Feb. 19, 1990 Request for Plaque

Feb. 19, 1990 Request for Plaque

On February 25, 1990, OSU Forestry and OSU Black Student Union co-sponsored a Benton County Black History tour. Dr. Zybach worked with Jeff Boyd, then President of the OSU Graduate and Professional Students to create and lead this tour, which also included Kathryn Bogle, fellow student Angela Sondenaa, and professor Wil Gamble, the first Black faculty member at OSU. The event included one of the first public presentations of Letitia’s story at the Tampico stop, and culminated with the planting of a tree on the OSU quad that commemorated the lives and achievements of Benton County’s Black pioneers. This photo shows a request from Jeff to College of Forestry to fund a bench and plaque by the new tree. According to Dr. Zybach “This request was turned down because of concerns that all of the plaques and monuments that had been placed around campus during the previous century “were making it look like a graveyard with a bunch of grave markers.” Not sure how many benches are typically found in graveyards, but it would be interesting to know whether this was a new policy at the time, or not. This tree was dedicated by Professor Gamble in memory of Benton County’s Black pioneers, including Letitia. Of additional interest was an old apple tree on the original Carson DLC that two other students and I named the “Letitia Carson Apple Tree,” while we were developing a cultural resource inventory (“C.R.I.”) for OSU Research Forests. It was a very old tree with good apples that a previous OSU student had photographed in 1947 and I’m told it is no longer there. However, here is how the University of Kentucky has described Letitia and the tree for many years (note numerous errors)”

Jeff Boyd

Bob Zybach

LCLP

1990-02-19

Bob Zybach

From a series of photographs shared by Dr. Bob Zybach that relate to his early work uncovering Oregon Black history, Letitia Carson's story, and his time at Oregon State University as an undergraduate during the 1990s.

JPG

English

Photograph

OSU Photo-7

Corvallis, Oregon