High Desert Museum – Oregon Black Pioneers Project

The High Desert Museum and Oregon Black Pioneers successfully collaborated to develop fourth grade classroom resources that center Black experiences on the Oregon Trail and Black exclusion in Oregon.

The centerpiece of the project was the creation of a short film titled Meeting the Sewells, that shares the perspectives of a Black man who goes back in time to 1890 and meets Columbus and Louisa Sewell, who were Black homesteaders in Canyon City. The video describes the political and social discrimination Black pioneers faced in Oregon, it also highlights the joys and community that early Black Oregonians experienced, creating a nuanced picture of a Black family’s life in 1890s rural Oregon.

The film has been enthusiastically received by local teachers, as an engaging resource that accurately represents Black pioneer experiences and challenges how students perceive Oregon’s cultural heritage. The video is publicly available on their website and is being used in educational programming throughout the region. https://highdesertmuseum.org/meeting-the-sewells/