Category: Personal History

Kalapuya, Native Issues, Personal History, presentations, Willamette ValleyLeave a comment

Native Salem Exhibit

David G. Lewis, PhD

This summer (2021) I was approached by the Bush Art Museum to do something for Native American month. Over the period of several months of discussion, we centered the exhibit themes on a few Native stories directly related to Salem. I wrote out those themes over the course of a few days and then we began picking images for the exhibit. What emerged was a mostly narrative-driven exhibit with some images to support the narrative. This was decided even though the majority of exhibitions are light on words and image-heavy. But the nature of the early history of Salem, Oregon … Continue reading Native Salem Exhibit

assimilation, education, General History, Grand Ronde Reservation, Oregon indians, Personal History, Termination, treaties1 Comment

Development of Tribal Cultural Identity at the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation

David G. Lewis, PhD

A good number of people have over the years shown some confusion about the identity of the tribal members at the Grand Ronde tribe. Many natives and non-natives still do not understand the impact of the removal of the people from their lands, their assimilation to American society, and the somewhat unique situation of being terminated in 1954.  It is not that termination is unique to Grand Ronde, because 109 tribes were terminated nationally, but there are few other reservations that can claim 27 to 35 tribes and be terminated, leaving many people without federal status and related to so … Continue reading Development of Tribal Cultural Identity at the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation

Kalapuya, Oregon indians, Personal History, Uncategorized9 Comments

A Petition to Change the Name of Lane County

David G. Lewis, PhD

  In this new period of “wokeness” there are calls for the elimination of racist names and statues from our institutions. Christopher Columbus statues have been torn from their moorings and thrown into local rivers, while the statues of confederate generals and slaveowner politicians have been defaced and torn down by citizens in their rage.  Similarly, long-stalled movements to eliminate racist placenames and get rid of colonizer monuments have caused pioneer statues to be torn down at UO and Deady hall to finally get the approval to be renamed at the University of Oregon.  I have watched the movement to … Continue reading A Petition to Change the Name of Lane County

General History, Native Issues, Oregon indians, Personal HistoryLeave a comment

Revisiting the Schools I Attended

David G. Lewis, PhD

As a native person, a member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and a descendant of the Santiam, Takelma, and Chinook peoples of western Oregon, I have noted that many of the schools I attended were named for prominent persons in the settler community many of whom had interactions with tribes. I first noted this when engaged in my Ph.D. research and found that Douglas McKay was the Secretary of the Interior who pushed for termination legislation for tribes. It is instructive to me to understand what was the attitude of these prominent men towards Native peoples in the … Continue reading Revisiting the Schools I Attended

General History, Personal History2 Comments

2019 Year in Review of ndnhistoryresearch blog

David G. Lewis, PhD

2019 has been a year of many changes for me and the blog. I am now fully employed at OSU in Anthropology and Native studies. This has been very good for my finances and work in education and for finding a base of operations for my work. But, as I am now teaching 3-4 classes a term and working for advancement this leaves less time for researching, writing, and publishing on the blog. I need to begin publishing in a more professional manner and have begun mining my essays for ideas and content for a series of publications. The first … Continue reading 2019 Year in Review of ndnhistoryresearch blog