Beatrice Morrow CannadyPhoto courtesy of Oregon Historical Society Beatrice Morrow Cannady was one of Oregon's most prominent social activists of the early 20th century and a leader within Portland's early Black community. Through her legal actions, publishing, and social networks, Cannady challenged hate and injustice across the state and pushed for racial equality. Mariah Rocker […]
Amid the depths of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt formulated a bold plan for putting millions of unemployed Americans to work on the nation's public lands. Between 1933 and 1942, over 86,000 Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) enrollees worked on Oregon's national forests, state parks, and tribal lands. Their labor transformed the landscape and […]
The Three Sisters For over 200 years the U.S. has been trying to figure out what to do with its “public” lands. From surveys to sales, grazing to natural gas development, national seashores to national parks, the U.S. has had a very complicated history of land use. Our public lands are the cornerstone of the […]
Oregon's long tradition of volunteer search and rescue dates to the territorial days, when good Samaritans and mountain men came to aid those in need. On the coast, surfmen of the U.S. Life-Saving Service protected mariners traversing the "Graveyard of the Pacific." In the early twentieth century, outdoor clubs like the Mazamas, the Skyliners, and the Obsidians […]