Darrell Millner flanked by Trent Aldridge, left, CEO of Self Enhancement Inc., and Ronnie Herndon (Hon’21), a longtime activist. A Sept. 12 ceremony was held at the building in honor of Millner’s contributions to the Black community. (Self Enhancement Inc.)
Portland State’s Darrell Millner has spent his life teaching others about Black history in Oregon, from York of Lewis and Clark fame to the creation of Portland’s Black community in the Albina area and the urban renewal and gentrification that later displaced them.
Now a new affordable housing community that is offering previously displaced residents and their descendents the opportunity to return to what was historically an affluent Black neighborhood in North Portland bears his name — a testament to the impact Millner has had in the community.
The Dr. Darrell Millner Building celebrated its grand opening this month after new residents moved in earlier this summer. Millner called the naming a great honor and humbling experience.
Darrell Millner started teaching in PSU’s Black Studies department in the 1970s. (PSU Library University Archives)
“It just had a powerful emotional impact on me as I thought about the fact that I had lived in that community since I arrived in Portland in 1970, I had raised my family there, and in various ways, I had tried to do things that would improve the kind of racial environment of Oregon by talking about the role racism has played in Oregon's history,” said Millner, professor emeritus of Black Studies. “This particular project created a building that's part of this wave of recognition that there are still things that can be done to kind of address the damage that was done by racial public policy in Oregon history, and to rebuild some of what was that Black community.”
The Millner, a six-story building on N. Interstate Ave., was developed in partnership by Self Enhancement Inc. and Community Development Partners as part of the Alberta Alive initiative. Alberta Alive is dedicated to celebrating and strengthening Portland’s historically Black North/Northeast neighborhoods by providing affordable housing, supportive services and a shared community.
All of The Millner’s 63 units are reserved for households that qualify under the city’s N/NE Preference Policy, which prioritizes people with generational ties to North and Northeast Portland. The building includes one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments for individuals and families earning up to 60% of the area median income. Of the 40 residents that have moved in, 95% identify as Black/African-American, according to a city presentation.
“Realistically, you're never going to rebuild a Black community like the one that existed in Portland in the 20th century,” Millner said. “And so I think what you have to address is not trying to rebuild that past, but to create a future in which everybody has the opportunities to be successful.”
He says the building is laying a foundation for the next generation.
“The young children that will grow up in that building will make America greater, racially speaking, in the future and that’s what we all have to be concerned about,” he said. “Not necessarily only learning about the past, but understanding the kind of potential and the kind of responsibilities we have to the future. And that building is, I think, a perfect example of that in practice.”
Millner arrived at PSU in 1975 to teach Afro-American Literature and History in the fledgling Black Studies department. He served as department chair from 1984 to 1995 and, though now retired, continues to teach as an adjunct faculty member. This fall, he’ll be teaching “African American History: Slavery to the Harlem Renaissance.”
“I still like teaching,” he said. “I've always felt that I get as much out of it as anybody in the classroom.”