African-American Community

Y.W.C.A.

* Scenes from the community	* Personel Stories
* Timeline of the YWCA	* History of the Williams Avenue Branch

The YWCA has been an important member of the Northeast Portland community and has a long tradition of working towards social justice and racial equality. One of the ways in which the YWCA tried to combat the racial inequality was to open the doors to the Williams Avenue Branch in 1921, though the building was not ready till 1926. Though the building of this center was due to the Jim Crow laws which did not allow black women to use the same facilities as white women at the Downtown YWCA the WAB is a inspirational and groundbreaking facility. The WAB did what the Downtown YWCA says that they stood for and that was to end segegration. They held programs that included all races (Blacks,Asian, and White) while also having seminars that asked tough questions. As most people will atest to that during this time black women were viewed as strong examples of the true women of the YWCA and that is one of the reasons you see better race relations today than you did 40 years ago.

In 1942 the WAB was transformed into a recreational center for African- American soldiers and marked the begining of the end of the WAB center. During the 40's and 50's there was a lot of griping from the African- American community that the Downtown Y was not truely trying to intergrate. There was a token attempt to intergrate but it was clear the the Downtown Y felt that the intergration of black women into the white womens world would be easiar than the vice versa. During the 60's and 70's you saw the Civil Rights movement take off and whites and blacks relayionship would change forever. Now-a-days whites play with blacks. Blacks are allowed to use the same swimming pool as the white kids which was not always the case. Hopefully through this web site wou will be able to see how the YWCA and the community have reached this point.

McQueen B. Duncantell
Portland State University
Class of 2001

Last updated March 14, 2001