David G. Lewis

Tribal Histories of the Willamette Valley

Wild Arts Festival welcomes David G. Lewis, Ph.D, member of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and author of Tribal Histories of the Willamette Valley. David presents largely unknown stories of Kalapuya, Chinook and Molalla tribes who called this fertile valley home, and his timeline spans the first years of contact between settlers and tribes, the takeover of tribal lands by the US Federal Government, the tragic assimilation efforts of boarding schools and the resilience of the tribal peoples. David’s extensive scholarship and collaborative projects with regional tribes and local governments for over 20 years lends authority to his work. His Ph.D is in anthropology, from the University of Oregon and he teaches Anthropology and Indigenous Studies at OSU. David lives in Salem with his wife and two sons. His research essays about the histories of the tribes are published on the blog The Quartux Journal at ndnhistoryresearch.com.