White Panthers, a radical anti-war/anti-government group, was raided by the FBI in concert with the Portland Police. Two White Panthers were arrested for the August bombing of the Selective Service office; a Molotov cocktail had been thrown through the window.

Stewart Holbrook was a popular and influential writer whose works spanned almost four decades, from the early 1920s to the late 1950s. He favored the radical and eclectic, and he captured people and eras—from Tom Burns in “Notes on an Old School Radical” to the anarchist collective “Home”—that otherwise would have been lost.

Julia Ruuttilla was raised in Eugene, Oregon. Her father was an active member of the IWW and her mother was a strong advocate for birth control. Upon moving to Portland, Julia became a journalist and a life long political activist. Among other things, she supported the 1934 longshore strike and organized a women’s auxiliary in support of the 1935 Lumber Strike. She was called before the House Un-American Activities Commission. She worked for the Oregon State Welfare Division, but lost her job after it was discovered that she had used a pen name to write a series of newspaper articles critical of the Portland Welfare Commission’s handling of the 1948 Vanport flood. Julia was a steady presence at anti-war demonstrations during the 60's; sat in at the electric company to protest their rate increases; wrote for the International Longshore & Warehouse Union's paper "The Dispatcher," and organized and participated in anti-nuclear demonstrations. She remained a radical until her death in 1991: "I'm a radical. I think our government is of, by and for the American-based multinationals. That's radical, isn't it?" (Julia at age 75).