Random Union
1993, 1 minute, SD video
synopsis:
You can tell a little about a Portlander by what name they use for Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard–route 99E as it runs from N. Marine Drive to S. Lincoln Street. Occasionally one hears someone refer to Union, the name the street held from 1851 to 1989. King is a slightly less rare local term, but MLK (Emellkay) has emerged as the inevitable, ubiquitous, populist truncation. In 1993, four years after the street name officially changed to honor the great civil rights leader, the camera focused on two different residents of Portland, resulting in brief and revealing interviews about the boulevard’s name change.
credits:
cinematography & edit: Rankin Renwick