Legacy of the Yale Union Building
Our historic headquarters has a fascinating history and role in the 1919 Portland laundry workers’ strike.
History of the Yale Union Laundry buildingNative Arts and Cultures Foundation - Center for Native Arts and Cultures
The Yale Laundry building was built in 1908.
The city block where the Yale Laundry building is situated was a sloping wetland within the traditional homelands of the Multnomah, Chinook, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Tualatin Kalapuya, Molalla, and other peoples Indigenous to the Lower Columbia River Basin.
1. Yale Laundry opens
The laundry industry was a particularly nefarious corner of the industrialized world. Related to the textile industry in that it paid extremely low wages for repetitive and dangerous work, it was one of the few heavy industries that permitted women to work in its factories.
2. A highly gendered and racialized industry
Commercial laundries used the rhetoric of whiteness to simultaneously sell their services and to denigrate Chinese- and Japanese-owned laundries, which were established as a result of discriminatory hiring practices that barred non-whites from working in the major industries.
3. The 1919 Portland laundry workers' strike
A powerful propaganda campaign against the strikers was launched in the press by the Laundrymen’s Association, which took out weekly ads in The Oregonian warning the public about the “Bolshevik” spirit disrupting and raising the cost of laundry services.
3. Washing machine manufacturers seize an opportunity
Home washing machine manufacturers capitalized on the strike, taking out ads in newspapers that advocated for a consumerist political disengagement: “Laundry Strike Settled—as far as you are concerned if you install Crystal Electric Washer & Wringer.”
4. The Strike ends and is a success
The strike continued through December, and the unionists declared victory in early 1920 when they opened the union-owned and operated Victory Laundry on SE 69th and Foster Rd.
4. Yale Union to NACF
In the 1920s, Yale Laundry merged with Union Laundry—a misnomer; it was not unionized—to become Yale Union Laundry. In 2021 the owner of Yale Union a nonprofits arts organization transferred ownership to our organization as an act of Rematriation
4. The Center for Native Arts & Cultures
We are deeply grateful to the board and staff of previous owner YU and late Executive Director Yoko Ott for their vision and courage in affording this transformative opportunity to NACF.
NACF Staff (2022-12-08) by Robert FranklinNative Arts and Cultures Foundation - Center for Native Arts and Cultures
Our vision for the Center
Our vision for the Center includes spaces for exhibitions, events, places to practice culture and make art, and areas for cultural ceremonies and celebrations to create a vibrant gathering place for Indigenous artists.
Images sourced from the Oregon Historical Society, City of Portland Archives, Wikimedia Public Domain, and yaleunionlaundrystrike.net.
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