In the 1940s, Vanport, Ore. was the center of a booming World War II-era shipyard industry, quickly becoming the second largest city in the state. But both its origin, and its destruction, came about thanks to the racially discriminatory housing practices of neighboring Portland across the river. As the Smithsonian's Natasha Geiling reports, Oregon's history of racism (it was illegal for blacks to move there until 1926) created a "pristine utopia, where land was plentiful and diversity was scarce." But as World War II saw white males drafted to serve overseas, a labor shortage pulled in a great migration of blacks from the south. - Steve C, Team Marina

Washington and Oregon, the two west coast whitewashed states no one mentions when talking of the racism problems in US. It hasn't been just the south people. - Steve C, Team Marina