1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio, 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:11,320 Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff Lauren Vogelbaum here. In eighteen fifty seven, 3 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:15,160 Speaker 1: approximately ten thousand residents of Oregon had the task of 4 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:18,760 Speaker 1: voting for their new state constitution, and they were asked 5 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:23,520 Speaker 1: three questions. The first, do you vote for the constitution? 6 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: A note that the new constitution stipulated that no black 7 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:30,520 Speaker 1: person quote not residing in this state at the time 8 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:33,920 Speaker 1: of the adoption of this constitution shall come reside or 9 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:37,199 Speaker 1: be within this state, or hold any real estate, or 10 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:43,559 Speaker 1: make any contracts, or maintain any suit Therein, overwhelmingly, voters 11 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:49,160 Speaker 1: supported their constitution. Second question, do you vote for slavery 12 00:00:49,240 --> 00:00:53,680 Speaker 1: in Oregon? And the voters of Oregon rejected the institution 13 00:00:53,720 --> 00:00:58,480 Speaker 1: of slavery within their borders. Third question, do you vote 14 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 1: for free negroes in Oregon? In and the majority voted no. 15 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: This wasn't an act of cognitive dissonance. In the article 16 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 1: this episode was based on, How Stuff Works. Spoke via 17 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:15,120 Speaker 1: email with David F. Walker, a writer and at junc 18 00:01:15,160 --> 00:01:19,840 Speaker 1: professor at Portland State University. He explained it was pretty simple. 19 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:23,679 Speaker 1: Early settlers in Oregon didn't want black people here. It 20 00:01:23,800 --> 00:01:26,679 Speaker 1: wasn't so much that they were opposed to slavery as 21 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 1: they didn't like blacks. How Stuff Works also spoke via 22 00:01:31,319 --> 00:01:34,080 Speaker 1: email with Bolita and Marisha, a professor in the Black 23 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:37,880 Speaker 1: Studies Department at Portland State University who travels around Oregon 24 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:43,399 Speaker 1: facilitating programs on Oregan's racial history. She explained Oregon was 25 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:47,639 Speaker 1: birthed at this intersection of being anti slavery and anti black, 26 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:51,200 Speaker 1: but in no way was Oregon anti slavery because they 27 00:01:51,200 --> 00:01:54,360 Speaker 1: believed in racial justice. They were anti slavery because they 28 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:57,600 Speaker 1: considered this to be white man's land and they came 29 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:01,360 Speaker 1: to build a racist, white utopia. Their goal was to 30 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:06,480 Speaker 1: keep out or push out all people of color. She continued. 31 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:10,160 Speaker 1: That is why the first exclusionary law in eighteen forty 32 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:13,800 Speaker 1: four outlawed slavery and also banned black people from living 33 00:02:13,840 --> 00:02:17,120 Speaker 1: here and including the lash law, said the black people 34 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:20,400 Speaker 1: would be whipped publicly every six months up to thirty 35 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:24,400 Speaker 1: nine lashes until they left the state. That is the 36 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:27,840 Speaker 1: brutal mechanism Oregon set in place to further its conception 37 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:33,799 Speaker 1: of this state as a white homeland. Oregon exemplifies what 38 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:35,280 Speaker 1: was going on in the rest of the U S 39 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:38,920 Speaker 1: at the time. Only, as Emeritia notes, the state was 40 00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: bold enough to write it down, so how did it change? 41 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:48,320 Speaker 1: Various laws eventually made these exclusionary laws illegal from state 42 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: constitutional amendments to the Civil Rights Act, but those didn't 43 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:56,640 Speaker 1: necessarily fix the problem. A Walker offers more history to 44 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:00,640 Speaker 1: understand the context of the time. He said it wasn't 45 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:04,040 Speaker 1: until World War Two, when the Kaiser Shipyards needed people 46 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,079 Speaker 1: working on the assembly line, that blacks were really allowed 47 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,000 Speaker 1: in the state. In the early nineteen hundreds, members of 48 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:12,800 Speaker 1: the ku Klux Klan were deputized officers of the law 49 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:16,080 Speaker 1: in Portland. All of this still lingers in the air. 50 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:20,480 Speaker 1: Emrisha cited a report released by the Portland Housing Bureau 51 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:24,680 Speaker 1: in twenty fifteen. She said the report quote found that 52 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:26,799 Speaker 1: if you are Black, if you are Latino, if you 53 00:03:26,840 --> 00:03:30,680 Speaker 1: are Indigenous, you cannot afford to live in Portland. So, 54 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:34,680 Speaker 1: in essence, Portland is still a white homeland. It begs 55 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:37,680 Speaker 1: the question, if the mechanisms are different but the outcome 56 00:03:37,800 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 1: is the same, how much of things really changed but 57 00:03:42,920 --> 00:03:46,640 Speaker 1: things are progressing in direct opposition to the stated goals 58 00:03:46,720 --> 00:03:51,000 Speaker 1: that founded the state of Oregon. Emaritia said, the very 59 00:03:51,040 --> 00:03:53,600 Speaker 1: fact that black communities exist in Oregon at all is 60 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 1: astounding because they were never meant to. Under the most 61 00:03:57,400 --> 00:04:00,680 Speaker 1: brutal and oppressive conditions, Black people and other people of 62 00:04:00,720 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: color have resisted, They've organized, they have built, and they 63 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:07,080 Speaker 1: have struggled to make Oregon a better state for everyone. 64 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:10,040 Speaker 1: Communities of color do not need saviors to tell us 65 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:18,800 Speaker 1: how it's done. We need allies. Today's episode is based 66 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:22,279 Speaker 1: on the article racial History Oregon was Whites only until 67 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:26,039 Speaker 1: on how stuff works dot Com, written by Brian Young. 68 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:29,200 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership 69 00:04:29,200 --> 00:04:31,159 Speaker 1: with how stuff Works dot Com and is produced by 70 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:34,520 Speaker 1: Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts my Heart Radio, visit the 71 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:37,240 Speaker 1: i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 72 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:38,280 Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.