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8A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, APRIL 22, 2016 Crow: Name comes from old, deeply racist tradition Continued from Page 1A Others say it is not an urban versus rural issue — it’s a simple question of right versus wrong. ‘It’s embarrassing’ Columbia River Kayaking owner Andrew Emlen is one of many locals who told Jayapal they support the change. “We’ve taken to calling it Jim Saules Point because we think that change is gonna hap- pen eventually,” Emlen said, adding that he often takes out- of-state visitors on tours around Jim Crow Point. “It’s embarrassing. I’ve taken African-Americans out there. I don’t want that to be part of their impression of this place,” Emlen said. “If that place is to be named after Jim Saules, then let’s use his real name.” County Commissioners Blair Brady and Dan Cothren have said they don’t think the name is racist. “I have an issue with it because we have a lot of crows here. You have a real abundance of crows,” Cothren said. “I guess that’s been bit of a surprise to me too, to see how much education we need to do,” Jayapal said. “I guess that it’s not clear to everybody, where (Jim Crow) comes from, and what that means.” Jayapal thinks there is a lot of local support for her proposal. “I’ve been getting emails from people who are saying, ‘We’re with you and were afraid to speak out.’ I think that’s a ter- rible thing in 2016, that there are people who are afraid to come out and say that they think ... it’s a blight on the county,” Jayapal said. Image from “Gallery of comicalities” 1880 john-adcock.blogspot.com A woodcut depicts Jim Crow, a derisive symbol used by sup- porters of a racial caste system in post-Civil War America. White entertainer Thomas “Daddy” Rice performed in blackface as a “Jim Crow” minstrel character, c. 1830. Jim Crow became a catch- all term for laws designed to maintain the racial caste system in the segregated South between the Recon- struction Era and the 1960s. ing us what we do with our prop- erty. Now they’re telling us what to name our creeks,” Cothren said. “It hasn’t killed anybody, the name. It hasn’t hurt anybody. Do we have any colored people here? I don’t see it. Nobody’s ever come up to me and said, ‘We need to change this name.’” Cothren isn’t convinced the names would make black visi- tors or residents feel unwelcome. “I don’t know. We grew up with that. They didn’t grow up with that,” Cothren said. Commissioner Brady did not respond to a call from the Chi- nook Observer. “If you really want to change the name, pony up the $5,000 and put it on the ballot for the people to vote,” Brady said in a recent Wahkiakum County Eagle article. “If this senator doesn’t have enough work to do, maybe she should get another job.” “I really don’t think most people in Wahkiakum feel that way. I think it’s disappointing, but as the discussion continues, I hope (the commissioners) will see that it is an opportunity,” Jayapal said. moving to the region south of the Columbia River. In his 2014 dissertation, Portland State Uni- versity historian Kenneth R. Coleman argued that the timing was no coincidence. “Oregon politicians sug- gested the legacy of the Saules case by stressing the need to pre- vent black men, particularly sail- ors, from coming to Oregon and collaborating with local indige- nous groups to commit acts of violence against white settlers,” Coleman wrote. The disagreement over Jim Crow is symptomatic of a larger debate about the county’s future: Should Wahkiakum continue to be an insular place with an iden- tity rooted in its almost exclu- sively white recent history? Or should it become a place that welcomes tourism, along with the money, new residents and change that it would bring? Commissioner Cothren, a lifelong Wahkiakum resi- dent, isn’t interested in trying to please outsiders. People who grew up there “relate to Jim Crow” and “don’t like to be dic- tated to,” he said. “We’re getting agencies tell- Image courtesy of the Irene Martin Collection The town of salmon-canning company town Brookfield, which no longer exists, once sheltered inside Jim Crow Point on Wahkiakum County’s Columbia River shoreline. Owned by Joseph Megler, speaker of the Washington State House of Representatives, the town was abandoned in the early 20th century. Its site is now covered by sands dredged from the river. Big life, obscure death Saules returned to Cape D, and worked on a schooner that carried freight and passengers throughout the region. In 1845, he fueled the grow- ing tension between the Brit- ish and Americans over Cape Disappointment, when he got involved in a dispute over an important land claim. In 1897, Astoria settler Silas B. Smith described Saules as a VNLOOHG¿GGOHUZKR³FRXOGVXV- tain a very interesting conversa- tion on a variety of subjects.” Who was Jim Crow? Saules’ life took a turn for Most people know “Jim the worse in the late 1840s. A Crow” describes the discrimi- December 1846 Oregon Spec- natory laws that were prevalent before the civil-rights era. But Who was James Saules? tator article said Saules was the name comes from a much “If it was named as a racist brought before an Oregon City older, deeply racist tradition that name, I probably would have judge, on suspicion of causing cast a long shadow over Ameri- an issue with that, but we don’t the death of his Indian wife, but know that. It was named in the he later disappeared. can culture. “After a while, Saul got into Minstrel show performer 1850s,” Cothren said. Thomas Rice made the name A few records do say the bad ways, and the settlers decided “Jim Crow” famous in the places were named for a tree WKDWVKRXOGEHJLYHQDSXEOLFÀRJ- 1830s, Dr. David Pilgrim, pres- where crows perched, but these ging,” Smith wrote. He witnessed ident and founder of the Jim all seem to be based on the the whipping in 1848. “It was a shocking scene to Crow Museum at Ferris State strength of a single letter, writ- University in Grand Rapids, ten by settler Nellie Megler in witness,” Smith recalled. “Saul Michigan, said. Rice dressed the early 1900s. Emlen, an avid never recovered from his dis- in blackface and gave exagger- bird-watcher, says crows are grace. His troubles affected his ated, capering performances not actually that common at the mind, and he became partially of “Negro Ditties,” including point, and would have been less insane. … He died soon after, common more than 160 years just where I am not able to say.” “Jump Jim Crow.” In 1850, as black-exclu- ³+H ZDVQ¶W WKH ¿UVW WR XVH ago. In 1987, Oregon historian sion policies were strengthened, greasepaint on his face and act like a buffoon, but he was Sam McKinney noted “the Saules’ land at Cape D was WKH ¿UVW WR GR LW DV D FRPSOHWH obvious racial connotation of given to a white man. The last record of his life is show,” Pilgrim said. the name,” and said he believed The minstrel shows made the local geographical features a set of ledgers from a Cath- lamet store that listed him as a Rice wealthy and famous. were named for Saules. Soon, he had scores of imi- Accounts about Saules dif- debtor in the early 1850s. Some tators, who ridiculed Afri- fer on many points, such the accounts say he died around that can-Americans as ignorant, lazy spelling of his name, where he time, while living on the banks or hypersexualized. was from, whether he was a of the Columbia, west of Cath- “Jim Crow remained one of “black giant” or rather short, lamet, leading many historians the stock characters,” Pilgrim and whether he was any good to conclude that he lived near said. After slavery ended, the DW SOD\LQJ ¿GGOH %XW WKH\ DUH the “Jim Crow” landmarks. Jim Crow character lived on, unanimous on one point: he was fueled by whites’ romantic ideas never dull. What’s in a name? about plantation life. Starting in Historians believe Saules Pilgrim, the diversity expert, the 1880s, an “extremely pop- settled in a cabin near Cape Dis- said too often, African-Ameri- ular” genre of music known as appointment after jumping ship. cans have been “honored” with “Coon Songs” carried vicious He married a Chinook woman racial slurs instead of their real stereotypes of blacks “into peo- DQGEULHÀ\ZRUNHGDVDEDUSLORW names. In 1842, he started a business ple’s parlors,” Pilgrim said. “People say this was done By the early 1900s, Afri- running a boat between Astoria to honor this person, or chang- ing this will not change any- can-Americans used “Jim and Cathlamet. 6DXOHV EULHÀ\ PRYHG WR WKH thing in any meaningful way, or Crow” as a way to describe the discrimination that affected Willamette Valley in Oregon. But this is just an example of polit- during the “Cockstock Affair” of ical correctness, and on and on every aspect of their lives. “(Jim Crow) became a syn- 1844, he was accused of incit- and on,” Pilgrim explained. “If onym for not just the songs that ing violence among natives, and \RXFDQ¿QGDZD\WRPDNHVXUH put black people down and the ordered to move back to the the conversations are intelligent, then you’ve had a real victory. A stage personas that put black Long Beach Peninsula. A short time later, Oregon big part of that process is to lis- people down, but for anything that put black people down,” passed the “Lash Law” — a ten,” he said. policy that banned blacks from In this case, Pilgrim said, Pilgrim said. Jim Crow characters per- sisted well into the 20th century, inspiring characters in movies DQG VKRZV LQFOXGLQJ WKH ¿YH crows in Disney’s “Dumbo.” Whose county is it, anyway? there’s an obvious way to honor Saules, while still preserving the history of the place. “This one just seems easy to me,” Pilgrim said. “If it really LV D SRVLWLYH DI¿UPDWLRQ WKHQ it would make no sense not to honor (Saules) as a person.” Looking A co-workers T Frank T Tarabochia E Frank Tarabochia N Astoria Marine 1958 - 1970 T I Cowan Heckaman O N for of Anyone who may have worked with and/or at from Please contact Bailey Peavy Bailey Toll-Free at 855-654-0900 BPBLaw.com