Portland’s
Racist History

Oregon has a deep and ugly history of racism. We believe that to be the people of Jesus in our city we have a responsibility to learn the pains of the past, acknowledge how they effect the present, and pray for a different future.

Founded
on Racism

From before it was officially founded, Oregon was a hostile place for People of Color. In an attempt to establish America’s first “all-white” state, the provisional government of 1844 ordered Black people out of the territory. By 1857, a constitution was adopted that banned all Black people from entrance, residence, and ownership of property. This founding idea of Oregon was as a “white utopia.”

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Juneteenth

Juneteenth is the celebrated commemoration of the Emancipation Proclamation and the abolishment of American slavery. Effective January 1, 1863, by executive order of President Lincoln, “All persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State… shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” But it wasn’t until two and a half years later, on June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers landed in Galveston, Texas that the remaining Black men and women still subject to enslavement were informed that, “in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.” By then, the war was over, General Lee had surrendered, President Lincoln was dead, and the 13th Amendment was nearly ratified. On December 6, 1865, the United States Constitution officially declared that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Even as the 14th & 15th amendments were established following the Civil War, giving Black Americans certain rights, Oregon refused to officially recognize them.

Juneteenth is a moment of celebration for the liberation of Black Americans. But after the war, oppression took new forms. Confederate soldiers occupied positions in the justice system, becoming police officers and judges. Black codes, jim crow laws, segregation, voter suppression, redlining, police brutality, mass incarceration, labor camps, lynchings, and white supremacy formed the systems of racism that still afflict our Black sisters and brothers today.

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Built on White Supremacy

Racism was deeply entrenched in the laws, culture, and social life of Oregon, making it an ideal climate for the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. By the 1920s, Oregon had the highest per capita Klan membership in the country, holding influence in government and church leadership. In 1922, Walter Pierce, a politician supported by the KKK, was elected governor of Oregon. Local papers published photos of the Portland Chief of Police, Sheriff, District Attorney, U.S. Attorney, and Mayor all posing with klansmen. By the 1980s, Oregon had become a destination for the largest skinhead movement in the country. Its objective was to achieve what the early pioneers had dreamed of over a century earlier, the creation of a white homeland.

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During WWII, Portland became a major shipbuilding hub and thousands of workers from across the country arrived for work in the shipyards. As a result, Vanport City was built, the nation’s largest wartime housing development. Many of the new workers were Black and city officials expressed concern.

“Portland can absorb only a minimum of negros without upsetting the city’s regular life.” –Mayor Earl Riley

Segregation and redlining forced Black families to live in these temporary structures even after the war had ended. Vanport became increasingly Black as other workers moved into more desirable homes around the city. In 1948, high waters from the Columbia River flooded the city, destroying the homes of 18,500 residents, displacing Black families who had few other options for permanent housing.

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