Bridging the Past: A Conversation on History, Healing & Hope

Whitman College will host a Black History Month event titled “Bridging the Past: A Conversation on History, Healing and Hope” on Monday, Feb. 3, at 7 p.m. in Olin Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

“Bridging the Past” will include a conversation between Mariah Rocker (Oregon Black Pioneers) and Taylor Stewart (Oregon Remembrance Project), facilitated by Robert Franklin, Assistant Professor of History at Washington State University Tri-Cities. The presenters will discuss the importance of Oregon Black history, their joint efforts to create more Black space in Oregon, and the contemporary challenges facing Black advancement in the Pacific Northwest.

“This is a great opportunity to learn about the long and enduring presence and legacy of Black people in the Pacific Northwest,” says Kazi Joshua, Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students at Whitman College. “We are grateful to both Oregon Black Pioneers and the Oregon Remembrance Project for their leadership and work in this area.”

People of African descent have lived and worked in Oregon since before the founding of the earliest English-speaking settlements in the Americas. Despite this, the popular narrative of the state’s history excludes the experiences of African Americans before the mid-20th century. This erasure is the result of historic legal and social marginalization that contributes to the ignorance of Oregon’s Black heritage, as well as influences contemporary disparities in housing access, community investment and policing.

About the Speakers

Mariah Rocker is the Public Programs and Exhibits Manager at Oregon Black Pioneers, Oregon’s only historical society dedicated to preserving and presenting the experiences of African Americans. For more than 30 years, the organization has illuminated the seldom-told stories of people of African descent in Oregon through engaging exhibits, public programs, publications and historical research.

Taylor Stewart is the Founder and Executive Director of the Oregon Remembrance Project. Stewart started the organization in 2018 to help communities unearth stories of injustice and engage in the necessary truth telling and repair required to reconcile instances of historical harm. His work connects historical racism to its present-day legacies in order to inspire contemporary racial justice action.