Changes to commemorative signage in Port Orford, Oregon, United States, during 1998
and 1999 represent an emerging public acknowledgement of the removal by force of most of the
indigenous peoples of Southwestern Oregon in the 1850s. A wide range of participants, including
local area residents and nonresident members of Native American First Nations, negotiated
changes to signage within a context of controversy. Hegemonic social memory institutionalized
as local history and publicly displayed as text on a historical marker was challenged by an
alternate version of the event commemorated: a conflict between Athapaskans and Euro-
Americans in 1851 at the site now know as "Battle Rock." The alternate version is supported by
oral tradition which is marginalized as a source of knowledge about the past while the official
history has been privileged by repetitious inscription and incorporated commemorative ritual.
Discussion includes the selectivity of public history and the creation of public memory through
commemorative activity in which official and vernacular interests compete. A parallel is drawn
between the remembrance and acknowledgement of events once suppressed and the remembrance
and acknowledgement of marginalized indigenous American First Nations "forgotten" by the
United States federal government. The Confederated Tribes of the Lower Rogue, building
support for legislative acknowledgement of their tribal status, contributed positively to the
production of signage text, an activity which enhanced both their visibility and the visibility and
remembrance of their Athapaskan forebears.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/10430 |
| Date | 05 1900 |
| Creators | Nading, Linda L. |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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