EUGENE, Ore. — A major milestone happened Friday for a project honoring Eugene’s first Black families as community members gathered to see the completed design for the “Across the Bridge” monument.
The monument will honor the history of the Black community that was forced from their homes through eminent domain in order to build the Ferry Street Bridge in 1949.
The first families lived in Ferry Street Village on the riverbanks of the Willamette River in shack houses that often flooded.
KVAL -{ }Bridge project that displaced Eugene’s first Black families inspires new monument design
The village was also called Tent City, or simply “Across the Bridge.”
Five Black families lived in the village – the Mims, the Johnsons, the Nettles, the Washingtons, and the Reynolds.
Black people were generally not allowed to live within Eugene’s city limits at the time, forcing them to live by the river.
Organizers say the project has been years in the making, with family members involved at every step to help shape the design.
“We really spoke with the elders and the family members themselves, and what they wanted was a sculpture that is representative of the families, not any particular family or family member, but more a representation of all their families,” said Talicia Brown-Crowell, founder of Black Culture Initiative.
“It’s really great that the things that my grandfather [and] my grandmother went through are being commemorated in a statue, and along with the other families as well, is that they get something that lives in infamy,” said William Johnson, Jr., the grandson of Charie Johnson.
The statue is set to be 3-D scanned in Portland before coming back to Eugene to be bronzed at the Reinmuth Bronze Foundry in northwest Eugene.
In September, the monument will be placed in Alton Baker Park with a plaque dedicated to each family.
If you want to learn about Eugene’s first Black families, check out our documentary called Across the Bridge, featuring interviews from family members and archival footage. You can find it below or on our YouTube channel.
