行走记忆

三人又笑又闹，就像老朋友一样, remembering the people and places that historically shaped what was once the heart of 俄勒冈州’s African-American community. 这个地区发生了很大的变化, but they still have an affinity for the place where they feel the pull of home.

“那是我们的邻居，”克莱说，“我孩子们的邻居.”

今天，这个社区发生了变化，克莱、内勒和马克西也发生了变化. 现在已经六七十岁了, 这三个女人经常在附近散步，回忆往事，锻炼身体. They’re part of a group of 21 participants enrolled in a unique clinical trial through 俄勒冈州 Health & 科学大学的Layton Aging & 阿尔茨海默病中心. 这项研究, called Sharing History Through Active Reminiscence and Photo-Imagery (SHARP), 是99年的蕾娜·克罗夫领导的, OHSU医学院神经学助理教授.

左起:薇奇奈勒, 伯娜丁粘土, and Donna Maxey review their walking route as they participate in the SHARP study in Portland, 矿石. 研究的目的, 由蕾娜·克罗夫领导, is to find out whether exercise 结合积极的回忆 can curb memory loss in seniors. The project is also capturing memories about the black communities that historically thrived here.
图片来源:OHSU/Kristyna Wentz-Graff

The program’s purpose is to sustain or improve cognitive health for African-Americans aged 55 and older, a group that is about twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s or other dementias as older whites. 从学术研究的角度来看, the program combines physical activity with social engagement and conversational reminiscence.

但内勒用自己的方式总结了这一点. “出去走走挺好的，”她说.

The participants have each spent at least 10 years of their lives in north or northeast Portland. 分成三人一组, 他们在六个月里每周出去三次, 步行72条预先设计的一英里路线穿过该地区. 当他们走每条路线时, a smart tablet prompts participants with questions relating to memory markers—news clippings, 照片, 广告, or artifacts like political campaign buttons—tied to certain locations along the routes, 比如学校的所在地, 一个教堂, 或者是民权游行.

“我认为文化是健康的主要驱动因素,克罗夫说。, 在伯洛伊特大学主修人类学和古典文明的人. “I was interested in having people walk through physical spaces and talk about their memories with one another—as opposed to sitting in a room and being asked about it.”

目的是测试体育锻炼是否, 结合积极的回忆, 能预防记忆丧失吗. 这项研究, which is supported by funding from the Alzheimer’s Association and the National Institutes on Aging, includes cognitively healthy people and those experiencing memory loss or mild cognitive impairment, 通过基线评估来衡量. 六个月后, researchers will follow up with a test to determine whether the program improved or maintained participants’ cognitive health. 克罗夫在美国农业部支持的一个试点项目中开发了步行计划.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2016, and early indications show promise.

But to Croff, the program is about 更多的 than the science behind brain health. It’s about creating a digital and physical history to share with future generations. 克罗夫在波特兰长大, spending some time in the historically black neighborhoods the program focuses on. When her parents divorced, she says it became like she was living in two different worlds. 她的父亲, 谁是黑人?, would take Croff and her brother to a predominately African-American church. 事实上, 就是在那个教堂，SHARP的一个参与者, 雪莉小, 第一次见到克罗夫时，她只有膝盖那么高.另一方面，克罗夫的母亲是白人. When Croff and her brother would be with their mom in the white part of town, 他们通常是周围唯一的非裔美国人.

“It was like there was always this mystery around what I was because I was mixed and my hair was a little different,克罗夫说. “It was stuff that kids have to deal with anyway, and then it added this extra layer on top. 有时这让我觉得自己很特别, 有时它会让我感觉不一样，我不喜欢这种感觉.”

Raina Croff's work as an assistant professor of neurology at the 俄勒冈州 Health & 科学大学 brings her interests in African-American history together with medical anthropology. She's standing in front of a mural featuring a portrait of Coretta Scott King and other black women leaders at the Black United Fund of 俄勒冈州, 位于SHARP研究进行的社区之一.
图片来源:Steve Hambuchen/壁画由Eat Cho和Jeremy Nichols创作

The program’s purpose is to sustain or improve cognitive health for African-Americans aged 55 and older, a group that is about twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s or other dementias as older whites. 从学术研究的角度来看, the program combines physical activity with social engagement and conversational reminiscence.

但内勒用自己的方式总结了这一点. “出去走走挺好的，”她说.

The participants have each spent at least 10 years of their lives in north or northeast Portland. 分成三人一组, 他们在六个月里每周出去三次, 步行72条预先设计的一英里路线穿过该地区. 当他们走每条路线时, a smart tablet prompts participants with questions relating to memory markers—news clippings, 照片, 广告, or artifacts like political campaign buttons—tied to certain locations along the routes, 比如学校的所在地, 一个教堂, 或者是民权游行.

“我认为文化是健康的主要驱动因素,克罗夫说。, 在伯洛伊特大学主修人类学和古典文明的人. “I was interested in having people walk through physical spaces and talk about their memories with one another—as opposed to sitting in a room and being asked about it.”

目的是测试体育锻炼是否, 结合积极的回忆, 能预防记忆丧失吗. 这项研究, which is supported by funding from the Alzheimer’s Association and the National Institutes on Aging, includes cognitively healthy people and those experiencing memory loss or mild cognitive impairment, 通过基线评估来衡量. 六个月后, researchers will follow up with a test to determine whether the program improved or maintained participants’ cognitive health. 克罗夫在美国农业部支持的一个试点项目中开发了步行计划.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2016, and early indications show promise.

But to Croff, the program is about 更多的 than the science behind brain health. It’s about creating a digital and physical history to share with future generations. 克罗夫在波特兰长大, spending some time in the historically black neighborhoods the program focuses on. When her parents divorced, she says it became like she was living in two different worlds. 她的父亲, 谁是黑人?, would take Croff and her brother to a predominately African-American church. 事实上, 就是在那个教堂，SHARP的一个参与者, 雪莉小, 第一次见到克罗夫时，她只有膝盖那么高.另一方面，克罗夫的母亲是白人. When Croff and her brother would be with their mom in the white part of town, 他们通常是周围唯一的非裔美国人.

“It was like there was always this mystery around what I was because I was mixed and my hair was a little different,克罗夫说. “It was stuff that kids have to deal with anyway, and then it added this extra layer on top. 有时这让我觉得自己很特别, 有时它会让我感觉不一样，我不喜欢这种感觉.”

左起:雪莉·麦诺, 雷娜Croff 99, Deloris Griggs, 和塞西尔·普雷斯科德最近在波特兰的一次散步. “我们买房。,他们身后电线杆上的标语, 这表明该社区正在猖獗地中产阶级化. 克罗夫说:“他们在回顾现状，谈论过去。.
图片来源:Steve Hambuchen

Maxey remembers a neighborhood where generations of African-American families, 还有他们的白人邻居, 以保护他们的家园为荣, 码, 和企业. 今天，波特兰东北部到处都是变化的迹象. During a recent walk through the neighborhood surrounding Martin Luther King Jr. 学校, 三个女人经过了改造过的房子, 一辆接一辆的电动车, 篱笆上贴着“无农药区”的牌子.“有一次, the women looked askance at a bearded runner jogging barefoot through the neighborhood.

然而，也缺少了一些东西.

Maxey speaks with painful recollection of the devastation her family suffered when they lost her childhood church. 它曾经位于退伍军人纪念体育馆的现址上. Her family’s home and her father’s barbershop were located where Interstate 5 now slashes through the area. 许多长期居住的家庭已经散去. Clay laments that sometimes when she walks into the latest trendy restaurant, 声音变得安静了——仿佛她是个局外人.

“There are people who have lived in this neighborhood 10 or 15 years who have no idea that there was a thriving black community here,马克西说.

克罗夫反思道，如果她没有做她现在正在做的事情, 她会成为某种作家, 从很多方面来说，她已经是了. 她不仅在写自己的书, 她通过SHARP讲述了波特兰许多人的故事. 虽然这项研究收集的科学数据是有价值的, Croff sees equal value in saving and sharing the memories of participants so that future generations, 比如她的两个小儿子, will know about the thriving black community in the city where they grew up. It’s an effort that Croff hopes to adapt to other communities in the future.

“Even cities that aren’t going through gentrification will see the value in preserving history because generations are changing and ways are ever-changing,她说。. “这不仅仅是做科学研究. Without the ability to connect to people in their cultural framework—I learned how to do that at 贝洛伊特—the science isn’t going to work.”

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埃里克·罗宾逊(Erik Robinson)是俄勒冈州健康中心的高级媒体关系专家 & 科学大学. 布里安娜·韦伦是伊利诺斯州北部的一名自由撰稿人.