Women Changing Communities

Women Changing Communities is a public history project implemented by students in HST 363: Women in Modern America at Oregon State University. Students conduct oral history interviews with members of civic and political organizations in the community, who bring to life the ways in which various women have negotiated evolving ideological and cultural ideas about women and gendered institutional and political structures in the twentieth and twenty-first century United States and how they have organized to make social change in their communities. Connecting with the narrators and learning about their personal experiences and their commitment to civic engagement inspires students to become more active participants in shaping their world for the better. This project captures their voices and experiences and, through student analysis, analyzes what those individual experiences tell us about the complex and evolving history of women’s lives in the United States.