Collection is open for research.
Kathryn Hall Bogle, nee Kathryn Golden Hall, was born in Caddo County, Oklahoma, in 1906. In 1911, she moved with her mother to Portland, Oregon. During her childhood, she also lived in San Francisco, California, and in Tacoma and Seattle, Washington. In 1927, she married Richard Waldo Bogle, and they later had two children, Richard "Dick" Bogle and Linda Bogle (later Linda Bogle Metellus).
Kathryn Hall Bogle worked as an independent journalist for much of her life. Her first article in the Portland Oregonian, "An American Negro Speaks of Color," was published on February 14, 1937, after she challenged the newspaper's coverage of the city's Black community. Editors invited her to submit a piece, marking the first time the newspaper had paid for work by a Black writer. Bogle subsequently wrote many more articles for the Oregonian, as well as for other newspapers, including the the Pittsburgh Courier, the Chicago Defender, the Seattle-based Northwest Enterprise, the Portland Observer, and The Skanner.
In addition to journalism, Bogle had a long career in social work with the Boys and Girls Society, and as a caseworker in a neurological outpatient clinic at Good Samaritan Hospital & Medical Center. Outside of her careers, Bogle was a founding member of St. Philip the Deacon Episcopal Church; a member of the Portland Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); and founder of the Portland chapter of the Links, Inc., a service and social organization of Black women. In 1993, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Portland Association of Black Journalists. Kathryn Hall Bogle died in 2003.
Sources: Vital records on Ancestry.com; information provided by Bogle in her interview; "An American Negro Speaks of Color," by Kathryn G. Bogle, Sunday Oregonian, February 14, 1937 (magazine, section two, Page 16); "Prolific Portland Journalist Dies at 96," by Ruth Mullen, Oregonian, August 24, 2003, Page C1; "Kathryn Hall Bogle (1906-2003)," by Kimberley Mangun, Oregon Encyclopedia,
An incomplete transcript (376 pages) and a typescript summary (22 pages) are available for in-person use at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Oral history interview with Kathryn Hall Bogle, by Rick Harmon, SR 442, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
An additional oral history interview with Kathryn Hall Bogle, SR 280, is also held at the Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
This oral history interview with Kathryn Hall Bogle was conducted by Rick Harmon in 15 sessions from June 26, 1985, to March 28, 1986, at Bogle's home in Portland, Oregon, as part of the Oregon Historical Society Research Library's oral history program.
In sessions 1 through 6, Bogle discusses her early life in Portland, Oregon. She talks about her family's experiences in Portland and in other cities where she grew up, including experiences with housing discrimination. She discusses her family's involvement with Black churches in the various cities where they lived, and about her involvement with the Bethel AME Church in Portland. She speaks about her early education, and shares her experience of discrimination at Washington High School in Portland. She discusses her activities after high school, and describes being denied entry to college or jobs other than domestic labor in the 1920s because of her race. She discusses her involvement with the Portland Chapter of the NAACP beginning in the 1930s. She speaks extensively about her article "An American Negro Speaks of Color," published in the Portland Oregonian on February 14, 1937. She talks about her work developing youth programs for the St. Philip The Deacon Episcopal Church, as a caseworker at Good Samaritan Hospital, and with the Red Cross.
In sessions 7 through 15, Bogle discusses her work as a social worker for the Boys and Girls Aid Society; she talks about people she worked with, particularly the director, Stuart R. Stimmel, and describes the adoption process through the society. She talks about her advocacy for the passage of a public accommodation law. She speaks extensively about the childhood and career of her son, Dick Bogle, who later became the first Black television broadcaster in Oregon, and served on the Portland City Council. She talks about working as a caseworker at Good Samaritan Hospital, and about the death of her husband, Richard Bogle, in 1979. She discusses her work at the Portland Observer, and her experiences writing about the Black community for the Oregonian. She talks about the civil rights movement, about the progression of mainstream language used to describe Black Americans, and her feelings of frustration when experiencing discrimination. She discusses Dick Bogle's campaign for and service on the Portland City Council. She also speaks about Black leadership in Portland. She closes the interview by discussing her involvement with the Links, an organization dedicated to quality of life for Black Americans.
Copyright for this interview is held by the Oregon Historical Society. Use is allowed according to the following statement: Creative Commons - BY-NC-SA,
Tape 1, Side 1, through Tape 2, Side 1. In the first interview session, conducted on June 26, 1985, Bogle discusses her family background in Oklahoma and her early life in Portland, Oregon. She talks about families her mother worked for as a maid, about her early education, and about attending a Black church. She then talks about her life and education in San Francisco, California; Marshfield, Oregon; Tacoma, Washington; Seattle, Washington; St. Paul, Minnesota; and Logan, Montana, and describes her family's experience as Black people in those areas. She discusses housing discrimination her family experienced after returning to Portland in the 1920s.
Tape 2, Side 2, through Tape 3, Side 2. In the second interview session, conducted on July 17, 1985, Bogle discusses her family's involvement with Black churches in the various cities where they lived, and speaks extensively about her involvement with the Bethel AME Church in Portland. She also talks about other families who attended the church, including the Allan family, owners of the Golden West Hotel. She speaks about Black culture and the Black community's relationship to white people in early 20th-century Portland. She speaks further about her early education, focusing on her early interest in writing; shares her experience of discrimination while attending Washington High School in Portland; and talks about her activities after high school.
Tape 4, Side 1, through Tape 5, Side 1. In the third interview session, conducted on July 24, 1985, Bogle continues to discuss her activities after high school, and describes being denied entry to college or jobs other than domestic labor in the 1920s because of her race. She talks about Black-owned businesses in Portland. She discusses her decision to move to Los Angeles, California, in the 1920s, and how that led to her marriage to Richard Waldo Bogle in 1927. She talks about raising a family during the Depression, about segregation and racism in Portland, and about organizations for Black people.
Tape 5, Side 2, through Tape 6, Side 2. In the fourth interview session, conducted on July 31, 1985, Bogle discusses her involvement with the Portland Chapter of the NAACP beginning in the 1930s, and talks about members of the group, including Ruth Haefner, Charles Maxey, and Otto Rutherford. She also discusses conflict between the NAACP and the Urban League of Portland. She shares her experience learning to drive as an adult, against the wishes of her husband.
Tape 7, Side 1, through Tape 8, Side 1. In the fifth interview session, conducted on August 7, 1985, Bogle discusses her work as a journalist for the Northwest Enterprise and Pittsburgh Courier, and talks about taking writing and journalism classes through adult education programs in the 1930s. She speaks extensively about her article "An American Negro Speaks of Color," published in the Portland Oregonian on February 14, 1937. She also talks about discrimination that she, her family, and her friends experienced in Portland in the 1930s and 1940s.
Tape 8, Side 2, through Tape 9, Side 2. In the sixth interview session, conducted on August 14, 1985, Bogle discusses how the job market of World War II encouraged Black people to move to Portland, and how the increase in the Black population affected race relations in the city, particularly in regard to job and housing discrimination. She then talks about her work developing youth programs for St. Philip The Deacon Episcopal Church, as a caseworker at Good Samaritan Hospital, and with the Red Cross. She also speaks about her admiration for President Franklin D. Roosevelt and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
Tape 10, Side 1, through Tape 11, Side 1. In the seventh interview session, conducted on August 21, 1985, Bogle discusses her work as a social worker for the Boys and Girls Aid Society. She speaks further about her work as a journalist, about her involvement with the NAACP, and about discrimination she experienced. She talks about her participation in activism for the passage of a public accommodation law.
Tape 11, Side 2. In the eighth interview session, conducted on January 31, 1986, Bogle speaks further about her participation in activism for the passage of a public accommodation law, and about her work as a social worker for the Boys and Girls Aid Society. She also describes how the Boys and Girls Aid Society was able to arrange adoption of Black children by white families despite an Oregon law requiring race information on birth certificates to be the same for both child and parents.
Tape 12. In the ninth interview session, conducted on February 14, 1986, Bogle continues to discusses her work as a social worker for the Boys and Girls Aid Society, and talks about people she worked with, particularly the director, Stuart R. Stimmel. She also describes the process of adoption through the society, and shares her reasons for leaving the organization after 17 years. She then talks about the childhood of her son, Richard "Dick" Bogle, Jr., who later became the first Black television broadcaster in Oregon, and served on the Portland City Council.
Tape 13, Side 1. In the tenth interview session, conducted on February 21, 1986, Bogle continues to talk about Dick Bogle's childhood, including his friends and early education. She discusses how his experience with racism during his childhood differed from her own. She also begins to talk about Dick Bogle's early career.
Tape 13, Side 2, through Tape 14, Side 2. In the eleventh interview session, conducted on February 28, 1986, Bogle continues to discuss Dick Bogle's early career. She then talks about raising her niece following her sister's death when her niece was 10. She talks about racial discrimination in Portland and how it changed over the 20th century. She also discusses her involvement in the League of Women Voters and Democratic politics. She then talks about working as a caseworker at Good Samaritan Hospital, and about the death of her husband, Richard Bogle, in 1979.
Tape 15, Side 1, through Tape 16, Side 1. In the twelfth interview session, conducted on March 7, 1986, Bogle discusses her work as a caseworker for the National Urban League's Project STAR (Serving to Advance Rehabilitation), an outreach program that provided services to low-income families with children with intellectual disabilities; and shares her reasons for leaving the program. She also discusses how Black cultural identity evolved over the 20th century. She speaks further about her work as a caseworker at Good Samaritan Hospital, and about the death of her husband in 1979. She talks about focusing on her work as a writer in the 1980s, and talks about writing for the Portland Observer newspaper.
Tape 16, Side 2, through Tape 18, Side 1. In the thirteenth interview session, conducted on March 14, 1986, Bogle continues to discuss her work at the Portland Observer, and describes her reasons for leaving the newspaper. She discusses writing about the Black community for the Portland Oregonian. She talks about the civil rights movement, about the progression of mainstream language used to describe Black Americans, and about her feelings of frustration when experiencing discrimination. She discusses the history of the Black community in the Portland's Albina district, and talks about community events she helped to organize. She shares her thoughts about the educational opportunities available for Black children, about the relationship between the Portland Police Bureau and the Black community, and about subtle forms of racism she observed in the 1980s.
Tape 18, Side 2. In the fourteenth interview session, conducted on March 21, 1986, Bogle discusses Black leadership in the United States at the time of the interview.
Tape 19, Side 1, through Tape 20, Side 2. In the fifteenth and final interview session, conducted on March 28, 1986, Bogle discusses Dick Bogle's campaign for and service on the Portland City Council. She also speaks about Black leadership in Portland. She closes the interview by discussing her involvement with the Links, an organization dedicated to quality of life for Black Americans.