Tuesday, February 7, 2023

Buffalo Soldiers and 25th Infantry Bicycle Corps, Winter Walk and Roll to School Day

Oregon Black Pioneers has news of a free showing of the documentary, Buffalo Soldiers: Fighting on Two Fronts.

They say:

Presented by The Conversation Project at Willamette University, “Buffalo Soldiers: Fighting on Two Fronts” is screening free on Thursday, February 9th at 7:00 PM in Smullin Film Studies Theatre (Room 122) in Ford Hall. Following the screening, director Dru Holley will be joined by Oregon Black Pioneers’ Zachary Stocks to discuss Buffalo Soldiers and answer questions from the audience.

Clearly the focus will be on civil rights and a longer scope, but there is another, narrower part of the history to remember! 

The 25th Infantry formed a bicycle corps in the late 1890s.

(Frank Jay Haynes, Northern Rockies Heritage Center
The link from 2010 is now dead)

Since we last mentioned this over a decade ago, there's so much more out there on the corps!

Wednesday, February 8th

Tomorrow, Wednesday the 8th, is the local "Winter Walk and Roll to School Day."

One of the projects they've been working on is a comprehensive set of maps of sidewalks and crosswalks for each school.

Summary sheet on the mapping

The maps are compiled here. There are 31 of them at the moment. They focus on infrastructure, on the existence of sidewalks and crosswalks, and not so much on the subjective texture or quality of the walk. Some of the routes seem a little dubious. In some neighborhoods, quiet streets without sidewalks might be preferable to busier streets with sidewalks. As more parents and kids use them, I am sure the maps will be refined in successive iterations. Especially if you have kids and have not discovered the maps, check them out.

And for all the Salem-Keizer Safe Routes information and activity, see their site.

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