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Happy Saturday.

The Vanport Flood took place on May 30th, 1948, or 78 years ago today.

So we have chosen our episode on It as today's Saturday classic.

This episode originally came out February 3rd, 2016.

Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production of I-Heart Radio.

Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson. And I'm Holly Fry. Today's podcast is yet another listener request, but it's one that was already on my to-do list, so I haven't made note of who I'll ask for it. On May 30th of 1948, a flood destroyed Vanport, Oregon.

15 people were killed, which in light of some of the other disasters we've been talking about on the show lately, probably seems like a relatively small number.

But the property damage involved was colossal.

And what really makes the story more than a historical footnote is how it is tied into the racial makeup of both Portland and Oregon as a whole and a lot of the stresses and difficulties that went on with racism and race relations both before and after the flood.

The historical context for the Vanport flood goes back to before Oregon became a state

in 1859. The issue of slavery within Oregon wasn't a totally simple one. While it ultimately

joined the union as a free state, there were people living there who were in favor of slavery.

This is one of several reasons why the people of Oregon voted against holding a

constitutional convention three separate times before a vote finally succeeded. Among other things,

putting off a constitutional convention meant putting off a final decision on slavery.

Oregon did actually outlaw slavery while it was still a territory.

In 1843, its residents voted to incorporate language from the Northwest Ordinance into its own laws.

That language was, quote,

there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory otherwise than in the punishment of crimes

whereof the party shall have been duly

...