Oregon Humanities

Oregon Humanities Awards $1,000 Responsive Program Grants for African American History Programs

09 February 2011 | Permalink

Oregon Humanities has awarded two Responsive Program Grants of $1,000 to support programs on African American history from the Oregon African American Museum (OAAM) and the Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center (MHIC).

A grant to the Oregon African American Museum (OAAM) will support its “Sustaining Oregon’s African American History & Legacy Conference,” February 14, 2011, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Architectural Heritage Center, 701 SE Grand Ave., Portland.

The OAAM conference aims to educate the general public about how preserving Oregon’s African American history and legacy sustains community, encourages diverse perspectives, and recognizes African American contributions to the state. A secondary goal is to encourage community support for establishing an African American museum in Salem.

Scheduled speakers include Rodney Reynold, publisher of American Legacy magazine. Registration for the conference is $30 and includes lunch and a one-year subscription to American Legacy. Visit http://www.oaamuseum.org for more information.

A second grant, to the Maxville Heritage Interpretive Center in Enterprise, will fund a post-performance discussion of the play The Hillsboro Story, writer/director Susan Banyas’ account of the 1954 burning of an African American school in her hometown of Hillsboro, Ohio. The performance is February 21, 2011, at 6:30 p.m., with discussion to follow—featuring Banyas and Gwendolyn Trice, executive director of the MHIC and a descendant of an African American Maxville logging family—at OK Theatre, 208 W Main St., Enterprise.