Tribal Histories of the Willamette Valley
Oregon Indigenous historian David G. Lewis combines years of researching historical documents and collecting oral stories, highlighting Native perspectives about the history of the Willamette Valley as they experienced it.
Imagine a City
Over seventy years after the historic Vanport flood, a new community takes root through memory and storytelling. An essay by Kelly Bosworth.
Carrying the Corn Mother
Jessica Doe writes about how seed-saving connects Cherokee people across geography and generations.
Sweet Roots
Chelsea Yarnell explores how people in Tillamook County are recovering the stories and flavors of heritage apple trees.
The Long View
An excerpt from Stephen Most's book River of Renewal explores myth and restoration in the Klamath Basin.
The Flow Below
Josephine Woolington writes about learning to see the hidden springs and streams that shape Portland.
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
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.
People, Places, Things
Lana Jack (Celilo Wy-am) performs a dance in honor of her ancestors, photographed by Josué Rivas.
Preserving the Future
An archivist reflects on navigating loss and collecting histories.
Not a Circle, Not a Line
Susan DeFreitas writes about Ursula K. Le Guin's long view of the American West
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.
So Much Together: Inheritance Stories 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.
Kitchen Ghost
Digging into the origins of her family's Filipino–Polish food traditions, Lola Milholand finds a tangle of colonialism, identity, and hurt.
People, Places, Things
Gwen Trice in Maxville, Oregon
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.
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.
Black Nightshade and Bierocks
Heather Arndt Anderson writes about finding connections to her Volga German ancestors through recipes and semi-poisonous berries.
A Lot to Ask of a Name
Natchee Blu Barnd on how Native American names are used as symbols in white spaces
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
Read. Talk. Think.
Things that make you say O. Hm.
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.
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
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.
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.
Facing the N-Word
Writer Donnell Alexander reflects on the making of “An Oregon Canyon”
An Oregon Canyon
In 2014, a canyon in Jefferson County was renamed for John A. Brown, one of the first Black homesteaders in Oregon. By Sika Stanton and Donnell Alexander
Words Have Life
Filmmaker Sika Stanton 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