Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (May 18, 2006)
tiqued … I think appropriately,” he says. “The goal isn’t to have ‘X’ number of African-American faculty on this campus. That in and of itself is a simplistic way of thinking about what critical mass really means.” The real goal, according to Martinez, is to foster innovative thinking and substantive expertise within departments that can come from a racially diverse faculty. He also says that students of color need to see pathways into new majors and departments. These types of changes, according to Martinez, will have to take place at a departmental level and not only through initiatives from the central administration. Yet numbers are hard to ignore. According to figures published by the office of the registrar, of the roughly 19,600 stu- dents enrolled at the UO, only 318 are black. Blacks only surpass Native Americans in terms of minority student enrollment. While the number of black students has fluctuated slightly over the past five years, their overall representation has remained between 1.4 and 1.6 percent. Of the 318 who are currently enrolled, at least 68 are the result of athletic recruitment. To some, this demonstrates that minority recruitment is a low priority for campus administrators. “If the university put as much effort into recruiting students and staff of color as they do to recruit their football team, we would have a great, diverse university, just like we have a great football team,” Felicia Wheatfall says. T he UO’s predicament reflects the greater Eugene community’s strug- gle with diversity: In an over- whelmingly white population, black Eugeneans are most prominent on local bill- boards depicting young university athletes. Primarily from other parts of the country, they are brought here for a short tenure on a sports team, not to establish permanent resi- dency, and most don’t. Few African Americans relocate to Eugene, and even fewer stay. A university and a city that prides themselves on accept- ance and celebration of diversity must ask why. ew A History of Eugene’s Race Politics Statistics indicate that 30 years ago, black and Latino people made up about 1 percent of Eugene’s population. Although the Latino population has increased to at least 5 percent in recent years — with more growth expected — the black population has held at 1 percent. The explanation for this is in part historical, according to Mark Harris, the Multicultural Substance Abuse Prevention Program coordinator at LCC. Harris has been outspoken in matters of race locally for many years and uses his wealth of historical research in a power point presentation he gives to the Eugene School District called “I, too, am Eugene.” Eugene’s past, according to Harris, is akin to that of a Southern town. When asked to explain the absence of a prominent black community in Eugene, his answer is frank: “Diversity wasn’t wanted,” he says. Below we offer a brief history of Eugene’s race politics. • 1844: Oregon enacts its first Exclusion Law. The provisional gov- ernment passes a law prohibiting blacks from living in Oregon. A Lash Law is also written, mandating that any blacks remaining in Oregon, ”slave or free,” be whipped twice a year until they leave the territory. Eventually the punishment is reduced to forced labor. These exclusion laws remain in the Oregon Constitution until 1926. • 1851: Jacob Vanderpool, a free mulatto business owner in Salem, is the only black person on record to be arrested, jailed, tried and deported from the state because of his race. • 1857: Oregon voters approve a state Constitution which prohibits “free negroes” from settling in Oregon. The margin of approval is greater than that for excluding slavery in Oregon. • 1859: Oregon is the first state admitted to the union with an Exclusion Law written into its Constitution. • 1862: Oregon implements additional laws requiring all blacks, Chinese, Hawaiians and mulattos pay an annual tax of $5. Those who are unable are required to perform public service maintaining state roads. Interracial marriage is banned in Oregon; whites are prohibited from marrying anyone “Quadroon” or blacker. This law is not repealed until 1951. • 1883: The Oregon Legislature refuses to remove the state ban on black suffrage despite the fact that 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution had already passed in 1870. Similar attempts to remove the ban fail in 1895 and 1916. The clause is finally removed from the state constitution in 1927. • 1913: Wiley Griffon, the earliest recorded African-American in Eugene, dies. An obituary notes that he was “one of the most industri- ous colored men in Eugene” and “what a Southerner would call ‘a good nigger.’” • 1921–24: Official height of Klan activity in Eugene. Ku Klux Klan #3, with offices in the Beckwith Building, includes UO Latin Department head Cyclops Frederick Dunn, UO football coach C.A. Huntington, two city of Eugene officials, a county commissioner, a National Guard com- mander, members of the American Legion, Elks Club and Chamber of Commerce, and the publisher of the Daily Guard newspaper (later sold to Alton Baker). • 1937: Klan meeting in Portland, claiming 16,000 members statewide, naming Eugene as its state headquarters (again), with goals to continue recruiting in law enforcement and to be politically active. Leo and Pearl Washington become the first black family to establish permanent residency in Eugene. Five years later, another black family, the Reynolds (the namesake of Sam Reynolds Street), arrive. Along with the Johnsons and the Mims, they become the “pioneer” black families in Eugene, establishing themselves in the local lumber industry and founding several local black churches. • Early 1940s: Restricted by racist lan- guage in deed transfers, black residents in Eugene are not allowed to own property within city limits, leading to the formation of communities in Glenwood/Skunk Hollow and anoth- er community composed of non-code housing known as “Tent City” in what was unincorporated county land, now Alton Baker Park. Tent City is bulldozed in 1949 to make way for reconstruction of the bridge. No accommodation is made to house the displaced resi- dents, so many move to the so-called “Negro Settlement” on West 11th. • 1946: The Reynolds family delivers a daughter, Lyllye, at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene. She is the first black baby born in the hospital, although the family is listed as “White” on her birth certificate. • 1948: A Supreme Court ruling bans housing discrimination. Still, many Eugeneans aren’t prepared to integrate black residents into their neighborhoods. A Realtors’ Code prohibits Realtors from selling to any- one whose presence would “reduce the property value.” Many black residents continue to be relegated to the worst housing beyond city limits with no indoor plumbing or wells for water, and no sewer lines or septic tanks. • 1968: The UO establishes the Congress on Racial Equality and the Human Rights Commission. • 1969: A student reporter witnesses a Eugene Klan initiation in a barn in Veneta attended by marquee Eugene businessmen. Photographs and article copy are left in a locked editor’s desk at the UO. In the morning the film and copy are gone, and the editor claims to have neither. • 1921: Pro-Klan movies shown at McDonald-owned Eugene Theater (later Heilig Theater; now Hult Center). • 1985–87: Three black-related events at the Hult Center receive bomb threats. • 1924: Klan Parade down Willamette Street with rally and Order of the Red Robe initiation at the Fairgrounds, with 400 members in atten- dance. The local Klan disappears from the public record. • 2000: All racist language is removed from the Oregon Constitution. — Martha Calhoon SUMMER CAMP GUIDE Outdoor Adventure Camp Nature Crafts • Wilderness Skills Hiking • Recreation • Fun! June 26 - July 29 Ages 7-11 Weekdays 9am-4pm+ SURVIVOR: MT. PISGAH FOR TEENS Aug. 3 & 4 SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE Call 747-1504 M OUNT P ISGAH ARBORETUM MAY 18, 2006 13
