“Cultural Memory and White Supremacy in the Creation of the United States”

This project explores how white supremacy is purged from U.S. cultural memory, specifically, narratives and landscapes focused on its creation. By compiling a database of registered historical markers in Oregon—including parks, trails, murals, and other sites—I examine how celebratory narratives of settlement affirm the United States as a “haven of refuge” while erasing the racial violence associated with forging a new territory, nation, and state. If the U.S. is to be truly inclusive and attain racial justice, it must engage with the truth in a meaningful way. I plan to create a popular education project, an historical atlas of foundational white supremacy, to help move the nation towards such an engagement.