Racism in Oregon

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] The California Gold Rush was known to be one of the first industrialized instances of slavery in the West and introduced many visiting miners from Oregon to its broad acceptance and support. Many returning miners and resettling Southern miners brought the pro-slavery movement from the Gold Rush back to Oregon, especially in the lower Southwest quarter of the territory.^[3][4]