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February 21, 2001
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Page 5
Keeping Blacks Out of Oregon
B y E ric W urzer for T he
P ortland O bserver
o prevent even free
blacks from settling
in Oregon, a series o f
what were known as
sion Laws were not unique to
Oregon - em igrants brought
the idea from their old homes
T
ing it illegal for blacks to settle
in Oregon w ithout providing
for any form o f punishm ent. It
was under this law that the
only know n victim o f
Exclu­
O reg o n ’s E xclusion, a
tavern owner from Salem
by the nam e o f Jacob
Vanderpool, was exiled
the C ivil W ar rendered
Exclusion Law m oot, but
O regon C onstitution was
am ended to rem ove the
the
the
not
of-
fending language until 1926.
Erie Wurzer is an Interpreter
fo r the End o f the Oregon Inter­
pretive Center in Oregon City.
His exhibit called "Black Pio­
neers
of
the
O regon
C ountry"continues to be dis­
played until March 14.
A black settler heading out West. In the wake o f the 1847
murders and kidnappings at the Whitman mission. Oregon ‘s
Provisional Government organized the Oregon Rangers to
fight the Cayuse War and passed the first Exclusion Law to
take effect in the West.
back East. Illinois and Indiana ffom the Oregon Territory.
had Exclusion Laws on the
The third and last Ex­
books in the m id -19,h century, clusion Law in Oregon
and several states denied free was added to the Bill o f
blacks the right to vote and Rights o f the proposed
restricted their ability to testify sta te c o n s titu tio n by
in court.
popular referendum in
regon’s first Exclu Novem ber o f 1857. On
sion Law passed in the same ballot was a
1844. Known as the referendum on the ques­
“Lash Law ,” it called tion
for all
o f slavery which
free A m ericans o f A frican w ent dow n in defeat.
descent over the age o f 18 to The presence o f an Ex­
leave Oregon - men w ithin 2 clusion Law in O regon’s
years and wom en within 3 - or c o n s titu tio n c a u se d
be subjected to no less than 20 so m e c o n s te r n a tio n
and no m ore than 39 strokes o f among Northern legisla­
the lash every six m onths “un­ tors in the U.S. C on­
til he or she shall quit the Ter­ gress, but others argued
ritory.” The punishm ent was that it was a structured
reduced to forced labor in way to avoid bloodshed
December, six m onths after over racial issues and the
the original law passed. The spread o f slavery. Thus,
revised law was to go into ef­ in 1859, Oregon became
fect in 1846, but it was re­ the only state admitted
pealed in the 1845 session o f to the Union with an Ex­
the Provisional legislature.
clusion Law enshrined
A nother Exclusion Law was in its constitution.
enacted in 1849 and repealed
A m endm ents to the
in 1854, this one sim ply declar- U.S. Constitution after
O
T h u rs d a y , F e b ru a ry 22
7 p m to 1 0 p m
w ith p e rfo rm a n c e by
BLACK SWAN
CLASSIC JAZZ BAND
C o n c e rt a d m is s io n : $ 7
21 a n d o v e r o n ly
5756 NE 55rd • P ortland, O regon
(505) 2 4 9 -5 9 8 5 • w w w .in cn ien a m in s.co n i