Exploring Oregon's History Through Song: OAKE Presentation
Karen Arlen, Douglas Card and Nancie Kester
Our March 6th OAKE presentation of EXPLORING OREGON’S HISTORY THROUGH SONG is over and done with and we are very pleased with the result. If this had been just one week later, the conference would undoubtedly have been cancelled because of the corona virus. And that would have been heartbreaking for all concerned. It was a wonderful conference in Portland, Oregon with enthusiastic OAKE members from all over the U.S.A. in attendance.
Ours was a multi-faceted presentation which included traditional songs, historical background information and projected visuals in the form of historical paintings and photographs. Each attendee received a handout of songs and an early Oregon history timeline. The workshop followed strategies that Karen and Nancie have used successfully in their Calicanto publications and workshops on California history through song.
Douglas Card introduced our first song:
“As an old Webfoot, let me say, Welcome to Oregon, Kodály teachers from all over the nation. ‘Webfoot’ was our nickname because it was said our children grew webbed feet from playing in the rain and mud all day. How did I, a sociologist, become interested in folk music, and even history? Years ago when I was teaching at a community college in Southern Oregon, the University of Oregon sent a Folklore professor down to entertain us with traditional Oregon music When I heard “Oregon Girls” a parody of the religious pioneer’s “Beulah Land”, suddenly I was hooked – the whimsical thought of those frontier girls with their soggy curls, shooing off a Webfoot with muddy shoes just cracked me up and here is that song!”
The thrust of our presentation, besides authentic song materials, was to show two sides of Oregon history: Native People vs. New Settlers. We honored both. There was great courage and determination shown by the pioneer people who left all behind to search for a better way of life. However, the arrival of new settlers led to widespread conflict and devastating change in the Indian population, after they had inhabited and tended the land from time immemorial. Douglas Card refers to this as the Losing of the West and the Winning of the West.
Out of respect to Native Americans, instead of singing an Indian song in our session, we included a wonderful link in our timeline: gatheringthestories.org/media, featuring the "Changer Song" from the Chinook people. The video accompanying this song is archival footage of Celilo Falls, an important fishing site for Native Americans. Unfortunately, it was buried under the Columbia River during the construction of the Dalles Dam.
Our session included two sea shanties, one English, the other American with a Polynesian chorus. Hawaiians (Kanakas) were an early presence in Oregon Territory and were employed by the Hudson’s Bay Company.
We presented an old French Canadian voyageur song, heard at Hudson’s Bay Company’s Fort Vancouver and other places where French Canadian fur trappers plied their trade in Oregon Territory. Once the Oregon Trail opened up, there were soon more American settlers than British fur traders in Oregon. Many songs were sung en route to Oregon and others were sung in Pioneer communities.
Stephen Collins Foster was the important songwriter of the era and his songs were sung everywhere. The eloquent and emotionally touching “HARD TIMES” is as relevant today as when it was written in 1854.
As Karen Arlen described:
“Times were hard in those early days of settlement in Oregon. Getting there had taken its toll and some family members had perished. People helped each other out building simple log cabins for shelter, cutting timber preparing the land for crops. Men folk worked hard in the fields. The women had days that never ended, filled with domestic chores and minding children. Farms were far apart from each other.”
Nancie Kester recounted:
“All of that land up for grabs. This is the message of Uncle Sam’s Farm. Written in 1850 by Jesse Hutchinson to an unknown melody. Lured by the Donation Land Claim of 1850 and by the slogan of Manifest Destiny people flocked to the far West.”
The only problem was that most of the land they were giving away still belonged to the Native Americans, and only white people were allowed to claim it. Discrimination practices were an unfortunate part of Oregon’s history. Oregon’s constitution, as voted in 1857, barred both slavery and “free negroes.” Chinese and Hawaiians were also mentioned in these restrictions. Abraham Lincoln won the presidency by a narrow margin in Oregon. The Civil War had supporters from both north and south in Oregon. We included both a Lincoln campaign song and an African-American freedom song.
The completion of the Transcontinental Railroad led to the building of the Oregon-California Railroad. Many Railroad Chinese from California were involved and Chinese immigrants comprised one of the largest populations in Oregon in the early days. We presented both a railroad song and an old Chinese ballad.
The presentation ended with the Woody Guthrie’s rousing ROLL ON COLUMBIA. Since the beginning of time, this mighty river has played a prominent role in Oregon’s history.
At our workshop, we invited attendees to let us know if they were interested in helping with what may well be a publication on Oregon’s History Through Song. We are currently in the process of compiling such a collection. We believe it will be a valuable tool to involve students in learning the history of their state.