Illumination Native Community Gathering
Learn about the work Springfield's Native story team is doing with the Springfield History Museum to explore and celebrate the American Indian and Alaska Native history and experience in Springfield and rural east Lane County. Enjoy food and be in community as the Springfield History Museum holds space to listen and learn from you about how you want to celebrate this collection of video interviews, photos and history of our local Native peoples.
This program is supported by a Public Program Grant from Oregon Humanities.
People, Places, Things: Paul Knauls, Portland
A photo of Paul Knauls, the unofficial mayor of Northeast Portland, by Emily Fitzgerald
Every September in Pendleton
Olivia Wolf writes about people for whom the Pendleton Round-Up and Happy Canyon show are about more than spectacle—they’re a family legacy.
So Much Together: Unpacking Our Past: History as a Catalyst for Change
Oregon has a particularly unique history of racial injustice that in some ways mirrors and in other ways is distinct from the larger history of racial oppression that exists in our nation as a whole. As Oregonians, we’ve inherited these histories, and their legacies connect to present-day injustices. But what does it look like to confront them, as individuals and communities? And beyond that, how might we come together to shape those histories being written today?
Ponderosas and Junipers
George James Kenagy writes about the trees that defined his childhood and his family ties to Central Oregon.
Buying In
Michael Heald explores the history and recent reemergence of worker-owned cooperatives in Oregon.
Room 5
Adam Sawyer writes about finding hope and healing in a hundred-year-old hotel on the Oregon Coast
We Will Be Here
Lana Jack writes about the mourning, resilience, and resistance of the Celilo Wy-am.
Trip to Richland
Laura Feldman writes about trying to make sense of a secret history.
Editor's Note
In this issue, we explore how we remember and forget, as individuals and communities. Who and what do we remember? How are memories made and lost? And what, if anything, do they mean?
Here Lies
Paul Susi writes about Chee Gong, a Chinese migrant laborer who was wrongfully convicted and executed in Portland on August 9, 1889.
A Bridge Between
Kate Lucky on how we connect to family history as it turns from memory into myth.
We're Here for Each Other
Jennifer Perrine writes about how Oregonians of color are building relationships in the outdoors.
Oregon's Black History: 450 Years in 45 Min
Friends of Seaside Public Library welcome Zachary Stocks, public historian and Executive Director of Oregon Black Pioneers. Stocks will trace the history of people of African descent who have lived and worked in Oregon since before the founding of the earliest English-speaking settlements in the Americas. This presentation will bring new light to the historic legal and social marginalization of African Americans in Oregon.
This event was made possible by a grant from Oregon Humanities. The event will be held in the Community Room of the Seaside Public Library.
People, Places, Things
Lana Jack (Celilo Wy-am) performs a dance in honor of her ancestors, photographed by Josué Rivas.
A History of Housing Discrimination in Oregon
Oregon has a little-known history of housing displacement, discrimination, and segregation that has laid the foundation for the disparities we see in our state today. Starting from Oregon's founding as a territory, we'll look at how racist practices from that time still have an impact today, examine how governmental policies and programs reinforced systemic racism through practices like redlining, and delve into how the real estate industry and the Federal Housing Administration further solidified racial and economic disparities in the state.
The event will stream live on the Forest Grove City Library's YouTube channel. The program is supported by a grant from Oregon Humanities.
Consider This: How Do You Reconcile a Lynching?
Join Forest Grove Public Library for a live-streamed Consider This conversation with Taylor Stewart, founder and executive director of the Oregon Remembrance Project. This program will broadcast live on the Forest Grove City Library’s YouTube channel starting at 6:30 p.m.
Preserving the Future
An archivist reflects on navigating loss and collecting histories.
The Skanner Foundation: Martin Luther King, Jr. Breakfast (virtual)
The Skanner Foundation again invites the community to share breakfast and celebrate the life, work, and vision of civil rights icon the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. with its 36th annual celebration the morning of January 17, 2022.
In past years, the breakfast has hosted more than a thousand attendees, often including the governor and both state and U.S. senators and representatives. Out of caution, the foundation has elected to hold its celebration on a virtual platform for a second year.
World Arts Foundation: Keep Alive the Dream
On January 17, the World Arts Foundation will present Keep Alive the Dream, a film directed by Elijah Hasan that highlights pioneering activists, community leaders, artists, musicians, and youth whose valiant efforts have left lasting impacts in Oregon’s African American community. This event is made possible in part by a SHARP general operating support grant from Oregon Humanities.
The film will be screened at Portland’s historic Hollywood Theatre. In addition to the film, the program will feature live music and a Q&A with community members. Proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test is required for entry. Admission is free. To read more about this event and reserve a ticket, visit hollywoodtheatre.org/events/keep-alive-the-dream.
Not a Circle, Not a Line
Susan DeFreitas writes about Ursula K. Le Guin's long view of the American West
Hidden Histories: Pendleton's Early Chinese Community
The ninth and final program in the Portland Chinatown Museum's series Hidden Histories: Oregon's Early Chinatowns and Chinese Worker Settlements looks at the history of Pendleton. Since at least the 1980s, tourism, media depictions, and even well-known works of fiction have promoted the idea that nineteenth-century Chinese immigrants built and occupied an extensive tunnel network under the city of Pendleton and in many other locations throughout the American West. In this program, Priscilla Wegars, PhD, and Renae Campbell, MA, will explore these "Chinese tunnel" rumors and compare those in Pendleton with the historical record of Pendleton’s Chinese community.
To Bear Witness: Extraordinary Lives - Opening Reception
The Immigrant Story and the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education invite you to visit “To Bear Witness – Extraordinary Lives,” a multimedia exhibition that celebrates the lives of men and women who endured unthinkable cruelty elsewhere in the world, only to resume productive lives in Oregon.
“To Bear Witness” takes its name from the words of the late Nobel Prize–winning writer, activist, and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, who emphatically proclaimed, “For the dead and the living, we must bear witness.” The exhibition features profiles of survivors of the Nazi Holocaust; genocides in Europe, Africa, and Asia; and unimaginable atrocities of war. The profiles are united by the troubling truth that human despotism sometimes knows no bounds, but each is also a portrait of courage and human resilience. We present these stories in hopes that they will inspire, inform, and possibly instruct.
This multimedia exhibition opens on December 12, 2021, at the Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education. The exhibit will run through May 15, 2022.
Hidden Histories: Deconstructing the Astorian Chinese Experience
The Portland Chinatown Museum is pleased to announce the eighth program in the Hidden Histories: Oregon's Early Chinatowns and Chinese Worker Settlements series. Please join us on Saturday, October 30, 2021, with featured speakers Dr. Chelsea K. Vaughn, Liisa Penner, and Suenn Ho. In 1870, Astoria had thirteen Chinese residents. A decade later, that number had grown to 1,208 in Astoria proper, with an additional 924 individuals in what was then described as “Upper Astoria,” at the east end of town. Countywide, there were 2,317 residents of Chinese descent, accounting for a full one-third of Clatsop County’s population. The recruitment of laborers to work in the fish canneries accounted for a majority of this growth, but this period also saw an influx of Chinese merchants, whose businesses would cater to both the local Chinese community as well as the broader population of Astoria. Increased mechanization within the canneries combined with exclusionary laws would greatly reduce the number of Chinese laborers living in Astoria by century’s end, and in the years that followed, the full scope of this history would be minimized and the poor treatment experienced by many in the community would be obscured. For our panel, we will look at this larger history, question what it means for this history to be deliberately forgotten, and examine the experiences of the small Chinese American community that remained. This program is made possible in part by a grant from Oregon Humanities.
Hidden Histories: The Dalles Chinatown: Remembering a Community
The Portland Chinatown Museum presents the seventh program in the Hidden Histories: Oregon's Early Chinatowns and Chinese Worker Settlements series on Saturday, September 18, with featured speakers and archaeologists Jacqueline Cheung and Eric Gleason.
Connect in Place - Do You Remember? Why We Celebrate Anniversaries and Holidays
Memorials, holidays, and anniversaries are opportunities to tell stories about how we relate to what came before, and how that informs what we see as the work ahead. This time of year is full of anniversaries and holidays, including Stonewall, Juneteenth, Fourth of July, and the racial justice uprisings of last summer. What does it mean to commemorate, and why do we do it?
Consider This with David Treuer
On July 15, David Treuer (Ojibwe), author of The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee, will join Oregon Humanities for a conversation on land, possession, and justice. The history of the Americas is inextricable from the theft of land from Native people. How should we, in the present, deal with this fact?
Hidden Histories: Picturing the Past
Using the Oregon city of Jacksonville as a case study, this program will feature a presentation of its archaeology and history followed by a discussion highlighting the challenges, opportunities, and importance of researching and documenting the stories of early Chinese Americans.
Lies of Discovery
Sal Sahme explores the doctrine that enabled European colonization and argues for it to be revoked.
Love and Noodles
Marilou Carrera writes about the meaning of pancit, a dish that is so much more than just fried noodles—it's history, family, and community.
Inheritance Stories: Oral Histories of Food Culture with Lola Milholland
Lola Milholland produces food-related art installations and events that bring together interactive public engagement with art making and food activism. In this workshop, Lola will share her work and ideas and guide participants in creating a cookbook together by interviewing and listening to each other.
Consider This with Clint Smith
A conversation on education, memory, race, and democracy with the author of How the Word Is Passed: A Reckoning With the History of Slavery Across America.
Consider This on the Klamath Basin
A discussion on the history and future of settlement and water use in the Klamath Basin with panelists Russell Attebery (Chairman, Karuk Tribe), Mark Bransom (CEO, Klamath River Renewal Corporation), Don Gentry (Chairman, Klamath Tribes), Becky Hyde (Klamath Basin rancher), and Joe James (Chairman, Yurok Tribe).
Connect in Place: What are we learning from the COVID-19 pandemic, and how will we remember it?
How can we put our energy, intention, and creativity into nurturing deep individual and collective learning that will outlive the pandemic? How do we shape a better “new normal,” wherein even the concept of normal itself is liberated from various constraints? We can start by talking about it.
Kitchen Ghost
Digging into the origins of her family's Filipino–Polish food traditions, Lola Milholand finds a tangle of colonialism, identity, and hurt.
Cuentos del Rio (River Tales)
Program Coordinator Rozzell Medina will interview director Julie Schroell after this online screening presented by Portland EcoFilm Festival.
People, Places, Things
Gwen Trice in Maxville, Oregon
Conspiracy Theories: Truth, Facts, and Tin Foil Hats with Jennifer Roberts
Why do we gravitate toward conspiracy theories to make sense of the world? What human need do these stories fill? In this program, we’ll explore some conspiracy theories old and new, famous and obscure.
CANCELED - Live to Work or Work to Live?: Exploring What Makes a Job Good
Most adults spend most of their waking hours working. Yet, we rarely have the time to consider why certain work brings us satisfaction and other work does not. Do our jobs define our personal success? Are some jobs more valuable than others? How do jobs contribute to national success or failure? This conversation, led by historian Nikki Mandell, will engage participants in thinking about and discussing work more deeply. Participants will explore the quality and meanings of work in their own lives and those of people different from themselves and the connections between work as a personal endeavor and jobs as part of local and national economies. This conversation can be adapted to the needs and goals of the host organization and group of participants.
This event has been postponed and will be rescheduled.Conversation Project: Race and Place
Many Oregonians have a vision of a future that includes communities built on values of diversity, equity, and inclusion. At the same time, we live in a society that marginalizes and excludes people of color. Facilitators Traci Price and Anita Yap will lead participants in a conversation that looks at how Oregon’s history of racism influences our present and asks, How can understanding Oregon’s historic and current impacts of racism contribute to our sense of place and vision of the future? How can diversity and inclusion create thriving communities?
On Paper Wings—2008
Brett Campbell writes about how an Oregon filmmaker set out to tell the story of six Oregonians killed by Japanese balloon bombs during World War II in the 2008 “Strangers” issue.
Our Most-read Stories of 2019
Our readers' favorite articles and videos from the past year explore housing and exclusion, hidden histories, race, gender, and poverty.
OH Grant Event: Stories My Mother and Father Told Me: Diana Lo Mei Hing
Diana Lo Mei Hing shares stories about growing up in China on the eve of the Cultural Revolution and in Italy. She was born in Hong Kong and spent her childhood in Canton City, China in the years leading up to the Cultural Revolution. When she was eleven, the family fled to Milan, Italy where she received a fine arts education. She is a well known artist in Italy where she continues to exhibit. Since 2015, she and her American husband, a fine art photographer, have made their home in Portland. This event is part of the Portland Chinatown History Museum's ongoing series, Stories My Mother and Father Told Me, a series exploring the experiences of immigrants in Oregon featuring artists, writers, and community elders.
CANCELED - Conversation Project: What Are You?
The number of mixed-race people and interracial families in Oregon is growing. What are the challenges and benefits of growing up mixed-race, raising mixed-race children, or being an interracial couple in a state that’s historically been mostly white? How can we openly discuss our own ethnic and racial heritage with each other without being regarded as odd or unusual? How have the answers to “What are you?” changed through the decades? Dmae Roberts, who has written essays and produced film and radio documentaries about being a biracial Asian American in Oregon, leads a discussion of heritage that goes beyond checking one race on US Census forms. This conversation will take place at the PCC Rock Creek Event Center, Section A.
This event has been postponed and will be rescheduled.OH Grant Event: Oregon Experience: “The Modoc War”
Oregon Experience: The Modoc War examines one of the most dramatic American Indian wars in US history—and one that happened in and near Klamath. The Modoc War of 1872 to 1873 was one of the costliest American Indian wars in US history, considering the number of people involved. For nearly seven months, a handful of Modoc Indian warriors and their families held off hundreds of US Army soldiers. The documentary revisits the battle scenes, and uses rare historical images and original wood cut drawings from the period. Interviews with Modoc descendants, national historians and written first-hand accounts, bring the Modoc War to life. There will be a Q & A after the showing, as well as a reception with the Klamath County Museum.
Conversation Project: What Are You?
The number of mixed-race people and interracial families in Oregon is growing. What are the challenges and benefits of growing up mixed-race, raising mixed-race children, or being an interracial couple in a state that’s historically been mostly white? How can we openly discuss our own ethnic and racial heritage with each other without being regarded as odd or unusual? How have the answers to “What are you?” changed through the decades? Dmae Roberts, who has written essays and produced film and radio documentaries about being a biracial Asian American in Oregon, leads a discussion of heritage that goes beyond checking one race on US Census forms. This event will take place in the Education Room.
Conversation Project: Live to Work or Work to Live?
Most adults spend most of their waking hours working. Yet, we rarely have the time to consider why certain work brings us satisfaction and other work does not. Do our jobs define our personal success? Are some jobs more valuable than others? How do jobs contribute to national success or failure? This conversation, led by historian Nikki Mandell, will engage participants in thinking about and discussing work more deeply. Participants will explore the quality and meanings of work in their own lives and those of people different from themselves and the connections between work as a personal endeavor and jobs as part of local and national economies. This conversation can be adapted to the needs and goals of the host organization and group of participants.
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Many Oregonians have a vision of a future that includes communities built on values of diversity, equity, and inclusion. At the same time, we live in a society that marginalizes and excludes people of color. Facilitators Traci Price and Anita Yap will lead participants in a conversation that looks at how Oregon’s history of racism influences our present and asks, How can understanding Oregon’s historic and current impacts of racism contribute to our sense of place and vision of the future? How can diversity and inclusion create thriving communities?
Black Mark, Black Legend
Intisar Abioto writes about uncovering the lineage of Black artists in Portland.
Black Mark, Black Legend
Intisar Abioto explores the legacy of Black artists in Portland and the meaning of that history for current creators in the community, as part of Oregon Humanities' Emerging Journalists, Community Stories fellowship program.
Conversation Project: Power, Privilege, and Racial Diversity in Oregon
Although Census data show Oregon’s population becoming more racially diverse, the state remains one of the whitest in the nation. Many Oregonians value racial diversity and the dimension and depth it adds to our lives, yet we remain largely isolated from one another and have yet to fulfill the vision of a racially integrated society. Willamette University professor Emily Drew will lead participants in a conversation about the challenges to creating racially diverse, inclusive communities despite the accomplishments since the civil rights era. What does the racial integration of place require of us, and how might we prepare to create and embrace this opportunity?
Conversation Project: Power, Privilege, and Racial Diversity in Oregon
Although Census data show Oregon’s population becoming more racially diverse, the state remains one of the whitest in the nation. Many Oregonians value racial diversity and the dimension and depth it adds to our lives, yet we remain largely isolated from one another and have yet to fulfill the vision of a racially integrated society. Willamette University professor Emily Drew will lead participants in a conversation about the challenges to creating racially diverse, inclusive communities despite the accomplishments since the civil rights era. What does the racial integration of place require of us, and how might we prepare to create and embrace this opportunity?
Oregon Shorts
The Northwest Film Festival's program of Oregon short films includes Sika Stanton and Donnell Alexander's "An Oregon Canyon," produced as part of Oregon Humanities' This Land project.
Conversation Project: What Are You? Mixed-Race and Interracial Families in Oregon’s Past and Future
The number of mixed-race people and interracial families in Oregon is growing. What are the challenges and benefits of growing up mixed-race, raising mixed-race children, or being an interracial couple in a state that’s historically been mostly white? How can we openly discuss our own ethnic and racial heritage with each other without being regarded as odd or unusual? How have the answers to “What are you?” changed through the decades? Dmae Roberts, who has written essays and produced film and radio documentaries about being a biracial Asian American in Oregon, leads a discussion of heritage that goes beyond checking one race on US Census forms.
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: What Are You? Mixed-Race and Interracial Families in Oregon’s Past and Future
The number of mixed-race people and interracial families in Oregon is growing. What are the challenges and benefits of growing up mixed-race, raising mixed-race children, or being an interracial couple in a state that’s historically been mostly white? How can we openly discuss our own ethnic and racial heritage with each other without being regarded as odd or unusual? How have the answers to “What are you?” changed through the decades? Dmae Roberts, who has written essays and produced film and radio documentaries about being a biracial Asian American in Oregon, leads a discussion of heritage that goes beyond checking one race on US Census forms.
Conversation Project: Power, Privilege, and Racial Diversity in Oregon
Although Census data show Oregon’s population becoming more racially diverse, the state remains one of the whitest in the nation. Many Oregonians value racial diversity and the dimension and depth it adds to our lives, yet we remain largely isolated from one another and have yet to fulfill the vision of a racially integrated society. Willamette University professor Emily Drew will lead participants in a conversation about the challenges to creating racially diverse, inclusive communities despite the accomplishments since the civil rights era. What does the racial integration of place require of us, and how might we prepare to create and embrace this opportunity?
Black Nightshade and Bierocks
Heather Arndt Anderson writes about finding connections to her Volga German ancestors through recipes and semi-poisonous berries.
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
A Lot to Ask of a Name
Natchee Blu Barnd on how Native American names are used as symbols in white spaces
Vanport Mosaic Festival 2018
The 2018 Vanport Mosaic Festival offers six days of memory activism opportunities, commemorating the seventieth anniversary of the Vanport Flood and the fiftieth anniversary of the Fair Housing Act through screenings, live performances, tours, exhibits, and community engagement initiatives
Vanport Mosaic Festival 2018
The 2018 Vanport Mosaic Festival offers six days of memory activism opportunities, commemorating the seventieth anniversary of the Vanport Flood and the fiftieth anniversary of the Fair Housing Act through screenings, live performances, tours, exhibits, and community engagement initiatives
Vanport Mosaic Festival 2018
The 2018 Vanport Mosaic Festival offers six days of memory activism opportunities, commemorating the seventieth anniversary of the Vanport Flood and the fiftieth anniversary of the Fair Housing Act through screenings, live performances, tours, exhibits, and community engagement initiatives
Vanport Mosaic Festival 2018
The 2018 Vanport Mosaic Festival offers six days of memory activism opportunities, commemorating the seventieth anniversary of the Vanport Flood and the fiftieth anniversary of the Fair Housing Act through screenings, live performances, tours, exhibits, and community engagement initiatives
Vanport Mosaic Festival 2018
The 2018 Vanport Mosaic Festival offers six days of memory activism opportunities, commemorating the seventieth anniversary of the Vanport Flood and the fiftieth anniversary of the Fair Housing Act through screenings, live performances, tours, exhibits, and community engagement initiatives.
Vanport Mosaic Festival 2018
The 2018 Vanport Mosaic Festival offers six days of memory activism opportunities, commemorating the seventieth anniversary of the Vanport Flood and the fiftieth anniversary of the Fair Housing Act through screenings, live performances, tours, exhibits, and community engagement initiatives.
White Man's Territory
Kenneth R. Coleman writes about the exclusionary intent behind the 1850 Donation Land Act in this excerpt from his book, Dangerous Subjects: James D. Saules and the Rise of Black Exclusion in Oregon.
Never Paid in Full
April Slabosheski on what Holocaust reparations can teach us about seemingly immeasurable debts
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Facilitators Anita Yap and Traci Price will lead participants in a conversation that looks at how Oregon’s history of racism influences our present and asks, How can understanding historic and current impacts of racism in Oregon contribute to our sense of place and vision of the future?
Conversation Project: What Makes a Job Good?
This conversation engages participants in exploring the quality and meanings of work in their own lives and in the lives of others.
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Conversation Project: What Makes a Job Good?
This conversation, led by historian Nikki Mandell, will engage participants in thinking about and discussing work more deeply. Participants will explore the quality and meanings of work in their own lives and those of people different from themselves and the connections between work as a personal endeavor and jobs as part of local and national economies.
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Read. Talk. Think.
Things that make you say O. Hm.
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Unresolved Issues of the Twentieth Century: The Quest For the Repatriation of Nazi Looted Art
Donald S. Burris, one of a small group of American lawyers who have dedicated their careers to assisting survivors and their heirs in regaining artworks stolen from them by the Nazis, will talk about his firm's successful retrieval of Gustav Klimt's "Woman in Gold."
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: What Makes a Job Good? *POSTPONED*
Most adults spend most of their waking hours working. Yet, we rarely have the time to consider why certain work brings us satisfaction and other work does not. This conversation, led by historian Nikki Mandell, will engage participants in thinking about and discussing work more deeply.
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
PLAYA Presents: Earth Shaking News
A discussion with noted vulcanologist Katharine Cashman about how our landscape got here and how we live on it now. This program is made possible in part by a Public Program Grant from Oregon Humanities.
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
CANCELED: History in the News
Discuss current events in historical context at a monthly roundtable with Mid-Valley historians, political scientists, and other experts. The topic of each discussion will be pulled straight from the headlines ten days in advance.
History in the News: Oregon's Own History of Sexual Harassment, Abuse, and Assault
Discuss current events in historical context at a monthly roundtable with Mid-Valley historians, political scientists, and other experts. The topic of each discussion will be pulled straight from the headlines ten days in advance.
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
History in the News: Whose Monuments? Whose Memory?
Join Willamette Heritage Center for a panel discussion on historical monuments, memory, and the complex history of colonialism, racism, and white supremacist imagery in American culture. This is an Oregon Humanities grant-funded event.
Finding Home at the Mims
From the 1940s to '60s, the Mims House was a safe place to stay for African Americans traveling through Oregon. Now it’s a gathering place for the Black community in Eugene. Video by Nisha Burton.
Conversation Project: Race and Place
Racism and Resilience in Oregon's Past and Future
Conversation Project: What Are You?
Mixed-Race and Interracial Families in Oregon’s Past and Future
Reaching Back for Truth
Gwen Trice has spent the last fifteen years uncovering her father’s legacy and the history of Oregon’s Black loggers, who lived and worked in Wallowa County at a time when Oregon law excluded Blacks from the state.
More to the Story
A grade-school musical offers educators and students a chance to reexamine history. An article by Marty Hughley with photos by Fred Joe
History in the News
A panel discussion putting the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse in social and historical perspective with other monumental natural phenomena. This event is funded in part by a grant from Oregon Humanities.
Think & Drink with Walidah Imarisha
A conversation on criminalization, poverty, prisons, harm, and systems of accountability within the US criminal justice system with writer and educator Walidah Imarisha.
History in the News: Should Historians Be Pundits?
Recent editorials in the New York Times, The Atlantic, and The Washington Post have raised questions about whether and how historians ought to opine on current events and political issues. Are historians supposed to be apolitical? How should historians engage in political debate—if at all? This event is funded in part by a grant from Oregon Humanities.
History in the News: Real Stories of "Fake" News
Accusations and allegations about “fake news" and the manipulations of “mainstream media” aren’t unique to America in the twenty first century. Join Willamette Heritage Center for a conversation about the history of journalism’s role in educating, empowering, and enraging Oregonians. This event is funded in part by a grant from Oregon Humanities.
Conversation Project: What Are You?
Mixed-Race and Interracial Families in Oregon's Past and Future
History in the News: Citizenship and Civil Liberties on the World War I Home Front
Discuss current events in historical context at a monthly roundtable. This is an Oregon Humanities grant-funded event.
Vanport Mosaic Festival
Theater, documentaries, historic exhibits, lectures, and tours will explore will explore the history and legacy of Vanport. Oregon Humanities is a cosponsor of this event.
The Opposite of What We Know
Writer Putsata Reang reflects on the project "Bitter Harvest"
Bitter Harvest
Writer Putsata Reang and filmmaker Ivy Lin explore the stories of Chinese laborers in the 1900s who helped establish the state's reputation as an international beer capital, despite exclusion laws that kept them from owning the hop farms where they worked.
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
History in the News: Crowds and Controversies in Oregon's Parks and Wilderness
Discuss current events in historical context at a monthly roundtable. This is an Oregon Humanities grant-funded event.
Race & Place: Old Town's Chinatown and Japantown through Chinese American and Nikkei Eyes
Chinese and Japanese American elders explore Old Town's multiethnic and multiracial past. This is an Oregon Humanities grant-funded event.
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Conversation Project: Stone Soup
How Recipes Can Preserve History and Nourish Community
Conversation Project: A World without Secrets
Privacy and Expectations in the US
Race & Place: Old Town's Chinatown and Japantown through Chinese American and Nikkei Eyes
Chinese and Japanese American elders explore Old Town's multiethnic and multiracial past. This is an Oregon Humanities grant-funded event.
History in the News: Immigration in Oregon's Past and Present
The first program of the 2017 History in the News forum series explores the history of immigration, immigration law, and immigrant rights in Oregon. This is an Oregon Humanities grant-funded event.
Dry Years, Wet Years, Tradition and Change: An Evening with Patricia Nelson Limerick
This is an Oregon Humanities grant-funded event.
Conversation Project: What Are You?
Mixed-Race and Interracial Families in Oregon's Past and Future
Portland Expo Center: A Hidden History
This film produced by Jodi Darby for Oregon Humanities shares the experiences of Japanese Americans who were imprisoned in the Portland Expo Center during World War II.
Words Have Life
Filmmaker Sika Stanton reflects on the making of “An Oregon Canyon”
Facing the N-Word
Writer Donnell Alexander reflects on the making of “An Oregon Canyon”
Within Makeshift Walls
Author Eric Gold on the Portland Expo Center’s era as a prison for Japanese Americans during World War II.
The Farmers of Tanner Creek
Writer Putsata Reang on the little-known history of Chinese farmers and vegetable peddlers in Portland
"I'm Not Staying Here Another Day"
A conversation about the Great Migration with Isabel Wilkerson and Rukaiyah Adams
Just People Like Us
Writer Guy Maynard on a little-known history of a Southern Oregon community during World War II where prisoners of war were more welcome than US military of color
A Tremendous Force of Will
A conversation about the Great Migration's and the civil right movement with Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Isabel Wilkerson
Between Ribbon and Root
Hope and a history of tragedy live together in a Cowlitz woman's son. An essay by Christine Dupres
Posts
Readers write about Root
Community in Flux
The long-persecuted Roma people begin to speak out. By Lisa Loving
Civil Rights with Guns
Are there alternatives to police that could keep communities safe? Author Kristian Williams discusses lessons from the Black Freedom Movement.
A Return Passage
Reporter Putsata Reang and photographer Kim Nguyen share their stories of leaving their home countries as refugees, meeting as students at the University of Oregon, and returning to Southeast Asia as journalists. A film produced by Dawn Jones for Oregon Humanities.
What's the Use?
Why bother with history? Why bother at all? An essay by Robert Leo Heilman
Origin Stories
The surprising beginnings of six of Oregons claims to fame
A Hidden History
Walidah Imarisha on revealing the stories and struggles of Oregon’s African American communities.
Dangerous Subjects
An excerpt from R. Gregory Nokes's book Breaking Chains looks back at Oregon's history of exclusionary laws.
Fearful Beauty
Embracing both the wonder and terror of awe. An essay by Courtney Campbell
Rodeo City
Pendleton has built its identity around a dogged loyalty to tradition. An essay by Sarah Mirk
A Century of War
Writer and historian Andrew Bacevich on changing the way Americans think about war
Against Custom
The first peace advocates imagined a new story for the United States. An essay by Margot Minardi
Water Wars
Journalist J. David Santen Jr. on how battles, compromises, and resolutions abound in a state flush with water.
The State That Timber Built
Tara Rae Miner on what Oregon owes the struggling timber communities that helped shape the state’s identity
Under God
Frances Bellamy and the origins of the Pledge of Allegiance. By Richard Ellis
Immobile Dreams
How did the trailer come to be a symbol of failure? An essay by Rebecca Hartman
Legally White
Muslim immigrants vie for citizenship in the early twentieth century. By Kambiz Ghaneabassiri
Drown
Two rivers; two Western tales of hubris
A Nation of Can-Do Optimists
A brief history of American cheerfulness by Ariel Gore
Continual Watching
Historian Bob Bussel on Oregon's long history of protecting workers
What Remains
A search for the site of a notorious massacre in Hells Canyon
Seen Though Not Heard
In the designs on a Klikitat basket, a woman finds an unspoken link to her past. An essay by Christine Dupres
Far from Home
The history and future of Slavic refugees in Oregon. By Susan W. Hardwick