This Spring Term the OMA was incredibly excited to work with the class Ethnic Studies 553: Ethnohistory Methodology taught by Professor Natchee Barnd. The students used archival resources both in the OMA and the Benton County Historical Society to showcase the histories of the Corvallis area’s traditionally marginalized groups including people of color, women, and members of the LGBTQ community. The class researched and wrote the stories and complied them into a fantastic downtown walking tour. And, with the assistance of the OSU Libraries, there is now a Tour Web App as well!
The class consisted of four students who each researched and wrote about a different Corvallis area story:
Together the students complied a set of 16 stories and chose locations of significance around the Corvallis downtown area to highlight the histories based on 5 themes ~ resilience, community, visibility, home, and mobility:
The June 4th Tour!
At the end of the term, the class invited a group of OSU community members to take part in a student led tour and the OMA was there (check out the photos below).
And, the tour was featured in the Gazette-Times; check out the article “Giving Due to the Marginalized” by Canda Funqua with photos by Andy Cripe.
Also, if you are interested in more OSU stories regarding people of color, check out the campus tour guidebook Untold Stories: Histories of Students of Color at OSU
Bus Tour!
Downtown Corvallis
I was interested in seeing your social justice tour. My grandfather H.E. Cosby worked
as a leader for the Oregon State Agricultural College in the 1920′ s and 1920’s. He and his contemporaries traveled to educated farmers, etc. around Oregon. He and others in his socially conscious group fought against the KKK getting a foothold in Corvallis. He himself was nursed by a “Negro Wet Nurse” back in Indiana and as family oral traditions goes, when the KKK came to town he told their leaders to “All go to hell where they came from!” Places like Grants Pass and Medford let the KKK in, but one has to wonder why it never did get a foothold in Corvallis. Our family believe it was because of a very progressive Methodist Minister at the time, who shared a series of sermons on Racial Harmony, insisting that one is considering a blood transfusion to save one’s life, we never consider the color of one’s skin, as the color of our blood is indeed “All the Same!”. Progressive thinkers came from Corvallis and my grandfather H.E. Cosby was one of them. We are proud! He lived a 426 34th Street.
Thanks so much for sharing your story!