By Maegan Murray, ���سԹ�

RICHLAND, Wash. – Washington State University Tri-Cities’ Hanford History Project will celebrate Black History Month on Saturday, Feb. 3, through a kick-off event for a project that will document African American History at the Hanford Site.

The event, which runs 5 p.m. – 7 p.m. at the , will feature a 45-minute presentation by speakers from the National Park Service, the African American Community Cultural and Education Society, the Hanford History Project and more.

Speakers will discuss the goals of the WSU and National Parks Service civil rights oral history project, the work being done in the community regarding the documentation of African American history in the area, as well as make an announcement of a new survey project taking place in East Pasco regarding African American History. Individuals will also be invited to participate in the oral history project documenting African American life at the Hanford Site.

Individuals will then be invited to mingle, enjoy refreshments and learn more about the civil rights oral history project, as well as set up interviews for the project. Posters displaying life for African American workers at the Hanford Site will also be on display.

The Hanford History Project received a grant from the National Park Service recently to analyze the experience of African Americans at Hanford, as well as research and document African American migration, immigration and settlement before and after coming to Hanford. Hanford History Project staff are looking to interview African American individuals who had some experience of the Hanford Site at the time of the Manhattan Project or in the years after.

“We hope to talk to anyone who worked at Hanford or resided in the Tri-Cities from 1943 up through the late 1960s,” said Michael Mays, director of the Hanford History Project. “We want to understand, in better detail and scope, what the experiences were of these individuals from a personal angle.”

Appointment times will be available for those who wish to schedule oral history interviews and information will be provided regarding scheduling interviews with friends or families not able to attend.

For more information on the event, and to participate in the oral history project, contact Jillian Gardner-Andrews at j.gardner-andrews@wsu.edu, or visit /hanfordhistory/.

By Maegan Murray, ���سԹ�

RICHLAND, Wash. – Washington State University Tri-Cities was recently awarded a $73,000 grant in partnership with the U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service to research and document the African American migration, segregation and overall civil rights history at the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, Hanford.

Michael Mays, ���سԹ� director of the Hanford History Project, said the African American story and perspective remains largely undocumented and untold at the Hanford nuclear site, which is one of three locations of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. The other locations of the national park include Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Mays said Hanford in the 1940s, like much of the rest of the country, was an extremely segregated place.“The history of the science of the Manhattan Project is well known, but the social history, especially with regard to questions of race, class and gender, is much less clearly understood,” he said. “We want to look at and document the settlement and demographic patterns of African Americans who were recruited to work at Hanford, and then track when and where they migrated to once their employment ended.”

“This is an important story to tell and an important part of our history that needs to be made known,” he said.

The plan for the project, Mays said, is to examine existing documentation, conduct new research and interview African American community members throughout the Pacific Northwest in order to better understand the African American experience at Hanford.

“The Hanford area went from a handful of small farming communities comprising a few hundred residents in the early 1940s to a peak population of nearly 50,000 at Camp Hanford in the course of 15 months,” he said. “There are many stories of the African American experience at the Manhattan Project, and we want to be able to share those stories from these individuals’ perspectives.”

The completed interviews will be included with the ���سԹ� oral history collection of the Hanford Site, as well as displayed and made available through the National Park Service and at the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, Hanford.

Mays said they are looking for African American individuals or their family members who had a role in the Manhattan Project at Hanford and with the site before, during and after the Cold War, or who were related to the site in any way during those times. Those who are interested should contact Jillian Gardner-Andrews at 509-372-7447 or j.gardner-andrews@wsu.edu.

“We are actively trying to identify people who experienced this remarkable history, either first- or second-hand,” he said. “We would love to hear from these individuals and document their stories.”

Mays said the project will be completed over the course of two years. Interviewees will be identified and scheduled by the end of the year, with interviews wrapped up by the end of spring. He and his team will then perform a review of documents and literature available on the subject and write up and publish their findings by the end of their second year.

 

Media Contacts:

• Michael Mays, ���سԹ� director of Hanford History Project, 509-372-7380, michael.mays@tricity.wsu.edu
• Maegan Murray, ���سԹ� public relations specialist, 509-372-7333, Maegan.murray@tricity.wsu.edu