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- Far from an exhaustive list, and unfortunately a living document as more brutality occurs or/and is uncovered. The definition of brutality I’m operating under may differ than yours. Children starving, would-be mothers sterilized, people being forced into servitude, systemic enshrinements of white supremacy are all acts of violence and brutality in my eyes.
- Focus on Portland, but lists other things that happened in Oregon because Portland does not exist in a vacuum separate from the rest of the state.
1844
First Black exclusion mandated that Black people who attempted to settle in Oregon would be subjected to 39 lashes every six months until they left, a punishment that was deemed to harsh and replaced with forced labor.
1848-1879
Three decades of continuous conflict between Whites and Indigenous tribes started with the Cayuse War continuing until the region’s Indian tribes were forced onto and confined to reservations.
1857
Oregon constitution is adopted, it banned slavery and excluded Black people from legal residence in the state. This was repealed in 1860
1850
The Oregon Donation Land Act was enacted by the U.S. Congress to promote homestead settlement in the Oregon Territory This declared that land would ONLY be granted to white, male settlers or and “half-breed Indians” in the Oregon Territory . The idea of a white homeland was being enshrined in public policy
1861-1865
Civil war era, multiple anti-Black laws were passed. Black people were prevented from marrying people of different races. It was impossible for Black people to accumulate wealth, land, or power
1862
Oregon adopted a law requiring all Blacks, Chinese, Hawaiians (Kanakas), and Mulattos (an archaic term, referring to people of mixed ethnic heritage) residing in Oregon to pay an annual tax of $5. If they could not pay this tax, the law empowered the state to press them into service maintaining state roads for 50 cents a day. Also, interracial marriages were banned in Oregon. It was against the law for whites to marry anyone ¼ or more Black.
1866
Oregon citizens fail to pass the 14th amendment that would grant citizenship to Black people. Exclusion laws were also still in place and Oregon banned ALL interracial marriages
1883
An attempt to amend Oregon’s constitution to removes its ban on Black suffrage failed, despite the 15th amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1871
1904
Taylor v. Cohn lost in the Oregon Supreme Court, confirming and sanctioning the practice of racial segregation in public places and services—a ruling that would remain in place until the legislature passed an anti-discrimination law in 1953. Oregonian segregation was most visible in the real estate industry through redlining and housing prohibition.
1919
PDX board of Realty approved a “code of ethics” that prohibited realtors and financial service providers from selling a home to a nonwhite family if the home was in a “white neighborhood.
1920’s
The KKK was flourishing in Oregon, Walter Pierce, the governor at the time, was supported by the Klan and promoted their agendas
1923
The Oregon state legislature, dominated by members of the Klan, passed a number of restrictive laws. The Alien Land Law prevented first generation Japanese Americans from owning or leasing land. The Oregon Business Restriction Law allowed cities to refuse business licenses to first generation Japanese Americans.
1926
Oregon repeals Exclusion law by amending the state constitution. On paper, Black Americans could technically be in Oregon.
1927
Oregon State Constitution was amended to allow Black and Chinese Americans to to vote
1935
Oregon law segregates Mexicans students on the basis of being of Indigenous descent. “White Mexicans” were fair skinned descendants of Spaniards were considered white.
1937-1945
Oregon passes a number of laws restricting Indigenous people.
WWII
Portland’s Black American population grew significantly at this time. Over 7k “non-white” workers worked at Portland’s shipyards, supporting the war effort. They paid union dues, but received no union protection until the NAACP put pressure on to allow Black people to work more skilled jobs and in generally be treated better. With the influx of a non-white populace racism festered harder in Portland, with many local shops catering to “White Trade Only”
1942
Post Pearl-Harbor, all persons of Japanese ancestry in Western Oregon were forced into internment camps. People who did return home after being interred returned home to racism and racism fuled violence and exclusion.
1948
Oregon realtors followed the “National Realtors Code” (based on an earlier state law) that proclaimed that ”a
realtor shall never introduce into a neighborhood members of any race or nationality whose presence will be detrimental
to property values”.
1970’s-1980’s
Multiple high-profile police shootings of young Black men in Portland create animosity towards the police and their practices.
1981
Two PPB officers admit to placing dead possums on the doorstep of a popular Black-owned hangout; the Burger Barn.
1985
Lloyd Stevenson, a Black man was killed by a police officer who had him in a chokehold. None of the officers involved were disciplined. The case took a baffling and controversial turn when on the day of Stevenson’s funeral, two police officers sold t-shirts to fellow officers bearing the slogan “Don’t Choke ‘Em, Smoke ‘Em.” They were fired but were eventually reinstated with back pay.
See list of Portland Police Killings (page coming soon) for more.
Read more:
https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/blacks_in_oregon/#.X2FPs2hKjOh
https://www.portlandoregon.gov/civic/article/516558