Events & Opportunities
September 8, 2026
Echoes from the Past, Part 1: Inside Tule Lake
In this historically grounded and deeply moving presentation, siblings Dave and Peggy Doi explore the history surrounding the 1942 forced incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans. Combining objective historical facts with intimate family history, the presenters will share their parents’ personal experiences of being ordered into the Tule Lake camp in northern California and what daily life was like for them behind barbed wire. This session offers a powerful, humanizing look into a critical chapter of American history and raises important questions for today.
This presentation is funded in part by a Public Programs Grant from Oregon Humanities.
4:00 p.m., Jacksonville Community Center, Jacksonville
September 11, 2026
Echoes from the Past, Part 2: Leaving Tule Lake
Siblings Dave and Peggy Doi share how their parents ultimately left the Tule Lake incarceration camp. Learn how their father and three dozen other men from Tule Lake became the first to enlist in the US Army from their camp, attending a highly classified Military Intelligence Language School (MILS) near Minneapolis to prepare for vital service in the South Pacific. This presentation weaves together their father’s secret wartime contributions and their mother’s path to freedom through a marriage proposal, offering a unique perspective on courage and survival and inspiration for questions facing people of conscience today. No need to have attended the first presentation.
This presentation is funded in part by a Public Programs Grant from Oregon Humanities.
4:00 p.m., Jacksonville Community Center, Jacksonville
September 17, 2026
Letitia Carson: Life and Legacy of Oregon’s Earliest Known Black Homesteader
This presentation highlights the challenges and contributions of Letitia Carson, a nineteenth-century pioneer, rancher, and midwife. We’ll share her remarkable journey to homesteading in Oregon and the ongoing efforts of the Letitia Carson Legacy Project (LCLP) to carry Letitia’s enduring spirit into our collective future. The LCLP is a collaborative effort between OSU’s Center for Resilient Agriculture, Oregon Black Pioneers, Mudbone Grown, Black Oregon Land Trust, and the Linn-Benton chapter of the NAACP. This event is part of the year-long JCC Community-In-Action Program.
This presentation is funded in part by a Public Programs Grant from Oregon Humanities.
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Jacksonville Community Center, Jacksonville