15 Oregonians will participate at the Pacific Northwest History Conference being held in Tacoma from October 19-20, 2012

Pacific Northwest History Conference 2012

As of October 16, 2012; the conference schedule lists fifteen Oregonians who are involved in the Pacific Northwest History Conference 2012 entitled “Civil War to Civil Rights”  All sessions are taking place at the Washington State History Museum, 1911 Pacific Avenue, Tacoma.  This report lists only the Oregonian historians who are presenters, or facilitators at the scheduled sessions.

The presenters and facilitators include, Jeffrey Sawyer from Western Oregon University, Dr. Ethan Johnson from Portland State University, independent historians Dr. Tanya Lyn March, Felicia Williams and Maija Anderson, Professor emeritus Dick Etulain from the University of New Mexico (resides in Oregon), Professor Emeritus  Tom Edwards from Whitman College.  Richard Wandschneider, the Director of Josephy Library of Western History and Culture at Fishtrap, Enterprise, Oregon;  Independent Historian Karen Mirador, Willamette University Associate Professor of History  Jennifer Jopp, F. William Krone from the Oregon Civil War Sesquicentennial Commissioner, Assistant Professor of History Stacey Smith from Oregon State University,  Oregon Historical Quarterly Editor Eliza Canty-Jones, Jackie Hedlund Tyler from Washington State University, Ken Coleman from Portland State University, and independent historian R. Gregory Nokes.

Friday, October 19, 2012–First Day of Conference

2:00 p.m.- 3:30 p.m.

Breakout Session A—   Topic: Activists in Civil Rights ·          Jeffrey Sawyer, MA, from Western Oregon University, will present “Oregon’s Progressive Era Debate on Capital Punishment.” ·          Dr. Ethan Johnson, Associate Professor, Portland State University, College of Letters and Science, Black Studies Department “The Anti-Apartheid Movement in Oregon: Its Successes and Challenges.”

Breakout Session  C   Topic: Oregon Activists For Civil Rights

·          Dr. Tanya Lyn March, Independent Historian

“The Northwest Kittredge Viaduct: the built expression of a community’s determination to cross the tracks.”

·          Felicia Williams, Independent Historian

“NAACP Public Housing and Presidential Politics in Portland Oregon.”

·          Maija Anderson, Head, Historical Collections & Archives and Assistant Professor, Oregon Health & Science University

“The Health Care Dimension of Civil Rights in Portland.”

Breakout Session D—  Topic: Soldiers and Politicians in the Civil War

·          Dr. Richard W. Etulain, Professor Emeritus, University of New Mexico

“Anson G. Henry: Abraham Lincoln’s Political Doctor in the Oregon County.”

·          Dr. Glenn Thomas Edwards, Professor of History Emeritus, Whitman College

“Three Duties Facing Pacific Northwest Soldiers.”

3:45-5:15pm

Breakout Session E--

·          Richard Wandschneider, Director of Josephy Library of Western History and Culture at Fishtrap, Enterprise, Oregon

“Invisible Indians: Civil Rights and the Civil War.”

3:45-5:15pm

Breakout Session F—Topic:  Civil War Connections

·          Karen Meador, Independent Historian

“An Unlikely Champion: Jefferson Davis and the Pacific Northwest

                                                                (continued on page 2)

Saturday October 20, 2012 —Second Day of Conference—All Sessions at the Washington State History Museum

9:00 a.m.-10:30 a.m.

Break Out Session F      Topic: Civil War Biography

·          Jennifer Jopp, Assistant Professor of History, Department of History, Willamette University

“John Beeson and His Contemporaries: A Call to Conscience.”

·           F. William Krone, Oregon Civil War Sesquicentennial Commissioner. “Civil War Figures and the Overlooked Relationships to the Northwest.”

10:40 a.m.-1:00 p.m. PLENARY/ LUNCH DAVID BLIGHT—CONFERENCE ATTENDEES LUNCH ON THEIR OWN IN AFFINITY GROUPS

1:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m.

Breakout Session J—Chair: Eliza Canty-Jones, Editor, Oregon Historical Quarterly;

Comment by Dr. Stacey Smith, Assistant Professor of History, Oregon State University

                                                                       

TOPIC: Oregon Slavery and Exclusion

·          Jacki Hedlund Tyler, Washington State University

“Excluded Oregonians: Race, Gender, and Citizenship in the Oregon Immigration Restriction.”

·          Ken Coleman, Portland State University, MA

“’Dangerous Subjects’: Black Exclusion and the Anxiety of Conquest in the Willamette Valley.”

·          R. Gregory Nokes, Independent Historian “Holmes vs. Ford, 1853: Oregon Slavery on Trial.”

1:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m.

Breakout Session K—Chair: Dr. Jeffrey Sanders, Assistant Professor of History, Washington State University

Topic: Seattle Civil Rights

·          Dr. Robert Donnelly, Associate Professor, Gonzaga University

“Dave Beck, ‘Mr. Seattle’: Missteps”

·          Jessica Shoemaker, Mt. Spokane High School, Spokane “‘Awakening the Child to Cultural Values’: Alternative Education Programs in Civil Rights Era Seattle.” Dr. Dale Soden, Professor of History, Whitworth University “Prophets in the Wilderness: Samuel McKinney and John H. Adams and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Seattle During the 1960s.”

1:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m.

Breakout Session L-- Chair: Charles LeWarne, Independent Historian

Civil War and Civil Rights Biography

·          Nancy A. Bunker, Associate Professor, Whitworth University

“George Washington, Father of Centralia: A journey from free Black to town builder.”

·          Ed Diaz, Independent Historian, President of the Association for African American Historical Research and Preservation (AAAHRP)

“Horace Roscoe Cayton and the William Meredith Scandal: It Happened in Seattle.”

·          Dr. Michael J. Herschensohn, Independent Historian

“Seattle’s James Washington, Jr., Sculptor and Civil Rights Leader of the African-American Diaspora.”

Listings are subject to change 

The Oregon Lincoln Bicentennial Commissioner in me can't wait for the release of Spielberg's "Lincoln" In November 2012

I was perusing through my usual morning update from the Guardian.UK on Facebook, and caught the very positive first reviews of Steven Spielberg's new movie on "Lincoln" starring Academy-award winner Daniel Day-Lewis at the secret screening at the New York film festival last night.

The long-awaited biopic of our 16th President will hit the big screens across the country on Friday, November 16, 2012 after making its World Premiere on the closing night film of American Film Institute's (AFI) FEST 2012.  The gala screening event will take place on Thursday, November 8 at the Historic Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California and will feature the stars, director Spielsberg, writer Tony Kushner and most probably historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of the book "Team of Rivals" that was the basis for most of the screenplay. This makes me long for the days when I lived in next to Tinsel town and my radio show was my pass to the aforementioned screening events...

It didn't seem that long ago (2009) when I and my fellow Oregon Lincoln Bicentennial Commissioners were sitting  in the audience waiting for the start of  the Mark O. Hatfield Historians Forum  featuring Ms. Goodwin and her best-selling book on Lincoln and his cabinet. While waiting for the lights to be dimmed, we speculated  about the news at that time from Hollywood about Spielberg's selection of Liam Neeson to portray Lincoln; then we went on to spend   a very entertaining evening with Ms. Goodwin. The diminutive historian regaled us with tales about her work writing biographies, her days when she assisted President Lyndon B.  Johnson during the last year of his administration and her later assistance of Johnson with his memoirs,   her family's love of baseball and her early school days in parochial school. 

I remember spending a few minutes talking with her at the post-lecture reception held in the atrium of the Oregon History Museum, and asking her what were Lincoln’s greatest strengths and weaknesses? She told my group that some of Lincoln’s greatest strengths would sometimes become his greatest weaknesses. For example: Lincoln's ability to extend forgiveness. Lincoln was willing to give people a second or even third chance; it was a strength that allowed Lincoln to transcend the slights he may have received at the hands of his cabinet members and advisers and to fully utilize their talents in running the country and restoring the Union.

However, this strength also turned into a liability, especially where Union Major General McClellan was concerned. Until McClellan was finally "fired" after the September 1862 Battle of Antietam, "Little Mac” was allowed to continue as general-in-chief of the Union Army even though he missed many opportunities to engage with the enemy and to take full advantage of the winning tide in Union victories, instead using the excuse of being outnumbered by the Confederate troops, or that his horses were tired.

Conversely, Lincoln could also hold a life-long grudge...it destroyed his relationship with his own father, Thomas. Lincoln never forgave Thomas Lincoln for mistreating him when he was growing up and for erroneously considering his son's quest for knowledge as a sign of laziness. When the elder Lincoln was on his deathbed, Abraham could not put aside his anger towards his father and subsequently didn’t make the trip home to pay his respects. Lincoln was human, after all.

According to early reviews of the movie, which was filmed over ten months at an estimated cost of $50,000,000; the Lincolnphiles and Civil War history buffs will find much to admire in "Lincoln." The movie is not a rehash of a "Gods and Generals" type of Civil War action-pic, with cutaways to Lincoln-in-his-war-room type of a movie. According to Jonathan Crow of "Movie Talk", Lincoln "centers on the last few months of the president's life when he managed to get the 13th amendment passed, which outlawed slavery, during the waning days of the Civil War... star Daniel Day-Lewis delivers a masterful, mesmerizing performance...and is now no doubt a front-runner for the best-actor Oscar…”

Tony Kushner spent six years working on the film as the writer for "Lincoln", and according to the critics, the script shows the hallmark of the playwright well-known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Angels in America,” This is the second time Kushner has worked with Spielberg after last writing “Munich.”  The music for “Lincoln” was composed by Academy Award winning John Williams, and an “Oscar-vibe” is out already about the performances of Daniel Day-Lewis and Tommy-Lee Jones.  

The roster of stars includes Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln, Tommy Lee Jones as Republican Thaddeus Stevens, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Robert Todd Lincoln and David Strathaim as Secretary of State William Seward, Bruce McGill as Edwin Stanton and Jared Harris as Ulysses S. Grant.  Also appearing are Gloria Reuben, John Hawkes, Jackie Earle Healey, S. Epatha Merkerson, Tim Blake Nelson, Lee Pace, James Spader, and Michael Stuhlbarg. Spielberg’s first choice to play Lincoln, Liam Neeson, dropped out of the project around 2010, and was recorded on a British morning television show as saying “ I was attached to it for a while, but it's now -- I'm past my sell-by date."  The 6 foot four Neeson just turned 60 on July 7, 2012; and felt that he was probably too old (and conversely, too robust)  to portray the “rail-thin” president, who was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at the age of 56.

Even though the movie “Lincoln” wasn’t ready in time for the national celebration of the 200^th Anniversary of President Lincoln’s birthday back in 2009; Spielberg’s film biography of our beloved 16^th President is bound to be the cinematic centerpiece of the ongoing national and Oregon Civil War 150^th Anniversary commemorative activities.

To read the Guardian on Facebook review of the movie “Lincoln”, go to this link: https://apps.facebook.com/theguardian/film/2012/oct/09/lincoln-review-spielberg-day-lewis?post_gdp=true

To read about Liam Neeson’s remarks about leaving the production of Lincoln, check out this link: http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-talk/actor-almost-played-abraham-lincoln-180925344.html