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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 1994)
P age A5 T he P ortland O bserver • F ebruary 23, 1994 Vignettes O f Early Settlers west, he did a lot o f sojourning in this area o f the country. Here is a partial But she hadn’t been a slave paid or bartered for, rather, she’d been a w ed ding present in K entucky for her ow ner’s daughter. A m anda settled with her ow ner on his land claim between Albany and Peoria. In the same wagon train that bought Am anda to Oregon were other slaves, includ ing Benjamin Johnson, who later b e came A m anda’s husband, and Lou S o u th w o rth . A m a n d a ’s o w n e r brought her here despite w arnings that Oregon would notallow slaves to enter. By coincidence, when Am anda was fourteen, she was baptized in Missouri by a Baptist minister nam ed the Rev. James. Rev. James was the account: i J.A. Wisdom, former slave, and A.E. Flowers In 1830, Lou Southworth was bom in Tennessee as a slave and took the nam e o f h is o w n e r, Ja m e s Southworth. W hen Lou was in his tw enties, he cam e to Oregon with the Southworth family. Lou lived with his m aster for aw hile, and then went to Jacksonville to begin mining gold. He did very well and was able to purchase his freedom. He also fought in the Rouge Indian W ar. W hen L ou’s m other died, he traveled to Yreka, California, w here he earned a living by playing the violin. He played the violin so much that his church asked him to leave, worried about the effect his playing would have on thccongre- gation. He ex p ressed his feelings ab o u t his expulsion thusly: “ And I know , friends, you w on’t think hard o f me and give me the cold shoulder for loving my fiddle these many years. I som etim es think that when you go up yonder and find my nam e to your surprise, in the Big Book, you’ll m eet many who rem em bered the old fiddler who played Home Sweet Home, D ixieland, Arkansas Traveler, Sw ance R iver and other tunes for the boys who were far away from home for the first tim e.” In 1917, Lou Southworth died in Corvallis at the age o f 87. W e know that the early black settlers who cam e to the W illam ette Valley, likeG eorgc W ashington Bush and G eorge W ashington Cochran, settled outside o f the region that was affected by the Exclusion Laws. When A.E. Flow ers arrived in the North- “I held various jobs at The Dalles, U m atilla and Lew iston, W ashington. I worked as a 'B u ll D river’ from Lew iston to W alla W alla, W ashing ton. There was one main street in W alla W alla and gam bling dens and saloons flourished on all sides. iMur- der was frequent occurrence in that town. I w orked in that country for aw hile and then I com e to Portland, O regon, again.” Another pioneer was Colum bus Sewell, who came to Canyon City, O regon, in the 1860s, and becam e a m iner and then a freight hauler. He was m arried with four sons, the oldest being a freight hauler all his adult life. W illiam “John” Livingston trav eled to the Oregon Territory as a free man, although h e’d form erly been a slave. Back in his birthplace, M is souri , speculation existed that he could possibly be one o f the playmates of the famous Sam uel Clem ens (aka Mark Tw ain). Livingston was brought here by a Judge Ringo, w ho gave him 40 acres o f land. The following is a de scription o f John Livingston by Judge Ringo: “ I never saw a finer man than John Livingston. He was the soul of honor. His skin was as black as coal, but his heart was alabaster. His word was gospel, and I have often heard the bankers o f the city say they would rather have John L ivington’s word than that o f any w hite man in the county in a financial transaction.” Another early black settler was Richard Sorter, who cam e to O regon in 1858. Here is an account o f his death: “Richard Sorter (colored) died at his hom e near Kalama, yesterday, aged 72, o f paralysis. “ Dick,” as he was called by his friends, was an old landm ark and a man o f varied expe- Slavery * V In the 1840s and 1850s, white- hot disputes over w hether Oregon should be adm itted to the Union as a slave or free state lit up the nation and the Oregon Territory. These disputes arose form the T erritory’s first efforts to form a provisional governm ent in 1843. T he controversy continued through 1848, when territorial status was granted by Congress, up to the time O regon becam e a state in 1859. Even through the C ivil W ar and post-war period,opinionsdiffcrcd over the civil and social rights o f non- whites-even over w hether blacks and Chinese should be allowed to live in Oregon. The problems with slavery were legal, economical, political and social in nature. Many early settlers came from the south and, while some of them were slave-owners, others settled in Oregon to escape the storm brewing over slavery and secession. Another problem was that slavery seemed impractical where no cotton plantations existed. O f course, a deeper concern grew from peoples’ be lief that slavery was immoral and inhu mane. Those with political minds worried about the balance of power Congress, i.c., the slave states vs. the free states. Members of congress thought twice be fore admitting a new state, pondering whether it would give the balance of power to pro-North or to pro-South par ties. In Oregon, it mattered a great deal whether the President was a Democrat (pro-slavery) or a Whig (anti-slavery, later known as the Republican party). It was the President’s duty to appoint Oregon’s territorial governors, and from 1849 to 1859, he appointed six Demo crats and only one Whig. The issue o f slavery troubled many people as the Territory began shaping its constitution to submit to Congress The Constitutional m ea sures that settlers voted on would be hard to believe today. It’s even more shocking to note that blacks and mu- lattocs couldn’t vote until 1927. The following are the most sig nificant measures and votes in Oregon’s history regarding minor ity rights: 1844: The Provisional Govern- m ent’s Legislative Committee voted that slavery be prohibited in Oregon. If slaves were brought into Oregon, their ow ners had three years to re m ove them. If the slave ow ners re fused, the slaves would be freed. 1845: The Provisional G overn m ent’s Organic Laws required free slaves to leave within two years, orbe Hogged from 20 to 30 stripes if found guilty in a trial. This punishm ent would be repeated every six months if the free slave still failed to leave. Fortunately, this law was repealed in 1845. 1848: Slavery was forbidden in the act that established the Oregon Territory. 1855: An anti-slavery conven tion was held in Albany, passing reso lutions that formed a platform for the anti-slavery party,the Whigs. In 1856, the W higs becam e the Republican party. 1857: The State Constitutional Convention was held in Salem , with O regon’s constitution being adopted on November 9 by a vote of 7,195 to 3,215. Slavery was voted down 7,727 to 2,645, however; permitting resi dence to free blacks was voted down 8,640 to 1,081. A black or m ulatto also couldn’t own property or make contracts. 1860: O regon supported L in coln and the A bolitionist ticket, al though O regon’s form er Territorial governor, Joseph Lane, was a Vice- Presidential candidate on a ticket run- Columbus Sewell rience. He was a great favorite among the officers o f the Northern pacific Railroad Co., being an employee of the com pany for fifteen years, nine of which he was freight agent at this place. He was born in Princeton, New William "John" Livingston Jersey, and was for many years per manently connected with th e ' under ground railroad’ prior to the Civil W ar. He arrived in O regon in 1858, and cam e to Kalama in 1871. He was in the em ploy o f the governm ent and assisted in establishing Forts W alla W alla and Boise. He was personally acquainted with a large num ber of governm ent officials and prom inent businessmen of the coast in early days.” T hey c a lle d W illiam R um ley “ U n cle B ill” and re g a rd e d him h ig h ly in h is 70 y e a rs o f liv in g in C u rry C o u n ty n e a r th e R o g u e R iv e r. He e a rn e d g o o d w ill fo r being “ big h e a rte d .” “ h o s p ita b le ” and “ re a d y to run e rra n d s o r h elp a n y o n e .” R um ley had b een a slave in the S o u th and had run aw ay a b o u t 1850, fle e in g “ as far aw ay as p o s s ib le .” H e had b e e n born in 1830 in M isso u ri, the son o f a b la c k m o th e r and a w h ite fa th e r. Rumley was listed as a miner in 1851 on the Klamath River married in 1864 to an Indian woman, Lucy; mined and raised livestock on Squaw Creek in Curry County, where he was a charier member o f the Curry County Grange. In 1878, Rumley was ap pointed Justice o f the Peace, and managed a ferry and repaired boats. He died at age 90 in 1921, having left thirty acres on the illinois River to his friends in his will. His w ife and two children preceded him in death. At the age of twenty, Amanda G ardener Johnson was brought as a slave over the Oregon Trail in 1853. Richard and America Waldo Bogle father o f Jesse James, bom in 1847; the same year Rev. James had bap tized Amanda. The Bogle family tradition started with Richard Bogle, who cam e to A merica from the W est Indies. He eventually traveled to Oregon and married A m erica W aldo, They then m oved to W alla W alla to escape the restrictions that O regon’s Exclusion Laws forced upon blacks. Their de scendants today continue the B ogles’ proud tradition of service to the Pa cific Northwest. Northwest Black Pioneers ning against Lincoln. T he 1860 cen sus: 128 blacks. 1862: A poll tax o f $5 a year was im posed on “ N egroes, C hinam en, K anakas and M ulattoes.” If not paid, the sheriff could put the person to work on public highways. 1865: Oregon ratified the U.S. C onstitutional am endm ent abolish ing slavery. 1927: Oregonians voted to re peal the section o f the 1859 state constitution that denied the right to vote to blacks and mulattoes. The Rev. Obed Dickinson’s stand against slavery and his insistence on civil rights for blacks in Oregon made him a target as he preached in the Salem Congregational Church from 1853 to 1867. His verbal ammunition from the pulpit was aimed at those who didn’t see that ‘the Gospel applied also to the few Negroes living and working in Salem.” When Dickinson arrived in Salem, it was a village o f500 people and also the new capital of Oregon. Its small public school denied admission to blacks. Only Dickinson’s church had black members, an issue that cost him financial support. So his wife, Charlotte, taught blacks in the Dickinson home, and the Salem Con gregational Church became their center of social and religious life. In a community divided by the sla very issue as the Civil War approached, Dickinson termed the slavery dispute as “Satan coming among them.” This re mark provoked a comment from the pri vate secretary of GovemorGcorgc Curry, a Democrat, that he wouldn’t go to Dickinson’s church because “I won’t hear an abolitionist preach.” Dickinson described in a letter in 1862 how three blacks were admitted to membership, along with six white per sons, before a packed church. “There was a stillness which spoke the presence of God," he wrote. “Even breathing seemed to be suppressed by the intensity of the feeling. God bless Old Black Rob e r t” He preached in Junc of 1861: “There is a wrong public opinion in this town. It has closed the doors of all our schools against the children of these black fami lies, dooming them to ignorance inlife...! said this was wrong, and what else breth ren could I do?” Jacon D odson, a black man who came to Oregon in 1843 with the John Frem ont expedition, was a servant for the family o f Thom as Hart Benton. According to records, Dodson was granted the same status and responsi bilities as Ben York was with the Lewis and Clark expedition. Records also described Dodson as being very strong, which qualified him to par ticipate in the expedition’s most ar duous task: exploring and mapping the geographic features o f the cast side o f the Cascade M ountains to the Klamath Falls. But probably the most famous black mountain man o f all time was M o ses B lack H a rris. H is fam e stemmed from his skill as a trader, trapper, guide and teller of tall talcs. In 1844, he was chosen as a guide for one o f the largest wagon trains to come to Oregon. This party arrived in what is now O regon’s W illam ette Valley in early fall o f 1844. Harris also accom panied Elijah W hite as a guide to The Dalles. His service was then obtained by Stephen Meek to rescue some settlers stranded in a desert nicknam ed the "B lue Bucket.” Fortunately, Indians helped out by giving them much-needed sup plies, and Harris was able to lead the stranded settlers back to The Dalles. Again, in 1846, Harris rescued an other wagon train com ing into O r egon across the Applegate cutoff. He began the rescue in mid-December and finally succeeded in mid-January o f 1847. Moses Black Harris died of chol era in 1849. During his life out west, lie was held in high esteem by many of his fellow mountain m en, as well as by the many wagon trains he success fully led to Oregon. People thought of him as an A m erican, above and be yond any color. Harris could easily be com pared to G eorge W ashington Bush, who w asn’t a mountain man, but who showed the same compassion and love o f country. A jo u rn a l e n try form th a t tim e c a p tu re s this pio neer sp irit: “ H ere lie s the b o n e s o f o ld B lack H a rris w ho o fte n tra v e le d b e y o n d the fa r w e st a n d fo r the freed o m o f e q u a l rig h ts . He c r o s s e d th e s n o w y m o u n ta in h e ig h ts w as free and e asy k in d o f soul e sp e c ia lly w ith a b e lly f u ll.” In retrospect, a com m on thread ran through the lives o f these black pioneers: the sacrifice o f individual safety and comfort for the good o f all people. Challenges In Oregon Black History As p rev io u sly w ritte n , blacks faced a g re a t d e a l o f d is c rim in a tion in early O reg o n h isto ry . And m uch o f th is u n fa ir tre a tm e n t stem m ed from the O rg a n ic L aw s passed by the O reg o n T e r r ito r y ’s P ro v isio n a l G o v e rn m e n t. H ere arc som e e x a m p le s: No free land for blacks in Oregon-exclusion from dona tion Land Act (Homesteading): P a r a g r a p h 4. “ T h e re sh a ll b e, and h e re b y is g ra n te d to e v ery w h ite se ttle r o r o c c u p a n t o f the p u b lic la n d s, A m e ric a n h a lf- breed In d ia n s in c lu d e d , a b o v e the ag e o f e ig h te e n y e a rs, b ein g a c itiz e n o f the U n ite d S ta te s... the q u a n tity o f o n e -h a lf se c tio n , o r th re e h u n d re d and tw e n ty a c re s o f la n d ...(fro m T he O r g an ic L aw s and o th e r G e n e ra l L aw s o f O re g o n , 1 8 4 3 -1872) Prohibition of Interm ar riage (1867): P a ra g ra p h 6 8 9 : H e re a fte r it sh all n o t be la w fu l w ith in th is sta te fo r any w h ite p e rso n , m ale or fe m a le , to in te rm a rry w ith any N e g ro , C h in e se o r K anaka b lood, or any perso n having m ore than h a lf Indian b lo o d ...(fro m T he O rg a n ic L aw s and o th e r G e n e ra l L aw s o f O re g o n , 1 8 4 3 -1 8 7 2 ) Lynching episode (1902): “ A lo n z o T u c k e r, th e b la c k fien d w ho a ssa u lte d the w ife o f B e n ja m in D e n n is, a t M a rsh fie ld y e s t e r d a y , w a s c a p tu r e d a n d ly nched by his p u rsu e rs this m o rn ing. Im m ed iately a fte r hearin g the re p o rt th at M rs. D e n n is, the w ife o f B e n ja m in D e n n is, a m in e r, had been b ru ta lly a ssa u lte d by a N e gro y e ste rd a y a fte rn o o n , a p arty o f m en sta rte d in p u rsu it o f the fiend and in s titu te d a se a rc h th a t p ro v ed su c c e ssfu l th is m o rn in g . T h e fre n z ie d m en s e a rc h e d th ro u g h the long hours o f the n ig h t u n til e a rly this m o rn in g th is black fiend w as d isc o v e re d , w ho on se e ing th a t he had been c a u g h t beg an to c rin g e and p le a d fo r m e rc y ...B u t th e hand o f ju s tic e had se c u re d lo o stro n g a g rip on the m is c re a n t and a ll th e p le a d ing in the w orld w o u ld n o t have saved him from the d e a th he so th o ro u g h ly d e s e rv e d .” (from the O re g o n Jo u rn a l) Theater segregation upheld by Oregon Supreme Court; lauded by Oregonian editorial (1905): “ It is o b v io u s th a t any p la c e o f p u b lic a m u s e m e n t w o u ld speedily lose p a tro n a g e if it w ere not u n d e rsto o d th a t c e r ta in d is c rim in a tio n s w o u ld be m a d e ...” Reality practices and hous ing segregation. The follow ing is a typical clause written into deeds for houses in Corvallis, Renton County, Oregon, in the 1940s: “ N o p e rso n o th e r th a n th o se o f C a u c a sia n R a c e sh a ll o w n , use, lease o r o ccu p y an y p o rtio n o f said p re m ise s, p ro v id in g th a t th is re s tric tio n sh a ll n o t p re v e n t o cc u p a n c y by d o m e stic s e rv a n ts o f a d iffe re n t ra c e e m p lo y e d by an o w n e r o r te n a n t an d o c c u p a n t o f the p re m ise s o c c u p ie d ." Chain reaction of adjust ments created by black m igra tion to Oregon (1940s): “ P o rtla n d c a n a b s o rb o n ly a m inim um o f N eg ro es w ith o u t u p s e ttin g the c i t y ’s re g u la r lif e .” (M a y o r E a rl R ile y in th e O r e g o n ia n )
