The freeway didn’t just change the landscape; it intensified a long history of cumulative impacts on Black residents. The highway increased noise pollution, air pollution, and traffic congestion.  Research shows these effects can raise asthma rates, cardiovascular issues, and stress-related health conditions. These are layered on top of existing inequities such as redlining, limited housing options, and earlier displacement.

There is also the issue of procedural justice. Their community was treated as an “easy” place to put environmental risks. Today, although the city is trying to involve communities more, many people still feel that decision-making is happening to them, not with them.

At the same time, communities have pushed back to create social change. Portland now has more visible recognition of Black history. Which is seen in murals, cultural districts, community organizing, and groups like the Albina Vision Trust demanding equitable redevelopment. These actions show how cultural environments can become a source of resistance and healing. They also show how communities fight for environmental justice, insisting that future development must protect the people who live there instead of displacing them again.

My community is shaped by both the history and the ongoing realities of racial inequality in Portland Public Schools. For this project, I focus on three major social change influences, Education, Social Movements, and Inequality, to show how past decisions, delayed promises, and activism continue to shape the daily experiences of Black students, families, and teachers today

This explains why Portland still struggles with segregation, unequal opportunity, and displacement today. The choices the city made decades ago created long-term ripple effects, generational poverty, loss of homeownership, health impacts from pollution, and schools that were constantly disrupted by forced relocation.

This history isn’t just the past; it’s part of the social change Portland is still trying to navigate now.

Portland followed the same blueprint. The push for suburban commuting, economic growth, and highway expansion . These are all tied to global economic priorities that came at the expense of Black families in Albina. My community is connected to a larger story about whose lives and neighborhoods get protected, and whose are labeled “replaceable.”

This is a clear example of how economic systems shape social change:

• Profit mattered more than community stability.

• Homeowners lost generational wealth.

• The city invested in freeways instead of Black businesses or housing.

These economic decisions created long-term inequality that Portland is still trying to confront.

The state played a huge role in removing Black families. Through zoning, policing, eminent domain, and labeling entire neighborhoods as “unsafe” or “blighted.” On paper, these decisions were about public health and safety. But the outcome was the opposite.

Families who were displaced faced:

• Loss of stable housing

• Higher asthma rates from freeway pollution

• Reduced access to hospitals and community services

• Long-term stress and trauma

• Increased policing

• Increased barriers for employment

Institutions meant to protect health and safety ended up deepening inequality and harming the very community they targeted.

Education is often shaped by whatever is happening around a community, and Albina is no exception. When houses were demolished and families were forced to move, kids had to switch schools, lose teachers they trusted, and start over repeatedly.

Schools in displaced neighborhoods also experienced:

• Overcrowding

• Lower funding

• Racial tracking

• Less stability in the classroom

• Fewer resources and extracurriculars

These disruptions created long-lasting educational inequality. Even today, Portland’s school segregation and achievement gaps can be traced back to the displacement caused by freeway construction and urban renewal.

Education system has a major influence on social change because schools shape opportunity, belonging, and lifepaths. In Portland, historic racism in PPS and modern delays in building promised programs continue to create gaps in trust and access. When schools fail to meet student needs, especially in majority-Black communities, it becomes a clear example of how institutions can slow or support social change.

Social movements push schools and districts to change when internal systems fail to act. In Portland, nonprofit groups, families, and community members publicly challenged PPS for its delays, demanding transparency and accountability. This type of collective pressure continues a long tradition of local civil rights activism and shows how community voices can force institutions to recognize inequity.

Inequality continues to shape which students receive resources, support, and safe learning environments. Schools serving more students of color often face larger delays, more instability, and heavier impacts from staffing shortages. These unequal conditions are not random. They are a pure reflection of a long history of segregation, displacement, and ignored community needs that still influence opportunity today.

Social location affects how people experience education in Portland. Black students and families often face institutional delays, broken promises, and unsafe learning environments. Teachers experience burnout and fear job loss if they speak out. Meanwhile, families with more privilege or resources can switch schools or enroll elsewhere. These different social positions shape how each group understands and feels the impact of inequality."

PPS has a long history of segregation and discrimination that still affects trust today. Even after bans on racist practices, the district continued patterns of avoiding diversity, placing Black students in overcrowded schools, and delaying investments in majority-Black neighborhoods.

The Center for Black Student Excellence was promised five years ago, but work has barely begun. Community members argue that PPS quickly builds facilities for other schools while delaying projects for Black students, which reinforces feelings of being ignored by the district.

Students at Harriet Tubman have faced unsafe conditions, unclear district plans, and emotional instability caused by ongoing environmental and administrative issues. These challenges show how inequity continues to shape the daily school experience for Black students.

Over 35 nonprofits and community organizations demanded accountability from PPS, stating that delays harm students and contribute to racial inequity. This collective action shows how social movements play a key role in pushing institutions toward equity.

Cortright, Joe. “Joe Cortright.” City Observatory, 30 Mar. 2021, cityobservatory.org/how_odot_destroyed_albina_par2/.

“History of Racist Planning in Portland.” Portland.Gov, www.portland.gov/bps/planning/adap/history-racist-planning-portland. Accessed 8 Dec. 2025.

Miller, Elizabeth. “In Portland Middle Schools, Students Are Missing out on Learning as Teachers Call for More Support.” Opb, OPB, 16 May 2022, www.opb.org/article/2022/05/16/portland-middle-schools-teachers-leaving-student-support/#:~:text=They%20asked%20for%20the%20teachers,in%20crisis%2C%E2%80%9D%20they%20wrote.

OHQ Vol. 111, No. 1 Ethan Johnson and Felicia Williams Desegregation And, www.ohs.org/oregon-historical-quarterly/upload/OHQ_111_1-Johnson-and-Williams_PPS.pdf. Accessed 9 Dec. 2025.

Oregon State Officials Urge Portland Public Schools, Educators to Reach a Deal to End Strike • Oregon Capital Chronicle, oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2023/11/01/oregon-state-officials-urge-portland-public-schools-educators-to-reach-a-deal-to-end-strike/. Accessed 9 Dec. 2025.

Pate, Natalie. “After Years of Delay, Portland Public Schools Pursues Property for Its Center for Black Student Excellence.” Opb, OPB, 10 Sept. 2025, www.opb.org/article/2025/09/09/portland-public-schools-albina-oregon-center-for-black-student-excellence/.

“Portland Public Schools (Oregon).” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Nov. 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Public_Schools_%28Oregon%29.

“Three Projects Meant to Benefit PPS’s Black Community Have Stalled.” Willamette Week, www.wweek.com/news/schools/2025/01/29/three-projects-meant-to-benefit-ppss-black-community-have-stalled/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2025.

The NAACP Portland Branch 1120 is one of the longest running civil rights organizations in this region ensuring the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and eliminating racial hatred and discrimination.

You can join their monthly meetings, on the 4th Sunday at 3-5pm. Zoom link is below, or go onto their website. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85359780823?pwd=SGxLd3VvQzlZMHRCejFZRnB5VTh6Zz09#success

At the same time, community resilience is a major source of social change. From Albina Vision Trust and the NAACP to student-led protests and nonprofit coalitions, Portland’s Black community has consistently organized, pushed back, and demanded accountability. Social location plays a major role in how these changes are experienced, privileged families often have more options. While Black families continue feeling the weight of broken promises and delayed investments.

Overall, this project highlights both the harm caused by decades of discriminatory policies and the ongoing fight for equity, representation, and community-driven change. Portland’s story shows that social change is not automatic; it happens when people raise their voices, protect their neighborhoods, and insist on a more just future.