Following George Floyd’s death in May, Portland was one of many cities across the US to react with massive racial-justice protests.
More than two months later, the Portland protests rage on, even as they have diminished in size in most other places.
For many, this is unsurprising since the Oregon city is seen as a stereotypical coastal liberal enclave.
But in reality, Portland has been called the “whitest city in America,” and the state of Oregon has a troubled history of excluding Black people.
Oregon once banned Black people from its borders
During the pioneer era in the 19th century, Oregon was seen as a beacon of hope for many Americans hoping to go west and create a better life. But that vision did not include Black Americans.
In Oregon’s early history, lawmakers passed a series of so-called “exclusion laws” to keep Black people out of the territory, which later became the state.
The first of these laws was passed in 1844 by the provisional government, setting a deadline of two years for Black males and three years for Black females to leave the territory, or else face a public lashing, according to the Oregon Historical Society (OHS).
The Territorial Legislature passed the second exclusion law in 1849, which forbade Black people from entering or residing in Oregon, with the exception of those already in the region.
The aim of the law, according to OHS, was to discourage Black seamen from jumping ship, out of fear that they would “intermix with Indians, instilling into their minds feelings of hostility toward the white race.”
The final exclusion law was passed in 1857, as Oregon was becoming a state and had its constitutional convention. During the convention, lawmakers decided on whether to be a slave state or not, and while they decided to prohibit slavery, they also passed a law that barred Black people from coming to the state, owning property, or making contracts.
Oregon’s exclusion laws were all eventually overturned by amendments to the US Constitution, and were rarely enforced in their lifetime, but “they had their intended effect of discouraging Black settlers,” OHS says on its website.
The KKK thrived in Oregon and influenced state politics
During the 1920s, the Ku Klux Klan thrived in Oregon, where it had about 35,000 members — the biggest contingent west of the Mississippi River, according to the local Willamette Week.
The Klan openly marched through Oregon streets and held rallies in Portland.
The white-supremacist group was so influential that it even helped Democrat Walter M. Pierce win the governorship in 1923, according to Willamette Week.
After it supported Pierce in the race, he backed its bill to require all children to attend public schools, a move intended to stop Catholic education in the state. The Supreme Court ruled that bill illegal three years later.
