CLINTON ST. QUARTERLY SEAMAN AND POET 1902-1967 Isaac Shamsud-Din is close to events that reveal the nature of our society. As a child he knew the terror of Vanport in the flood; then a whole city of the poor was buried under the brackish Columbia backwaters; buried with the complicity of most of Portland. Vanport and its people were once valued defense workers. By ’48 they were not needed. Through a child’s frightened eyes Isaac captured the event for us in the colors of memory. His work in Smith Center at Portland State and the Albina Service Center on Alberta and Vancouver Avenue does not allow the viewer to forget the promises that died with Vanport. In the sixties Isaac Shamsud-Din was in the South, in San Francisco, in Portland. His memory and actions reflect those times. A civil rights worker, an educator, a man on the streets in a time of rage and occasional hope. His work records the pain and excitement of that era. His vision raises high the pride and grace of his people. And in the process, Isaac Shamsud-Din elevates all of humanity. 26 Photos by Ancil Nance, except upper left, by Jack Sanders
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