During the Great Depression of the 1930s, the federal government’s Civilian Conservation Corps started out as a racially integrated program (at least in much of the country).

Black enrollees arrived in southern Oregon to work on various forestry projects alongside their White fellow-CCC recruits. In many places across the nation, Black CCC men were made to feel unwelcome in rural communities, and the experiment with racial integration did not last out the first year of the CCC’s nine-year existence. Jeff LaLande shares the results of his research into this little-known aspect of our region’s history.

Jeff LaLande has been a resident of the Rogue Valley since 1969. 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 had a 30-year career 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. Programs are presented in Medford (first Wednesdays, in-person and online) and again in Ashland (second Wednesdays, in-person). Registration is only required to attend the Zoom version of Medford’s program. Recordings of Medford presentations are available on the JCLS Beyond YouTube channel.