Discrimination came early to state
By JIM GERSBACH
Of the Emerald
February is Black History
Month, and most Oregon whites
probably will observe it as they
did last year — by ignoring it.
That's unfortunate, according
to some University blacks,
because many white Oregon
ians need to know more about
black history and culture.
"They (white students) don’t
know about black dancers,
authors or playwrights," says
Paula Tode, a peer advisor with
the Black Student Union. "They
think black culture is pimps,
drugs and hanging out on the
street corner.”
Because Oregon and Eugene
are so heavily White Anglo-Sax
Blacks celebrate their culture
on Protestant (WASP), the need
for whites to study black history
is all the greater, says Northwest
history Prof. Richard Brown.
BSU Director Don Brown
agrees. Brown says he sees
Black History Month not only as
a time for blacks to celebrate
their cultural heritage and con
tributions to American life, but
also as an opportunity to teach
whites about black life and cul
ture.
Although Oregon has never
had a large black population,
blacks have been involved in
Oregon’s history since the
region was discovered by Eu
ropeans.
The first black to set foot in
Oregon was Marcus Lopez, a
cabin boy on Robert Gray's
1788 expedition to the
Northwest. A few days after that
historic footfall Lopez was killed
by Alsea Indians in an alterca
tion over a stolen sword.
A black man accompanied
the first American overland ex
pedition to Oregon. York, a
slave of William Clark, traveled
to Oregon with the Lewis and
Clark expedition in the early
1800s. York proved popular
with Native Americans encoun
tered by the expedition, who
had never seen a black man
before.
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Oregon’s white settlers were
not as enthusiastic about later
black arrivals. Oregon's Dona
tion Land Act, the legislation
that gave free farmland to pion
eers who settled the Willamette
Valley and the land around
Eugene, barred minorities from
receiving land grants.
Although Oregon was a free
state prohibiting slavery, some
blacks were openly kept as
slaves until the Civil War.
About the time of the war, the
first black family in Lane County
is believed to have settled near
Eugene. No blacks attended the
University, however, until 1924
when Sherman Savage enrolled
in a master’s degree program.
Savage later became a history
professor at Ohio State Univer
sity.
The University’s first black
undergraduates were two ath
letes, Bobby Robinson and
Clarence Williams, both from
Portland. They weren’t allowed
to live in the University dorms
and wound up renting an apart
ment from a shoe repairman,
says University archivist Keith
Richards.
During their senior year, white
members of the football team
protested the enforced seg
regation and got Robinson
and Williams accepted into
Friendly Hall, then a University
dormitory.
That same year, the University
team played Miami in a precur
sor of the Orange Bowl. Wil
liams and Robinson, however,
had to stay in Oregon since
Southern colleges didn’t permit
black athletes to play against
white athletes.
The first black woman to at
tend the University also faced
the color barrier.
Although Mabel Byrd's ap
plication for University housing
had been accepted, she was
refused admittance to the
women’s dormitory in the fall of
1927. The housemother hadn't
known that Byrd was black.
After spending the night in a
residence hall lounge, Byrd
found off-campus accommoda
tion. But her plight caused an
outcry in Portland newspapers
that prompted the University to
end segregation in University
housing.
Although only a handful of
blacks attended the University
during the 1930s, several made
important contributions.
Black University track star
Mack Robinson placed second
behind Jessie Owens in the
famous run that shattered Hit
ler’s hopes of Aryan victory
during the 1936 Berlin Olym
pics. Robinson’s brother Jack
ie, incidentally, was the first
black to play major league ba
seball.
After World War II the number
of black students at the Univer
sity increased substantially.
Black students formed the
Black Student Union in 1965,
and 11 years later in 1976
University students elected Jan
Oliver, a black woman, as
student body president.
vOne black graduate of the
University, Emery Barnes, was
elected to the provincial par
liament of British Columbia.
Despite these successes,
Brown says he is concerned
about the declining enrollment
of black students at the Univer
sity. Enrollment is down from
300 several years ago to about
170 now, even though Oregon’s
black population has increased
to over 30,000, according to
Brown.
To boost black registration,
the BSU plans to incorporate
recruitment into their Black His
tory Month activities, Brown
says. Activities will include a
film festival the last week of
February and various work
shops and speakers, including
black historian Herb Cawth
orne.
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Open Mon.-Fri. 8-5:30 Sat. 8-5 343-2501
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