Sarah Ann Bates stands beside Rev. O. B. Williams who is holding a cake during a Mother's Day Celebration.

Willa Ida Jackson-Williams and Rev. O.B. Williams (seated) of the Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church in Portland met with local and associate ministers in 1966.

The Vancouver Baptist Church congregation celebrated the 30th anniversary of O.B. Williams as pastor in 1975. Williams formed the congregation in 1945 in Burton Homes, Washington, and facilitated its permanent move to Albina in Portland. He served as an important community and civil rights leader throughout his tenure as pastor.

Martin Luther King visited Portland in 1961 and met with leaders of the Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church. Rev. O.B. Williams stands on the far left.

The Vancouver Avenue Baptist Church began as the First Baptist Church of Burton Homes, a federal wartime housing project managed by the Vancouver Housing Authority (Washington state). Most of the people in this 1945 photo of an early service were employees of the Kaiser Shipyards. The church moved to the Bagley Downs housing project later that year, then to Vanport City in 1946, and finally to the Albina neighborhood in Portland after Vanport was flooded in 1948. The current building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its significance to the history of civil rights in Oregon.

Rev. O.B. Williams leads services in 1961 for the Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church in the Albina neighborhood, Portland.

The Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church Gospel Choir held a benefit concert in 1950 at the Neighbors of Woodcraft Building (Tiffany Building), located on SW Morrison and 14th St.

The Gospel Choir for the Vancouver Avenue Baptist Church in 1960. Rev. O.B. Williams stands on the far left.

The Junior Choir for the Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church poses for a photo in 1961.

Members of the Vancouver Avenue Congregational Church attend a meeting of the Christian Interracial Club in 1962.

Members of the Vancouver Avenue Congregational Church attend a meeting of the Local Ministers' Wives Council in 1966.

Members of the Vancouver First Avenue Congregational Church Mothers' Union (a charity society) in 1960. Rev. O.B. Williams stands on the left.

A group photograph of members of the Church Deacon Board at the Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church in 1960.

An group photograph of unidentified children taken during the 1953 Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church Vacation Bible School.

A group of children and adults posing for a photograph in front of the Vancouver Avenue Baptist Church bus during a picnic in 1964.

Six unidentified women posing with their awards certificates during an Oregon Association of Colored Women’s Clubs annual Woman of the Year awards event, circa 1985.

Oregon Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, Little Women’s Club of Portland held a tea for Mother’s Day at the YWCA in Portland, Oregon.

An unidentified female employee of a shipyard in Portland during WWII takes a lunch break. Women were recruited into wartime industry jobs when men were sent overseas. Portland’s shipyards attracted thousands of women and African American workers looking for skilled, high-wage jobs.

A statement of purpose mailer and membership form distributed by the Urban League of Portland shortly after their organization in 1945.

The Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church stands on the southeast corner of N. Vancouver Ave. and Fargo Street. It was originally built in 1909 for the Central Methodist Episcopal Church. Vancouver Avenue (established in 1944) purchased the building in 1951 and inhabits it still. The church was renovated and enlarged in 1957-1958.

The Oregon Association of Colored Women’s Clubs scholarship recipients for 1975 were Rudon Pierson, Patricia Hayes, and Dan Neal.

Portrait of a smiling man sitting next to a vehicle. The photograph may have been taken at the annual Pacific International Livestock Exposition in Portland. The man is unidentified.

Portrait of smiling children posing next to a table during a birthday party for Teddy McDaniel (center) at the Cotton Club in Portland on May 23, 1934. A birthday cake is on the table in front of McDaniel. According to a story about the party on Page 12 of the Oregon Journal on May 25, 1934, McDaniel was a performer in stage shows led by entertainer Ted Lewis, and the party celebrated McDaniel’s eighth birthday. See related image No. 371N1518.

Portrait of a boy, Teddy McDaniel, sitting at a table and posing with his birthday cake during a party at the Cotton Club in Portland on May 23, 1934. McDaniel is smiling and holding a knife as though about to cut the cake. A cropped version of this photograph was published on Page 12 of the Oregon Journal on May 25, 1934. It had the following caption: “Teddy McDaniel, pal of Ted Lewis and hit of the latter’s show at the Oriental, cutting the cake that made his eighth birthday anniversary, Wednesday, the best ever.” According to a short story accompanying the photograph, McDaniel was a performer in stage shows led by entertainer Ted Lewis, and Lewis was among those to attend the party. See related image No. 371N1517. Image note: Photograph is out of focus.

Photograph of two boxers in the ring during a bout at Multnomah Civic Stadium in Portland on September 6, 1935. The boxer at left is Barney Ross; the boxer at right is Baby Joe Gans (also known as Gerald Slaughter). Ross won the match by knockout. Image note: The name “Barney Ross” is written on the negative and is visible on the left side of the image.

Photograph of two boxers standing in the ring, facing one another, at Multnomah Civic Stadium in Portland on September 6, 1935. They are surrounded by a small group of unidentified men. The boxer at left is Barney Ross; the boxer at right is Baby Joe Gans (also known as Gerald Slaughter). Ross won the match with Gans by knockout. Image note: The name “Barney Ross” is written on the negative and is faintly visible on the left side of the image.

Members of the Katherine Gray Club pack canned food into a box during a meeting in 1956. Katherine Gray, along with Hattie Redmond, co-founded the Colored Women’s Equal Suffrage League and worked with Beatrice Cannady to protest the showing of “Birth of a Nation,” the racist 1915 film by D.W. Griffith. She was also the president of the Oregon Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs, which created a club in her honor.

Portrait of George Singleton. Singleton was an early resident of Portland, who at one time lived on the northwest corner of Alder Street and Sixth Ave. He likely held many professions, as most early settlers did, but he is listed in the 1882 City Directory as a "hackman" (driver) for Acker and Leahy, a city stables on Washington (Burnside) and Stark.