Our history! Your history! Together we are building our future!
PCASC is a vibrant organization with a storied history. Since it’s beginnings in 1979, it has evolved into a pillar of principled social change in Portland. This project tells the story of who PCASC was in the beginning, where it has shined and struggled over the years, and how it has evolved into the present organization.
Our History is Interactive
Provide your feedback in the comment sections at the bottom of each page. Comments are open so you can participate in evolving the project.
Take a quick surv
ey about your experience with PCASC.
Your donations will support PCASC in this (and other) work. The History project seeks funds to further develop PCASC history website pages, print materials, and safely store the archived materials.
Meet with staff to share your personal experiences and memories. Email allen@pcasc.net to set up a time!
Boxes & box
es of unlabeled photos are now digitized! We need you to provide any information you can about photos that look familiar; names, locations, dates, and contexts!
Table of Contents:
Photos & Digital Media – Please help us identify the people, places, and times of these photos!
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Movement History … Movement Future
The collective identity and institutional memory presented here are critical to continuous political education, to winning struggles, to maintaining movement connections, and to guiding PCASC into the next decade.
This is a living project. The organism of history is ever evolving and changing. While this site will not be updated daily, it does lay the groundwork for ongoing engagement with elders and new members as the PCASC story unfolds.
Initial archiving and website creation were phase one of this project … success!
Now, we are transitioning into phase two, which will include a more comprehensive catalog of PCASC’s documents/media and a written PCASC history narrative.
The history of PCASC has been shared throughout the years through stories, anecdotes, word-of-mouth, and discussions with organizational elders over coffee and at events. The stories of those with historical experiences are interwoven into the campaigns, actions, and thinking of current PCASC members.
This verbal history is vibrant and critical, however, it is incomplete. The History Project seeks to create an accessible understanding of PCASC’s past so that we can utilize collective knowledge and analysis in the future. Documenting, connecting with, and learning from PCASC’s history provide powerful tools for strengthening PCASC’s work.
The project was initiated by the question: how do we know the best path forward if we don’t have a clear sense of where we have been and what we have done in the past?
Meet the volunteers behind this project.