A Hidden History: Why aren’t there more black people in Oregon?

Thursday, October 12, 2017 3:30-5:00pm
John E. Jaqua Academic Center for Student Athletes
Harrington Auditorium, 1615 East 13th Ave

Walidah Imarisha describes herself as an historian at heart, reporter by (w)right, and rebel by reason. Winner of a 2017 Oregon Book Award for creative nonfiction for Angels with Dirty Faces: Three Stories of Crime, Prison, and Redemption, she also has edited two anthologies, authored a poetry collection, and is currently working on an Oregon Black history book, forthcoming from AK Press.

Imarisha has taught in Stanford University’s Program of Writing and Rhetoric, Portland State University’s Black Studies Department, Oregon State University’s Women Gender Sexuality Studies Department, and Southern New Hampshire University’s English Department. She spent six years with Oregon Humanities’ Conversation Project as a public scholar facilitating programs across Oregon about Oregon Black history, alternatives to incarceration, and the history of hip hop.