From the back of the bus, water fountains and lunch counters, Reiko Hillyer explores how people exert power over each other by limiting access, specifically at the roll of Jim Crow laws in the South. Hillyer will present at the Bend Public Library on Saturday, May 1 at 3:00 pm and at the Redmond Public Library on Sunday, May 2 at 1:30 pm. These programs are part of the Oregon Council for the Humanities Conversations Project.

Hillyer is a visiting assistant professor of history at Lewis and Clark College, where she recently won the Teacher of the Year award. She teaches twentieth-century U.S. histoy, African American history, the Civil War, women’s history, and the history of the American landscape.