Racing to Change: Oregon’s Civil Rights Years

Presented by the Oregon Black Pioneers

From January through June 2018, the Oregon Historical Society proudly hosted Racing to Change, presented by the Oregon Black Pioneers. Now, thanks to OHS’s partnership with Visiting Media, students and history enthusiasts across Oregon and beyond can experience the exhibit online.

Using Visiting Media TrueTour™ technology and a computer or tablet, visitors to the virtual exhibit can experience the same content offered in the physical exhibit, as well as new digital enhancements. Get up close to artifacts, read text panels, and enjoy videos with Project Leader and Oregon Black Pioneers Secretary, Gwen Carr.

Racing to Change illuminates the Civil Rights Movement in Oregon in the 1960s and 1970s, a time of cultural and social upheaval, conflict, and change. The era brought new militant voices into a clash with traditional organizations of power, both black and white.

Visitors of all ages and backgrounds will engage in the examination of the repression and violence against African Americans that made the Civil Rights Movement necessary. The exhibit explores how racist attitudes, policies of exclusion, and the destruction of Black-owned neighborhoods shaped Oregon, as well as the unceasing efforts of the Black community to overcome these obstacles.