Ashland Together and our community partners invite you to join Portland State University history professor Kristin Teigen for an introduction to understanding Oregon’s difficult racial past.

What You Will Learn

The goal of this 2 hour webinar is to better understand our state’s largely unexamined history of discrimination with the hope of empowering us all to be part of the vision for a more equitable and inclusive community. Knowing our complicated origin story goes a long way in making that vision a reality.
Professor Teigen’s presentation begins by exploring the early American events that set the stage for Oregon’s foundation as a ‘whites-only’ territory. She will delve into topics like the construct of race, Bacon’s Rebellion, Manifest Destiny and the Missouri Compromise, significant historical moments that planted the seeds for exclusionary practices that would set the stage of discrimination for generations to come. Among other things, you will also learn about early relations with Indigenous tribes and what led to the widespread seizure of tribal lands.

Instructor: Kristin Teigen, MA, M.Ed. is an educator at Portland State University, where she teaches the history of BIPOC communities in Oregon and issues of women’s homelessness. She’s also an anti-oppression activist, working in feminist, queer, environmental justice and people of color movements, and a trained anti-oppression facilitator.

Special thanks to our Community Partners: BASE and Peace House.