Special Exhibition: We Were Here First… And We're Here to Stay! Assimilation, Termination and Restoration of the Grand Ronde Tribe Exhibit Opens to the Public
Friday, April 12 – Monday, May 27, 2013
In 1954, one hundred years after the Indians of western Oregon were removed to the Grand Ronde Reservation; the United States implemented its termination policy. The permanent Grand Ronde Reservation, settled in 1855 and established by presidential executive order in 1857, was terminated by Congress, the seven ratified treaties were nullified and the tribal people lost their Federal recognition. In western Oregon, native people appeared to cease to exist. For 29 years Grand Ronde’s tribal cultures, languages, and community were severely fractured and much was lost. During the post-termination era, despite all of the problems the tribal members faced, they found ways to survive and worked to restore the tribe. In 1983, the Grand Ronde Tribe was restored. The exhibition, curated by the Cultural Resources Department of the CTGR, explores experiences of tribal members living through efforts by the U.S. government to liquidate the Grand Ronde Tribe forever. The stories of loss endured by tribal peoples for 160 years put into context the tribe’s 40 year journey to fight back through federal restoration and the subsequent building of a tribal nation. The exhibition occurs on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the restored Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon.

Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War
Friday, June 21 – Friday, July 26

The Center is thrilled to host Lincoln: The Constitution and the Civil War, a nationally traveling exhibition which focuses on Abraham Lincoln's struggle to meet the constitutional challenges of the Civil War. This exhibit is brought to us by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Constitution Center and the American Library Association.

Using the Constitution as the cohesive thread, this exhibition offers a fresh and innovative perspective on Lincoln that focuses on his struggle to meet political and constitutional challenges. Organized thematically, the exhibition explores how Lincoln used the Constitution to confront three intertwined crises of the war--the secession of Southern states, slavery, and wartime civil liberties. Visitors will leave the exhibition with a more complete understanding of Abraham Lincoln as president and the Civil War as the nation's gravest constitutional crisis. In addition, the Center will add a section featuring aspects of the Civil War years in western Oregon.

WHC History Pub
5:30 p.m. on five Thursdays between June 13 through July 25
Come raise a pint and listen to stories of Abraham Lincoln and/or the Civil War era. The Center's History Pub presentations explore various aspects of Lincoln's presidency and/or our country's Civil War. Sponsored in part by local breweries. $3 for members
and $5 for non-members. Beer and food will be available. Beer only for those 21 and
over with valid ID.

June 27 - Kenneth Coleman, “Dangerous Subjects: Black Exclusion and the Anxiety of Conquest in the Willamette Valley”
Coleman brings a look at Oregon’s first black exclusion law of 1844, and places it in the regional shift that was happening from British colonialism to American settlers. While white immigrants claimed the law was necessary to prevent slavery from taking root in the region, historical evidence suggests that the real reason for the law was their fear that Oregon’s few black residents would join with local Indian tribes to attack their newly founded settlements.

WHC History Pub
5:30 p.m. on five Thursdays between June 13 through July 25
Come raise a pint and listen to stories of Abraham Lincoln and/or the Civil War era. The Center's History Pub presentations explore various aspects of Lincoln's presidency and/or our country's Civil War. Sponsored in part by local breweries. $3 for members and $5 for non-members. Beer and food will be available. Beer only for those 21 and over with valid ID.

July 11- Dr. David Sumner, “Brother Against Brother: Pragmatism, Civility and the Civil War”
April 2011 marked the sesquicentennial of the first shots fired in the American Civil War. This war changed the way Americans approached disagreement and fostered the birth of the one major American contribution to philosophy: pragmatism. One hundred and fifty years later, how can the lessons of this national crisis inform the ways we conduct our current debates? More often than not, conversations on the radio or cable news surrounding the difficult issues faced by our communities and nation are about hardened positions and talking past one another, rather than real engagement with each other’s ideas. Join Sumner for a discussion about how we can look to pragmatism to help us move past entrenched positions and engage in productive discussions about important issues.

WHC History Pub
5:30 p.m. on five Thursdays between June 13 through July 25
Come raise a pint and listen to stories of Abraham Lincoln and/or the Civil War era. The Center's History Pub presentations explore various aspects of Lincoln's presidency and/or our country's Civil War. Sponsored in part by local breweries. $3 for members and $5 for non-members. Beer and food will be available. Beer only for those 21 and over with valid ID.

July 18 - Dr. Richard Wayne Etulain, “Lincoln and the Oregon Country”
This illustrated talk discloses important links between Abraham Lincoln and the Oregon Country in the 1850s and 1860s. The presentation will show that residents of the Pacific Northwest, though distant from major battles, were emotionally involved in Civil War controversies, particularly in the areas of politics, civil rights, Indian relations, and North-South ideological conflicts. Dr. Etulain do a book signing for his new work, “Lincoln and Oregon Country,” after the talk.

WHC History Pub
5:30 p.m. on five Thursdays between June 13 through July 25
Come raise a pint and listen to stories of Abraham Lincoln and/or the Civil War era. The Center's History Pub presentations explore various aspects of Lincoln's presidency and/or our country's Civil War. Sponsored in part by local breweries. $3 for members and $5 for non-members. Beer and food will be available. Beer only for those 21 and over with valid ID.

July 25 - Dr. Jennifer Jopp, “John Beeson and His Contemporaries: A Call to Conscience”
Men and women arriving in Oregon, fixated on acquiring land, were loath to see it as belonging to others. John Beeson refused to tolerate this view, and he called on others to “by every principal of…justice” see the humanity in Native Peoples. Beeson succeeded only in making his fellow Oregonians angry and they drove him from the territory. He saw this, however, as the opportunity to gain a greater audience for his ideas and he joined with others engaged in similar struggles throughout the country. Corresponding, meeting and working with Wendell Phillips, Lydia Maria Child, Peter Cooper and Abraham Lincoln, Beeson sought to draw attention to issues in Oregon. This talk examines Beeson’s participation in a larger conversation on civil rights throughout the Civil War era and sheds light on Oregon’s place in the wider national discourse.