Guest Curator: Janice Dilg
Discrimination and Resistance, An Oregon Primer documents Oregon’s history of discrimination from its territorial days, into statehood, and up through the twentieth century. It also chronicles the numerous ways individuals and groups have resisted and overcome discrimination through that same time period. The organizing principle for the exhibition is that there are core “tools of discrimination” that have been used over and over against different groups of people at different points in time. Equally, there are “tools of resistance” that have been utilized repeatedly to counter oppression and discrimination. Each set of tools are used as situations dictate: direct actions or more subtle tactics. The multifaceted approach over time and across different groups is designed so that visitors question how discrimination works outside of any particular issue or group slated for oppression. How do we buy into discrimination, or how do we expose it for what it is and end discrimination? The goal is not to compare or rank one group’s oppression or discrimination, but to find the commonalities in instituting and perpetuating discrimination and the many ways we can resist and overturn discrimination to create a more egalitarian state.
Six two-sided panels illustrate opposing Tools of Discrimination – Scapegoat, Intimidate, Appropriate, Segregate, Exclude and Dehumanize, and Tools of Resistance – Persist, Create, Celebrate, Protest, Organize, and Reform.
Historical material comes from many public and private archives, OJMCHE, Oregon Historical Society, Portland State University Special Collections, Oregon State University Multicultural Archives, Historic Photo Archive, Deschutes Historical Museum, Densho Encyclopedia, Clatsop County Historical Society, City of Portland Archives, and a few wonderful photos and documents that came from community collaborations.
The work of OJMCHE is impactful as a community center, as leaders in diversity in the City of Portland, and as an educational resource center. I was beyond blown away by their organization, their content and their mission, as well as their inclusiveness. Jan Dilg is a resourceful historian, who markets her versatility and connectivity as a contract historian who operates on multiple platforms. HistoryBuilt is telling of her flexibility as a professional and her industriousness in the field. The “Discrimination and Resistance” exhibit at OJMCHE is also highly representative of her creative talents. I had not realized until later re-reviewing the OJMCHE website that the exhibit is one of the core exhibits at the museum and is not a temporary commission. I am all the more impressed at the museum’s inclusive perspective of their place in the community having known this. Not only do they see it as important to tell the story of the Jewish experience, and the experience of the Jewish community in Oregon, but also – the intersection and fellowship with other marginalized groups in this shared local history. By looking at how all these communities face and resist adversity, they are lifting up the spirit of their story by giving visibility and recognition to others. – PSU Intro to Public History Student