This title is nearly an oxymoron. There are historic truths, but what we known of history is an invention of mostly people who did not personally experience that history. In truth, historians write histories all the time where they assume that what they are writing is true, based on the preponderance of evidence. Mostly historians … [Read more…]
Yachats, today, is a tourist area on the Oregon Coast. The area is known for its amazingly beautiful coastline, for sea lions, and whale watching and weekend vacationing. That reputation is in stark contrast to the original use of the location in the mid-nineteenth century as an Indian reservation, a sub-agency of the larger Alsea … [Read more…]
We know that Native stories, what we call oral history now, were history of our lands and peoples. Many were also teaching lessons for children. Their parents and elders in the tribes would set aside time in the winter time, usually at night to tell stories land, how it was formed, the strange animals, the … [Read more…]
When the western Oregon tribes were terminated, the federal government reported that we had agreed to be terminated. This story is pervasive throughout the region with tribes, Oregonians and history books all professing the willingness of the western Oregon tribes to be terminated. This story affected people’s identities, where members of terminated tribes were not … [Read more…]