During the early 1930s — the “worst hard times” of the early Great Depression — Jackson County experienced a political convulsion of political extremism. Two local demagogues relentlessly issued reckless (and untrue) charges and baseless accusations in their newspapers during the early Depression. Their campaign to wrest control of county government away from the local establishment successfully stoked resentment and anger among hard-pressed residents. Now known as the “Jackson County Rebellion,” this dramatic episode gained Southern Oregon unwanted negative attention nationally. It ended in ballot theft and murder. Historian Jeff LaLande, who has authored the book “The Jackson County Rebellion: A Populist Uprising in Depression-Era Oregon,” will discuss past events, as well as how he came to be interested in them and eventually came to write a book about what occurred in Jackson County. If attendees have read LaLande’s book before attending the program, they will have the opportunity to pose questions and give comments to the presenter.

Jeff LaLande has been a resident of the Rogue Valley for over fifty-five years. He graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and later received his M.A. in archaeology from Oregon State University and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Oregon. He worked for more than thirty years with the U.S. Forest Service as an archaeologist and historian and has published articles and several books on regional history.

The monthly Windows in Time lunchtime lectures feature well-known writers and historians and bring alive the people, values, and events that shaped our southern Oregon heritage. Lectures are jointly sponsored by the Southern Oregon Historical Society (SOHS) and Jackson County Library Services.