Oregon Historical Society Presents Stunning November Lineup

Oregon Historical Society has a stunning lineup of exhibits and events opening this November including:

• a Veterans' Day tribute to Black military personnel
• an exploration of the relationship between native people and white settlers
• a discussion of Latino activism in Oregon, and
• a photographic investigation of the mighty Columbia River and the treaties that mark its history

Also this November the History Pub visits Northeast Portland with a talk on the early days of the city's Northeast neighborhoods. And the first part of the month offers a last chance to see 'Ladies and Gentlemen… The Beatles!' which looks at the iconic Fab Four's visit to the United States in 1964.  

Wildflowers glow during last light on Dog Mountain by Peter Marbach is one his many beautiful photos on display this month at Oregon Historical Society

Here's the schedule:

Healing the Big River: Salmon Dreams and the Columbia River Treaty

Tuesday, November 5, 2019
 7pm – 8:30pm

For more than ten millennia, the Columbia River has been the most important and intensively used part of Oregon’s natural landscape. Perhaps nobody has devoted more time to capturing the astounding beauty of that river than photographer Peter Marbach.

In Healing the Big River: Salmon Dreams and the Columbia River Treaty, Peter’s imagery combines with compelling essays from individuals concerned about the river’s future to provide a unique window into this critical moment in the history of the Columbia.

Free and open to the public at the Oregon Historical Society, 1200 SW Park Ave., Portland 97205

You’re So Vain: Indian-White Relations in the 21st Century

Sunday, November 10, 2019
 2pm – 3:30pm

Kathleen Shaye Hill explores the relationship between the Indigenous people of North America and settler-colonists has been conflicted, contorted, and some might say schizophrenic from the beginning. In spite of the fact that Native nations are legally recognized as one of the three sovereigns in the United States, “white” systems of power have consistently dominated and intruded into the lives of Native people — and continue to do so.

This brings up some basic questions:

• Why have Native people been forced not to be who we were created to be?
• How have so many Native people adapted but still managed to sustain a distinct tribal identity?
• How can non-Natives support the inherent right of Native people to be self-determining?

The history of the Klamath Tribes will serve as a basis for this discussion.

Free and open to the public at the Oregon Historical Society, 1200 SW Park Ave.,Portland 97205

Fighting for the Right to Fight: African American Experiences in World War II

Monday, November 11, 2019
 10am – 5pm

Members of the 332nd Fighter Group attend a briefing at their airbase in Ramitelli, Italy, in 1945. Library of Congress, LC-F9-02-4503-319-07

In honor of Veterans Day the Oregon Historical Society will be offering free admission to all, thanks to the generous support of Wells Fargo, one of two national sponsors for this touring exhibit, on loan from The National World War II Museum in New Orleans.

Representatives from Veterans Legacies will also be on site to talk about their Mighty Endeavor program, whose mission is to gather veterans’ oral histories, recordings, images, and videos with the intent of using their stories to educate youth and help reconnect veterans with the community they served.

In the years leading up to World War II, discrimination was a part of daily life for many in the U.S. Yet, once World War II began, thousands of African Americans rushed to enlist, intent on serving the nation that treated them as second-class citizens.

Discover their stories in this compelling exhibition, on view through January 12, 2020.

Free and open to the public at the Oregon Historical Society, 1200 SW Park Ave., Portland 97205

Grounded in This Place: A Deep History of Latino Activism in Oregon

Sunday, November 17, 2019 2pm-3:30pm

Dr. Mario Sifuentez and Dr. Lynn Stephen present this deep history of Latinos in Oregon. It begins in the early nineteenth century, when the current southern state line was actually the northern border of Mexico, and continues through today, as new immigrants arrive and Latino Oregonians of many generations continue to shape the state.

During the twentieth century, Latino Oregonians engaged in labor activism that resulted in founding significant, ongoing organizations—such as PCUN—that continue to provide leadership in the state today. This program will explore that long history of labor organizing within national, and international, context and will consider the ongoing political impact of that work today.

Free and open to the public at the Oregon Historical Society, 1200 SW Park Ave., Portland 97205

Northeast Portland: Past, Present and Future 

Monday, November 25, 2019 
7pm – 8:30pm

Just over a century ago, orchards, open fields, and patches of forest defined the landscape of Portland’s eastside. But as a young city sprawled across the river, the rural landscape was replaced by a grid of neighborhoods, a busy streetcar system, and tens of thousands of new residents.

Successive waves of homebuilding and change in the decades that followed shaped the neighborhoods we know today. New challenges arise in this second century that are reshaping the look and feel of these Northeast Portland neighborhoods.

Using early maps, documents, photos and newspaper accounts as well as memories he’s collected from past residents, local historian Doug Decker will explore the early years of Northeast Portland neighborhoods —Sabin, Alameda, Vernon, Concordia, Beaumont-Wilshire and Cully —to examine connections between past, present, and future.

Free and open to the public
. Doors open at 6pm at McMenamins Kennedy School, 5736 NE 33rd Ave., Portland 97211

Ladies and Gentlemen… The Beatles!

On exhibit with general admission until 12 November 2019

In 1964, The Beatles came to America for the first of the group's three North American visits. Their journey in America began on Friday, February 7 of that year, when John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr arrived from the UK at the newly named John F. Kennedy International Airport.

With cameras flashing and reporters jostling, they were whisked into Manhattan amid the screams, shouts, and tears of New York-area teens, braving the cold for a mere glimpse of the band. Then, that Sunday, the veritable king of the television variety show, Ed Sullivan, introduced them to a captivated American audience of more than 73 million viewers—at the time a television record. And, just like that, Beatlemania was upon us.

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Photo by Bob Bonis of the Beatles at the Reginald Owen Residence in Bel Air California on August 23-25 1964  See more photos, items of clothing and memorablia on display at the Oregon Historical Society