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Virtual series highlights local history, from Oregon Trail to Chinese Americans in Salem

(Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)

The Willamette Heritage Center on Thursday will begin a virtual lecture series on the Mid-Willamette Valley’s history, including the Oregon Trail, Indigenous culture and the state’s parks.

The Spring Zooming Back to History series will have four guest speakers who will talk for around 45 minutes and take questions from viewers. Tickets are $10 for individual speakers or $30 for the full series, available online

The series is a fundraiser for the heritage center and sponsored by the Oregon State Capitol Foundation.

The guest speaker for Thursday’s talk on the Oregon Trail is Dr. Margaret Huettl, a scholar of Native American history and North American Wests, and an assistant professor in history and ethnic studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Huettl is a descendant of Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe, Assyrian refugees, and European settlers.

“Her research examines the continuities of Ojibwe sovereignty in the context of settler colonialism in both the United States and Canada, centering Ojibwe ways,” a news release said. 

Featured on March 17 is Chris Have of the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, who will discuss the history of Oregon’s state parks since 1922. Have earned degrees in Forestry from Oregon State University and Natural Resources from Ohio State University.

Dr. Briece Edwards, manager of the Tribal Historic Preservation Office of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, will speak on April 21 about the tribe’s history in Salem. “He and his team work with federal and state partners to identify and protect cultural resources through the Tribe’s homelands,” the news release said. Edwards has been a professional archaeologist for over 30 years and has more recently worked to expand cultural resource policies “to include greater voice of those communities directly connected to places.”

May 19 will feature fourth-generation Chinese American author Dr. Russel Low, who will discuss the history of Chinese Oregonians in Salem. Low is a great–grandson of Hung Lai Wah, a transcontinental railroad worker, and Ah Ying, a rescued child slave. Their family story has been covered on the History Channel, BBC Radio, National Public Radio and the Voice of America, and is included in both the California State Railroad Museum and the Smithsonian Museum of American History. 

“Exploring history and family connections has uncovered ripples that have changed the world, now including Salem’s connection to the Pacific War in WWII,” the news release said. Low recently published two novels, The All-American Crew” and “Three Coins.”

-Ardeshir Tabrizian