Native Portland Series, 1: Encountering the Native in the greater Portland area

This series is for a class I am completing called "North American Indigenous History and Mission." It's also one step along pathway of learning something about the first peoples of the land I now regard as my home.

The Native Portland project

Last year I posted here about how I am coming to the "aha" about the first peoples here in my everyday encounters.  It is interesting to see what is present about their lives here, what has survived, what we settlers have memorialized and glossed over in the way we understand our history here, and the degree to which we give voice or speak in our own voice about the first peoples.  I decided to begin to pay attention to where the Native history of Portland still speaks, whether in bad statues, minimalist accounts of history, or even in present, vital activity among us.  While overwhelmingly white and not very ethnically diverse, even for a city of its size, there are some 36,000 Native Americans residing in Portland, the 9th largest community in a United States city.  As a resident of the Portland area, where can we encounter Nativeness today?

I wanted this to be my own discovery tour; it is not meant to be ideological, only curious and open.  That said, I have a bias that the way we portray and build on history is largely to the advantage of the dominant people.  What we remember, what we choose to forget, and what we re-tell in our own voice is a construct, in the service of creating a narrative that works for "us." That said, I don't claim to know "the truth" about how what is here came here and I do not speak as a voice for Native people.  I see and write from the perspective of a person slowly working to strip away the constructs as I have been taught them and absorbed them.  I am a work in progress.  I will share some opinions and observations at the end, but I hope to leave room for others' own conclusions as well.  

A few notes, about the map:  

1. This map's 25 listings only represent what I have discovered in the greater Portland area.  Much rich history is to be found all over the state.  Perhaps this map can be added to by others!!  
2. On the map, and in the subsequent postings, I have done my best to explain what I saw, but I am not a historian.  Please do not consider my posts to be definitive in terms of historicity.  I have used readily available sources, but I have not been able to verify them.  
3. My list is no doubt incomplete!  I welcome contributions. 
4. Subsequent blog posts in the "Native Portland Series" will drill into the sites on this map and share my observations about what I found. 
5. All photos taken by me, which may account for their quality, unless otherwise indicated.  

First the "Native Tour" map:  (the picture just shows what it looks like…click the link to find the map!)  When you go to the link you can click on each pin to find the location and a brief description of what I found.  

Native Portland: Seen and unseen reminders of the past and present life of Native people in the greater Portland, Oregon area.