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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 10, 2018)
Page 10 The Skanner January 10, 2018 Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Black Pioneers’ New Exhibit Tell Stories of the Civil Rights Era Department of Employment, Oregon State Employment Office, Job Placement Office. January 11, 1968 Williams Ave district. By Melanie Sevcenko Of The Skanner News tarting on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the Oregon Black Pioneers will invite Oregonians to join them in what they do best — looking to their shared past. The historians’ newest and largest exhibit to date, “Racing to Change: Oregon’s Civil Rights Years,” will open on Jan. 15 at the Oregon Histori- cal Society and will offer visitors an opportunity to experience the strug- gles and achievements of the 1960s and 70s in their home state. S For the past two years, the all-volunteer non-profit organization based in Salem has been collecting stories and overturning artifacts to compile a history of con- flict, courage and change of a volatile time. The exhibition picks up chronologically where its last one, “Community on the Move” — which examined Black Portland life in the 1940s and 50s — left off. Triggering a Movement “We had just come out of the ‘50s, where there were certain (protective) laws that had been enact- DELAY72 PHOTO BY ALLEN DELAY (1915-2005) PHOTO BY ALLEN DELAY (1915-2005) “Racing to Change” will be on display at the Oregon Historical Society January 15 – June 2018 McDonalds, Union & Fremont. Voter registration drive. Nate Proby administering oath.(president, United Minority Workers), Voter is Francis Newman. April 18, 197 ed, but the discrimina- tory practices were still roughly the same as they had been before,” Black Pioneers secretary Gwen Carr, told The Skanner. “And so people were still struggling with trying to get an education and a job and a home.” It was those racist at- titudes and policies of exclusion faced by Ore- gon’s Black population that spurred the civil rights movement, which was largely reflective of what was happening on the national stage. Nevertheless, through the dedicated efforts of volunteers, the Pioneers have composed a region- al portrait of the struggle towards equality from various archives, private collections, and personal and public stories. The result is a larger cultur- al and legal context of discrimination and dis- placement at that time. “It’s important to point out that the photo work in (the exhibit) is real- ly of Oregon’s time and Oregon people,” said Black Pioneers president Willie Richardson, who noted many civil rights movement retrospec- tives focus on southern states. “You’re going to be looking at your home- town folks who were ac- tivists.” A New Black Identity In the 1960s, Black cul- ture went through tre- mendous change, giving rise to a new sense of Black identity with Af- ro-centric style. So part of the fun of the exhib- it, the Pioneers told The Skanner, is seeing how the some of the movers and shakers of Oregon communities — includ- ing Portland State pro- fessor Darrell Millner and education advocates Ron Herndon and Joyce Harris — looked back then. “I think one of our les- sons learned from prior exhibits is that because there is so much materi- al, and so much to say , that you tend to want to say it all,” said Carr. “And yet in an exhibit, you have to find that balance between saying it and showing it - or having people experience it.” In addition to rare pho- tographs of the move- ment’s key players, “Rac- ing to Change” includes artifacts, captions and quotes in place of heavy texts; as well as interac- tive components, includ- ing a chance for visitors to act out scenes from the Sidney Poitier classic film, “A Raisin in the Sun.” Students as Catalysts for Change Visitors can also expe- rience a mock dormitory room — decorated with posters of Black Power icons and various para- phernalia of the era – to get a sense of what a col- lege campus might look like back then. “A lot of what was go- ing on then was centered on college campuses, so you’re looking at east- ern Oregon, southern Oregon, that’s where the action was taking place,” said Carr. “The more re- search we did, the more we found how important young people were as a catalyst for that across the state.” With historically Black neighborhoods and busi- nesses being demolished, and school integration measures proving to be more disruptive than in- tended, students became exceedingly frustrated with the lack of progress and so made their voices heard. Carr herself was ac- tively involved in the civil rights movement in Los Angeles, where she Museum to Charge Free Admission on MLK Day In celebration of the opening of the “Racing to Change” exhibit, ad- mission will be free for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day holiday. Museum hours are 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Jan. 15. The museum is open seven days a week, Mon- day – Saturday from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sunday from 12 p.m. – 5 p.m. Ad- mission is $11, and dis- counts are available for students, seniors, and youth. Admission is free for OHS members and Mult- nomah County residents. attended a small private college. “So seeing this again and talking about it brings back memories,” said Carr. “When you’re in college you’re trying to figure, ‘what can I do?’ But we hit the streets with signs, we had fo- rums and we had allies.” Bridging Generations The exhibit will also cover how media, in ad- dition to other forms of communication and ex- pression in Black com- munities, became more influential at that time – including theater, news- papers, radio stations, and even the church- es — particularly with the Vietnam War that spanned the era. Aimed at people of all ages and backgrounds, the inclusive exhibit works to bridge the gen- erational gap and will feature activities for children, as well as offer a corresponding curric- ulum for teachers. “Racing for Change” See EXHIBIT on page 12
