I hope you will consider joining us for the next Memory Work for Black Lives Plenary, to be held at the White Stag campus in Portland and on Zoom on April 12-13. This two-day event is co-organized by UO Libraries and human rights organization, Don’t Shoot Portland. The plenary will center the voices of Black activists and archivists, as well as artists, librarians, students and faculty to discuss the power of Black archival memory. The emphasis of this event will be on community archiving initiatives, and how such efforts can instigate significant positive change for the people they serve, as well as shift the dominant historical narrative to be more accurate and inclusive.

Invited speakers include:

Tracy Drake, co-founder of the Blackivists Collective and Director of Special Collections at Reed College

Teressa Raiford, founder of Don't Shoot Portland

Holly Smith, college archivist at Spelman College in Atlanta

Ishaq Shamsud-Din, Portland Community activist and son of legendary artist, Isaka Shamsud-Din.

If you want to learn more about our collaborative work, check out this interview UO did with the founders of Don't Shoot Portland, just published in the Archival Outlook Magazine from Society of American Archivists, starting on pg. 12.