When Kimberly Moreland, president of the Oregon Black Pioneers’ board of directors, presents the stories of Oregon’s early Black residents, she often hears the same response: “I grew up in Oregon, and I never knew this history.”
That reaction is exactly why Oregon Black Pioneers exists.
“Our hope is that by letting people know that there is Black history in places that they live, that they’ll come to see these people as one of their own, whether or not they have the same race as them,” said Zachary Stocks, executive director of Oregon Black Pioneers.
The nonprofit, founded by a group of Black Salem residents in 1993, is dedicated to preserving and presenting Oregon’s Black history through exhibitions, public programs, research, and education.
One of their most popular programs, annual walking tours throughout Oregon, will be returning from May through September in Portland, Jacksonville, Oregon City, Astoria, Eugene, and Salem.
The tours in Jacksonville, Oregon City, Astoria, Eugene, and Salem will be offered only once, at a different city each month at $32 per ticket, while Portland tours will be offered twice a month from May through September at $10 per ticket.
Tickets can be purchased online at oregonblackpioneers.org/tours.
The tours are an opportunity for people to “gain a different perspective on some of the places they drive past every day or a way to learn new stories about communities where Black history is rarely discussed,” Stocks said.
The walking tours, which debuted last year, are just one of the many programs that Oregon Black Pioneers offers throughout the year to engage with Oregon’s Black history.
As Oregon’s only historical society dedicated to preserving and presenting the experiences of African Americans statewide, the organization has taken on the roles of educator, advocate, and memory keeper to ensure that Black Oregonians see themselves in the past, present, and future of the state.
Beyond walking tours, the organization hosts discussions, educational programming, traveling exhibitions, and offers free lesson plans for educators on their website, which doubles as an information hub about Oregon’s Black history.
“There’s hardly any city in Oregon that we haven’t had an exhibit at this point,” Stocks said.
“We’re always going to have a statewide focus, and we’ll continue to do our work to bring stories of Oregon’s Black history to people in the places where that history was made.”
Beyond the fulfilling reactions to their programming, Moreland described the work as “chilling.”
Moreland, who has worked with the nonprofit since 2007, said she has seen the profound influence of their work across the state.
“I think we’ve been really helping to illuminate Oregon history by adding this missing history,” Moreland said.
“It’s our history, it’s American history.
We’re not getting the full story, and sometimes when unknown history is intentionally left out or hidden, you don’t really get a full understanding of the political and social and economic realities of the state.”
With the growth of digital and social media, that history is even more accessible.
LC Miller, vice president of the Oregon Black Pioneers board of directors, has helped guide the work of the organization on social media to bridge the gap between the past and present.
“I have people walk up to me and tell me how much they love our social media and being able to take in these small bits of history in a way that resonates with them,” Miller said.
Infusing small pieces of Black history into everyday life is one small way Oregon Black Pioneers can continue to educate and inform the public.
Beyond digital, however, the organization hopes to one day open their own permanent museum.
“We want people to have a place to come to see all of the artifacts, all of the stories that we’ve gathered and told across the state into a single place,” Miller said.
“I think that’s one of our biggest endeavors to bring us into the new age.”
In the meantime, the organization will continue to preserve and tell Black history in any way they can.
“The work that we do is rooted in love, we’re not here to push any agendas,” Stocks said.
“We’re invested in trying to make people feel like they belong here by sharing the stories of our inspiring ancestors who came before us.
And to me, that’s not political, that’s just being a good neighbor.
image source from：https://www.oregonlive.com/living/2025/04/6-oregon-cities-you-can-explore-to-learn-about-the-states-black-history.html
