E. Shelton "Shelly" Hill will best be remembered as a civil rights crusader who left an indelible mark on Portland. Born in 1903 on the Choctaw Reservation in Oklahoma, Mr. Hill would earn degrees in chemistry and physics from Western University in Kansas and attend graduate school at Ohio State. After spending summers in Portland working for the Union Pacific Railroad as a waiter and labor recruiter, Shelly Hill moved to Vanport in 1941 to serve in the Air Force as Director of Education and Recreational services for Black airmen while studying social work at Vanport State, later transferring to the Vancouver Housing Authority in 1945 as tenant relations advisor. Most notably Shelly Hill worked began working for Urban League of Portland in 1947, helping African Americans access jobs in fields they were previously excluded from as Director Industrial Relations and then serving as Executive Director from 1956 to 1972. Shelly was married to Helloise Hill, a Vanport and Portland Public Schools (PPS) teacher who would become the first African American principal in Portland. In this photo, taken in 1961, A Mina Temple Shriner presents E. Shelton Hill with the Outstanding Community Service Award in Race Relations. Visit the Oregon Multicultural Archives for more: https://oregondigital.org/catalog/oregondigital:df709q19n