Coos Bay, OR – In celebration of Black History Month, Southwestern Oregon Community College invites all to attend a free virtual presentation by Taylor Stewart of the Oregon Remembrance Project (ORP) titled “Maintaining Internal Hopefulness in the Midst of External Hopelessness” on February 27, 2026, from 3:00 to 4:00 pm.

Join the presentation by Zoom: https://socc-edu.zoom.us/j/97511641511

Taylor Stewart of the Oregon Remembrance Project will share his experience falling in and out of love with activism, rekindling joy, and finding hope in bleak times. Stewart will engage in conversation with Forrest Akers, Director of International Recruitment and Academic Partnerships at Southwestern, as they explore the difficulties facing justice organizers today and the lessons that help make their work more sustainable. In Stewart's own words, “Justice work is hard work. It's also draining and never ending.”

Stewart will discuss the challenges of maintaining internal hopefulness even in times when externally things may seem hopeless. Taylor Stewart launched the Oregon Remembrance Project in 2018 to help communities with truth and reconciliation projects around repairing historical injustice. Stewart first partnered with Coos Bay, OR to memorialize the 1902 lynching of Alonzo Tucker. Between 2018-2021, Stewart and Coos Bay community members held a series of acts of remembrance for Mr. Tucker, which culminated in the installation of a historical marker outside of the Coos History Museum in 2021. Today, ORP has grown to help communities around the state confront Oregon's history of lynching, sundown towns, Black Exclusionary Laws, and KKK activity.

For more information contact Forrest Akers, Director of International Recruitment and Academic Partnerships, at 541-888-7185, forrest.akers@socc.edu.

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