The city of Portland will pay $8.5 million in settlement funds to 26 descendants of Black Portlanders driven from homes and businesses for development projects from the late 1950s through the ’70s.

The group of descendants filed a federal lawsuit in late 2022 arguing that the city of Portland, Emanuel Legacy Medical Center and Prosper Portland conspired to destroy a previously thriving Black neighborhood. The civil rights suit filed in U.S. District Court described how the three organizations destroyed the homes and businesses of the descendants.

On Thursday, Portland City Council unanimously signed on to a settlement between the parties. The original financial settlement proposed to the council was $2 million. After testimony from a dozen community members, including descendants, all 12 councilors voted to increase the amount another $6.5 million.

Council president Elana Pirtle-Guiney said the actions taken last century left a gaping hole in the community.

“It was taken not by accident,” Pirtle-Guiney said. “It happened through public policy. The urban renewal and eminent domain and rezoning and decisions made by [the] government, including by our predecessors on this city council — and it displaced Black Portlanders and disrupted generational progress.”

She acknowledges that the process has been painful for the families involved.

“I want to be clear that this settlement, it’s not a full restoration, because it never can be,” Pirtle-Guiney said. “But nonetheless, it is important.”

As part of the settlement, the lawsuit will be dismissed, and the descendants will get financial and land retribution, in addition to other terms.

North Portland’s Central Albina neighborhood was a bustling hub for the city’s Black-owned businesses in the 1940s. In the 1950s, the city began to displace hundreds of residents in the majority Black neighborhood to make way for Interstate 5.

Later that decade, the city, Portland Development Commission (now called Prosper Portland) and Emanuel Legacy Medical Center garnered federal urban renewal grants to expand the hospital and “remove blight” from the area, resulting in the displacement of more than 150 residents.

The hospital expansion was never fully realized. Instead, until 2025, plots of land at North Williams Avenue and Russell Street that had been single family homes in the 1940s have sat empty or have been used for parking.

Royal Harris is one of the survivors. His family owned a single family home near Legacy Emanuel hospital, where Harris was born.

“We are talking about significant numbers that changed the direct trajectory of communities and families,” Harris, a 56-year-old plaintiff in the suit, told city councilors. “What we are here for is redress, the acknowledgement of harm that includes a reversal from that practice and includes the true and proper compensation for that victimization.”

In an unusual move, city councilors voted to increase the settlement amount after hearing testimony at Thursday’s meeting. When councilor Loretta Smith read the motion to increase the amount, an emotional outburst of snaps, cheers, and gasps rippled through the room.

The city will pay $7.5 million to the descendants, and Prosper Portland will add another $1 million. It amounts to around $327,000 for each of the 26 descendants listed on the lawsuit. Legal settlements from cities are often paid from a pool of money separate from the general fund.

The settlement states that the city of Portland acknowledges it engaged in “systemic discrimination and displacement that harmed Black communities.” The actions of the city and hospital denied Black Portlanders homeownership that contributes to generational wealth while contributing to segregation. The zoning codes and lending practices used by the city perpetuated harmful stereotypes, the settlement reads.

In addition to the financial settlement, the agreement requires the city to turn over ownership of two parcels of land in North Portland to the descendants at no cost. Three plots have been identified for consideration.

The settlement has a clause directing the city to declare a Descendants Day starting this year, and will run for at least five years. Additionally, the city will provide letters of support for a grant-funded film documenting the displacement of the Albina neighborhood families.

It also includes a uniquely Portland aspect: should the Keller Auditorium continue on a path to renovation, at least two of the descendants will be included in the renovation and design committees.

The historic performing arts center was renamed to Keller Auditorium in 2000. The change came after Richard Keller gave a $1.5 million donation in honor of his father, Ira Keller. In 1958 Ira Keller became the first chairman of what is now known as Prosper Portland.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/06/05/albina-black-descendants-displacement-reparations/