I have always been confused as to why there is a Chemawa Jr. High in Riverside CA. The word Chemawa is from the Kalapuya tribes of the Willamette Valley and designates a village just north of Salem, Oregon. As well there is a Native boarding school, Chemawa Indian School, that began in 1880 located north … More Socialites and Indian Baskets: Success of Harwood Hall at Sherman and Chemawa
I have made a career researching the native peoples of western Oregon. For the past 20 years, I have spent thousands of hours each year researching the tribes. I do this because when I was growing up, for the vast majority of people, no one knew the history of the tribes of Oregon. I knew … More What can we do to help Native peoples?
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. … More A Petition to Change the Name of Lane County
Territorial acknowledgments have now become commonplace at most university functions at OSU. I have heard from many that the practice now is in nearly all universities in the US and Canada. Many municipalities also practice Territorial Acknowledgements. There is something gratifying about the idea of a territorial acknowledgment, that is until one sits through an … More Tribal Territorial Acknowledgements
On 10/26, 2019 I visited the Open house at the Oregon State Archives, Salem, OR, and was supremely disappointed at their new exhibit Rust, Rot, & Ruin, which documents the beginning of key industries in Oregon through the boomtowns founded by gold mining, logging, farming and ranching, and other mining. Some of these industries produced … More Ignoring Tribal History in a Contemporary Exhibit