VIDEO COLLECTION

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.

A LIFE IN JAZZ PHOTO GALLERY

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more.

In 1981, Albina’s musicians assembled TIME SOUND. This concert series exposed audiences to an expanse of Black musical excellence performed in a jazz big band setting. The program evolved throughout the 1980s, with appearances in concert halls, institutions, and venues throughout Oregon.

Annual tribute to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. has been recognized as the largest community cultural event of its kind in the State of Oregon. With King’s work as a guide, Keep Alive The Dream highlights pioneering activists, community leaders, artists, musicians, and youth whose valiant efforts have left lasting impacts in Oregon’s African-American community. This event has official designation from the National Martin Luther King, Jr. Federal Holiday Commission.

This gallery documents the emergence of breakdancing among Albina’s youth as a vital form of Black cultural expression. Rooted in rhythm, movement, and community, these images capture young people claiming space, building skill, and carrying forward the same creative spirit that shaped Albina’s music scenes. Together, they reflect how dance—like music—has long been a language of identity, resilience, and belonging in Albina.

The African-American Baseline Essays are a series of educational materials commissioned in 1987 by the Portland public school district in Portland, Oregon and compiled by Asa Grant Hilliard III, intended to "provide information about the history, culture, and contributions of Africans and African-Americans in the disciplines of Art, Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, and Music."

Relive the hayday of jazz clubs in Albina

Listen to unreleased tracks of the 60s

Experience what the 1970s were like

Travel back to the 1980’s in Albina

The E & R Fouther Family Collection seeks to collect, preserve, and share the Black Cultural Heritage that includes artists and creatives from dispossessed communities across the Diaspora. The Fouther Family Collection houses photos from the United States and Canada that amplify the Great Migration story. This collection is part of the Culture-Bearer Archives.

James was Liz and Bobby's stepfather who passed away roughly a decade ago. He was active in the musicians community from 1950s-2010s. He became a bit of a griot in his later years. Sam's archive home page image of the photos on the wall is a photo of James' living room. He tacked community photos on nearly every square inch of wall in his house, making it a museum of sorts (I believe this derives from a Souther tradition...his roots). Those photos are now documented one-by-one in the archive.