On Saturday March 21, 2009, as part of Teaching American History Grant partnership with ESD 112, CCRH presented a teacher workshop, “History on Location: Uncovering Civil Rights History in our Communities” at Pearson Air Museum.
As a “History on Location” workshop, the day focused on identifying the many civil rights histories in our own backyards. The all-day workshop took place on the Vancouver National Historic Reserve, site of a vibrant 19th century multicultural community. Participants discussed ways in which local histories connect to regional and national historical events and how sites connect to the experiences of peoples. Keeping in mind the idea that hidden civil rights histories are all around us, workshop participants also explored ways to work with students to uncover those hidden histories. To get started, teachers were presented with History on Location Mapping and Questioning Exercises and a bibliography of Regional Resources on African American history.
Chief Ranger and Historian, Greg Shine, focused on uncovering Fort Vancouver’s multicultural history through a tour of the site and teachers engaged mapping invisible histories.
These websites familiarized teachers with the rich multicultural history at Fort Vancouver National Historic site: The Village and A Rich Legacy of African American History at Fort Vancouver
Dr. Darrell Millner, professor of Black Studies at Portland State University, discussed the deep African American history in the West, through an 18th and 19th century West more populated by people of color than one can see in the images and textbooks connected to the Oregon Trail. He discussed African Americans and statehood and examined why social and legal systems developed differently north and south of the Columbia River.
Teachers were asked to think about the following questions:
- What forces brought African Americans to the West?
- How did Oregon institutionalize racial exclusion in its constitution?
- How did the experiences of African Americans in various regional communities differ? How were they similar? What structural issues contributed to those similarities and differences?
Dr. Millner provided a packet of materials that includes legal documents, misleading textbook excerpts, newspaper editorials, Klan applications and photos, and photos.
Prior to the workshop, teachers viewed Dr. Quintard Taylor’s presentation at WSU Vancouver on October 8, 2008, “The Other Black Northwest: Beyond Portland and Seattle.”
They also prepared by reading portions of the Center for Columbia River History Columbia Slough Website, with a focus on African American history:
African Americans and Vanport, Oregon. Drawing the Color Line
Warning: Avoid Columbia Slough Fish
Melissa Williams and Donna Sinclair presented Uncovering the Lived Experience: Using Oral History in the Classroom with Belva Jean Griffin and Ed Washington, both of whom lived at Vanport, Oregon in 1944.
Teachers were also introduced to the Center for Columbia River History Vancouver African American History Project, a year-long student project for seniors from Lewis and Clark High School, which focused on research, interviewing, and public presentation.
Next Hyung Nam, a Global Studies and U.S. History teacher at Wilson High School in Portland, discussed “Uncovering Institutional Racism.”
He asked teachers to think about the following questions:
How do segregation and racial disparities persist after the Civil Rights Era?
How does Portland’s history of segregation and environmental racism compare to the national history?
Nam engaged teachers in a Tribunal Role Play exercise
Teachers were asked to read, Where Race Lives.
The day concluded with consideration of the present “post-Civil Rights era.” Nam presented evidence of institutional racism all around. See, for example, Communities of Color Bear Heaviest Burden in Recession, Wealth, Income, and Power, How Does Wealth Vary According to Race?, Racial Segregation in Education.
Next, Nam focused specifically on environmental racism.
Teachers worked through the tribunal and discussed both its advantages (it actively engages students and gets them thinking about a multi-faceted problem) and its limitations (students spend their time pointing fingers and passing the buck rather than collaboratively problem solving.) Lastly, they discussed Portland’s history of redlining and its impact on wealth.
