Most people would be shocked to learn that this beautiful coastal state was originally billed by its founders as a “White Utopia.”
Today the state of Oregon has one of the lowest minority populations in the country. Only two percent of Oregon’s population is black, while blacks make up 13 percent of the U.S. population. This was not by accident, but rather by openly racist design. Oregon’s history is mired in pure unfiltered racism.
Prior to being granted statehood, Oregon wrote a law threatening “flogging” to any negro living in its territory over two years, with subsequent floggings every six months thereafter.
Oregon was granted statehood in 1859. Once admitted into the Union, Oregon was the only state that had a constitution which specifically forbade black people from living, working, or owning property. This is an excerpt from Oregon’s constitution, completed in 1857. Article 1 Section 35 stated:
“No free negro, or mulatto, not residing in this State at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall come, reside, or be within this State, or hold any real estate, or make any contracts, or maintain any suit therein; and the Legislative Assembly shall provide by penal laws, for the removal, by public officers, of all such negroes, and mulattoes, and for their effectual exclusion from the State, and for the punishment of persons who shall bring them into the state, or employ, or harbor them.”
In fact, it was illegal for black people to even move into the state in 1926! Oh and do you remember the 14th Amendment in the Constitution? Here’s what section one of the 14th Amendment says:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Well it seems Oregon sort of chose to ignore that amendment. The 1866 Oregon legislature ratified the 14th Amendment in 1866, but two years later, in 1868, the ratification was rescinded. They noted that two votes for ratification had been cast by House members who were illegally elected in to the 1866 legislature. Oregon would not re-ratify the 14th Amendment until 1973. At which time it was almost a non-event that elicited little if any news coverage.
Businesses like Waddles Coffee Shop in Portland, Oregon during the 1950’s would not serve any black people. They, like many other businesses in Oregon, had a signs in their windows which stated that they only catered to “White Trade.”
Walidah Imarisha, an educator and expert on black history in Oregon, has explained that Oregon was only unique because it stated its goal of white supremacy so openly. She said this:
“What’s useful about Oregon as a case study is that Oregon was bold enough to write it down,” Imarisha told me. “But the same ideology, policies, and practices that shaped Oregon shaped every state in the Union, as well as this nation as a whole.”
I don’t want to leave you with the impression that Oregon had only discriminated against blacks. Oregon had historically been an equal opportunity racist state. They passed laws that discriminated against Native Americans and Asians as well. Anyone who was “Non-White” was simply not welcome in Oregon.
Here are a few videos on Oregon’s racist history:
