Join Oregon Black Pioneers this Memorial Day weekend in Burns, Oregon for an informal community gathering and cookout to honor the Andersons, a family of true Black pioneers who will finally be recognized with headstones at their grave.
For over 40 years, brothers Walter and Oscar Anderson were some of the few, if not only, Black residents of Harney County. The brothers both established ranches in the county in the 1910s, Oscar on Trout Creek north of Burns, and Walter at Juniper Lake 90 miles further south. In Burns, the brothers were well known and respected community members. Walter married his wife Martha about 15 years after he began ranching in Harney County and the two spent another 25 years there before Walter’s poor health forced them to move to Portland. He died there in 1958. Martha lived until 1981, publishing the book Black Pioneers of the Northwest 1800-1918 just a year before her death. When Martha and Walter were both buried in the Burns Pioneers Cemetery in unmarked graves.
Oregon Black Pioneers is Oregon’s only historical society dedicated to preserving and presenting the experiences of African Americans statewide. Since 1993, our organization has illuminated the seldom-told history of people of African descent in Oregon. We are inspired by the tenacity of Black Oregonians who have faced discrimination and hardship to make a life for themselves here over the past 400 years. We honor their sacrifices by remembering their stories and by sharing them to the public.