Back

Racism in Oregon

A sign on a business stating that they will only cater to white customers

The history of racism in Oregon began before the territory even became a U.S. state. The topic of race was heavily discussed during the convention where the Oregon Constitution was written in 1857. In 1859, Oregon became the only state to enter the Union with a black exclusion law, although there were many other states that had tried before, especially in the Midwest.[1] The Willamette Valley was notorious for hosting white supremacist hate groups. Discrimination and segregation were common occurrences against people of Indigenous, African, Mexican, Hawaiian, and Asian descent.[2] Portland, the largest city in the state, continues to have one of the largest proportions of white residents of major U.S. cities.

  1. ^ Siddali, Silvana (2019). ""Better to Kill Them off at Once" Race Violence and Human Rights in Antebellum Western State Constitutional Conventions". American Nineteenth Century History. 20 (1): 20. doi:10.1080/14664658.2019.1605756.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).