Racism in Oregon

The first known person of African descent to arrive in Oregon was a sailor named Markus Lopeus. Lopeus arrived in 1788 alongside merchant sea captain Robert Gray. Lopeus later died in an altercation with the local Native Americans.[2] In the following years black fur trappers and explorers settled in Oregon.[2]

York, an enslaved man, was the only African American on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which reached Oregon in 1805.

It is estimated that there were about 50 black residents in Oregon by 1850. In 1844, Oregon enacted an Exclusion Law, banning black people from living in Oregon.[2][3] Violation of this law resulted in 39 lashes, every six months, until the occupant left.[3] This punishment was deemed too harsh and was replaced with forced labour in December 1844.[1] Also in 1844, the provisional government prohibited slavery.[2][3] Another discriminatory law was erected in 1849. This law barred Black people who were not already in the area from entering or residing in the Oregon territory.[3] In 1851, a black businessman named Jacob Vanderpool was arrested and expelled from Oregon due to violating the laws regarding black residency.[4]

In 1855 mixed race men were forbidden from becoming citizens.[1] In 1857, Despite slavery being illegal a bill was proposed, intending to protect slave property. It wasn't passed as it was seen as granting special rights to slave owners.[1] That same year a new law was introduced[1] which barred black people from holding property in the state.[5] In 1850 the first Chinese immigrants would arrive and further immigration would take place over the coming decades.[6]

In 1859 Oregon became the only state to enter the Union with a black exclusion law, introducing a new law the same year, prohibiting Black people from owning property and making contracts.[3][7] Despite being rarely enforced, these laws help certify Oregon as a majority white state.[3] The Exclusion laws would remain in effect until 1926.[2] And be fully removed in 2002.[8]

Chinese man and child in Oregon

An article in the Daily Oregonian decried the Chinese population as a racial menace who were polluting some of the city’s "best streets."[9] Similar remarks were made about the Chinese residents in Baker City calling them "Celestials," "Mongolians," and "Yellow Horde."[10] In 1862, all people of Black, Chinese, Hawaiian, and Mulatto descent were taxed $5 ($128 in 2020 dollars). Failure to pay this tax would result in the state being able to force them into jobs maintaining state designed roads for 50 cents a day ($12 in 2020 dollars).[1] Interracial marriage between black and white people was deemed illegal the same year, with the law specifically stating that white people cannot marry anyone one-fourth black or more.[1] This distinction was later extended to prevent white people from marrying anyone who was one-fourth or more Chinese or Hawaiian, and a half or more Native American.[1]

In 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed, granting citizenship to black people.[1] The amendment would be revoked in 1868. In 1973 it would be once again ratified.[11] In 1870 the Fifteenth Amendment which granted black men the right to vote, gained widespread ratification with Oregon being one of a couple of states to deny it. That same year the federal law superseded a clause in the Oregon State Constitution banning black suffrage.[1] It would not be until 1959 that the Fifteenth Amendment would be officially ratified.[1]

From 1870 to 1885 anti-Chinese sentiment began to rise amongst Oregon citizens with labor and political leaders advocating for both the expulsion of Chinese residents and the exclusion of future Chinese from Oregon.[6] In May 1873, the Portland city council passed a resolution encouraging contractors to not hire Chinese workers out of fear of losing future contracts due to Chinese workers of time typically working for low wages and then sending the funds to their families.[9] This resolution was ultimately refused.[9] In August of that same year, a fire at a Chinese laundry broke allegedly instigated by white "incendiaries" hoping to displace the Chinese population.[9] In 1880, most Chinese men resided near Second and Oak Streets which was so segregated that no other ethnicity beside Chinese lived there.[9]

Sometime during the mid-1880s, Portland's Chinatown saw two of its buildings burn down and Chinese woodcutter camps raided by eighty masked men.[6] Rallies in support of the anti-Chinese club also took shape.[6] In 1883 an attempt to remove the ban on black suffrage failed due in part to the clause being null and void by the Fifteenth Amendment's inclusion in the U.S. Constitution. Further attempts to remove the clause were made in 1895, 1916, and 1927 with the clause finally being removed in 1927.[1]

In 1885, racial tensions were further exacerbated as about 500 Chinese residents were excluded from Tacoma, Washington, and sent to Portland.[6] On February 22, 1886 a vote was held on the removal of the Chinese residents.[12] Later that day a Chinese camp at Guild’s Lake was attacked by Local workers in East Portland who also drove out between 100 and 200 Chinese workers.[9] Despite the state constitution banning Chinese people from mining some still performed it and the next year a massacre was caused by a group of white men resulting in the deaths of 34 Chinese miners.[6][8][13]

By 1890, 1,000 black people lived in Oregon with the number doubling by 1920.[11] In 1893, the white citizens of La Grande burned down the city's Chinatown.[14] This caused the residents of that area to become displaced with most leaving Oregon. Some however remained and attempt to resist the mob. They were ultimately forced to leave as well.[14] That same year Baker City Mayor Charles Palmer called for the Baker City Chinatown to be overhauled to "sanitary and moral conditions," Palmer viewed the Chinese as "a class..that a community cannot afford to harbor or tolerate."[10] Around this time, "sundown towns" started to appear.[13]

From 1900 to 1940 the Oregon Chinese population began to diminish due to laws such as the Page Act of 1875 and the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. From 1940 to 1970 the number would increase.[6] This was during the Exclusion era lasting from 1882–1943 which left Chinese communities isolated and discriminated against in fields such as housing, jobs, commercial opportunities, education, medical and social services.[6]

In 1906, the legal case Taylor v. Cohn led to the Oregon Supreme Court sanctioning the right of white Americans to racially discriminate against blacks in theatres.[4] In 1918, black soldiers from California saw a sign that read "We employ white help and cater to white trade only." Angered, the men proceeded to destroy the sign. A similar occurrence happened in 1943.[14] In the early 20th century, Black railroad workers coming to Portland faced extreme segregation.[15] In 1919, the Realty Board of Portland had approved a Code of Ethics forbidding realtors and bankers from selling or giving loans to minorities for properties located in white neighbourhoods.[11] That same year a law making public discrimination illegal was proposed. The law would be ratified in 1953.[4] African Americans who did move to Portland in the early 20th century, mostly railroad workers, faced extreme segregation

In the 1920s racially restrictive housing covenants came into prominence. These covenants allowed it so that communities could be created and excluded certain ethnic and religious groups.[16] These covenants came after widespread housing discrimination of past decades.[17] These covenants were deemed unenforceable by Civil Rights Act of 1968.[16]

During World War II the incentive of shipyard jobs caused a boom in the African American population.[11] Portland’s African American population grew from 2,565 in 1940 to 25,000 in 1944.[18] With this, an increase in the racism that imbued the private industries and labour unions of the time followed.[18] Due to union rules, black workers were prevented from doing specialized jobs such stevedores, truck drivers, and laundry workers and were instead relegated to doing common labour.[18] After the war, racism continued for black residents. Jobs began to become lost due to white soldiers return and black residents were told to leave with Earl Riley, the mayor of Portland telling them they were not welcomed.[11] In response groups protesting and resisting the racism and promoting equality began to emerge. These included the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Urban League, the Office of Vocational Opportunity, and the Committee on Inter-Racial Principles and Practices.[18]

Algiz rune on Volksfront flag

In 1951, the law prohibiting interracial marriages and insurance surcharges for non-white drivers were removed.[1] By the early, 1960s Black people in Portland were barred from being served at white restaurants, going to the city funded swimming pools and skating in the ice rinks with the exception of the day set aside for black people to skate.[14] In the 1970s, multiple black men were killed by the police in Portland and in the 1980s, the Portland Police Bureau was investigated after officers killed possums and placed them in front of black-owned restaurants.[11]

In 1981, amid national unrest relating to the Atlanta murders of 1979–1981, two Portland police officers placed dead opossums outside the Burger Barn, a Black-owned restaurant. The officers were fired; the Oregonian Editorial Board supported the firing in a Marcy 28 editorial which articulated the racial implications of the act. The two were later reinstated when an arbitrator deemed the firing excessive;[19] the FBI investigated the matter for six months, but ultimately declined to bring charges. The police paid part of a settlement.[20]

Ivancie removed the Police Bureau from the portfolio of City Commissioner Charles Jordan, then the only Black member of Portland City Council. The move sparked a protest, led by Ron Herndon.[21] The Portland Internal Investigations Auditing Committee (PIIAC) was formed by City Council over the opposition of Mayor Frank Ivancie, who was closely tied with the Police Bureau, in response to the incident, in 1982. The police union organized a petition drive to bring the formation of the committee before voters, but voters approved the committee.[22]

In 1985, two Portland police officers who had been caught distributing T-shirts with the slogan "Don't Choke 'Em, Smoke 'Em" were reinstated by an arbitrator after having been fired.[23]

In the 1980s and '90s, neo-Nazi skinheads protested in the streets and on November 13, 1988 Ethiopian student Mulugeta Seraw was killed by white supremacists.[24][25] In the 1990s, Portland became infamous for its neo-Nazi group Volksfront.[13] Years before neo-Nazi group White Aryan Resistance began to recruit members.[8] Ciaran Mulloy a union organiser and anti-fascist recalled how "There were multiple gangs, and 300 Nazis in a city of 300,000" further stating that "The anti-racist youth were intimidated and isolated. The Nazis were just openly hanging out on the streets."[8] In 1993, a racist skinhead named Eric Banks was shot dead by John Bair, a member of Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice.[8]

On November 5, 2002, 70% of Oregon voted to remove obsolete and offensive language from the Oregon Constitution such as "negroes," "mulattoes" and "whites,".[26] In 2007, neo-Nazis attempted to gather in Portland for a three-day skinhead festival.[13] In 2011 an audit, designed to find if that Black and Latino renters were unfairly disadvantaged in regards to the housing market, found that in 64% of the 50 tests done, discrimination took place.[27] This discrimination violated local, state and federal housing laws however of May 2011 no action had been taken against the landlords who discriminated.[27] This audit came after a similar one in 2009 which found that landlords discriminated against Black renters in two-thirds of the tests in Ashland and 78% of the tests in Beaverton.[27]

In 2017, a double murder was committed by white supremacist Jeremy Joseph Christian.[24] On August 17, 2019, a rally was held by among others, members of the American Guard and The Daily Stormers who are white nationalists and neo-Nazis respectively according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.[13]