Collection is open for research.
Gift of David Maynard, September 2022, with additions in February 2023 (RL2022-163).
Following the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Portland, Oregon, was one of many cities in the United States where people held demonstrations to protest police brutality and systemic racism against Black Americans. Demonstrations in Portland continued throughout the summer of 2020, escalating when U.S. President Donald Trump sent federal agents to the city. There were further demonstrations in 2021.
The demonstrations were identified with the Black Lives Matter movement and with other social justice and political activist groups in Portland. In addition to demonstrating, activists called for the city to significantly decrease funding for the Portland Police Bureau and to put the money toward addressing social needs instead. Activists called for a $50 million reduction to the Portland Police Bureau's budget. In June 2020, the Portland City Council reduced the budget for police by $15 million, but the bureau still constituted nearly 30 percent of the city's budget, and in 2022, the city allocated a record $249 million to the bureau.
Sources: Articles in the Oregonian, 2020-2021; "Portland Police Bureau's Budget Reduction Was Slight and Short-Lived," by Piper McDaniel, Street Roots, August 3, 2022,
Materials relating to Black Lives Matter demonstrations and activism in Portland, Oregon, Coll 1001, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
The collection consists of flyers, booklets, posters, ephemera, and photographs of graffiti and signs relating to Black Lives Matter demonstrations in Portland, Oregon. The materials were primarily gathered or photographed in Northeast Portland by resident David Maynard. Most flyers are for specific demonstrations or generally address the Black Lives Matter movement and calls to defund the Portland police. Other flyers relate to the 2020 mayoral write-in campaign for activist Teressa Raiford and the unsuccessful 2021 effort to recall Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler. Other items in the collection include guidelines for protesters distributed by the Black Bloc and the Ruckus Society.
Signs and brand block were separated to Museum Collections, Oregon Historical Society.
The Oregon Historical Society owns the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners.