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 )