Oregon Statehood Day and the Legacy of Exclusion
January 31, 2023
By Isa Ruelas
February 14, 2023, marks the 164th anniversary of Oregon becoming the thirty-third state in the Union in 1859. On this anniversary, the Oregon Historical Society is honored to host a U.S. Citizenship Ceremony, in partnership with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, where thirty local candidates will take the Oath of Allegiance. Although separated by more than 150 years and circumstances, those being naturalized on Oregon Statehood Day in 2023 and the Black people living in Oregon when it joined the Union are connected by a shared desire to belong and be recognized for their contributions to the prosperity of both Oregon and the United States.
When the electorate of the Oregon Territory sent its constitution to Congress in 1857, the U.S. Senate quickly ratified it, but the U.S. House of Representatives was split primarily due to Oregon’s exclusion of free Black people. When Oregon joined the Union in 1859, it did so as the first and only state to ratify a constitution that excluded Black residents from citizenship, stating: “No free negro, or mulatto, not residing in this state at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall come, reside, or be within this State, or hold any real estate.” The original language of Oregon’s constitution and the vote surrounding its passage speak to a complex history of institutionalized racism. In fact, more of the Oregon territory’s electorate voted against allowing free Black people to reside in the state than voted in favor of ratifying the constitution.
From the establishment of a provisional government in 1843 to statehood in 1859, Black exclusion laws have marred Oregon’s legal development. The 1844 “Lash Law” effectively legalized slavery for up to three years, and freed Blacks who refused to leave after that time were subject to lashing (voters rescinded the law in 1845). In 1849, another exclusion law made it illegal for Black people, except those already residing in the Oregon Territory, to enter or reside there. Since land in Oregon was as much an instrument of social control as it was an opportunity for white people’s economic prosperity, the story of Letitia Carson — the only known Black woman in Oregon to successfully secure a land claim — is a part of the larger legacy of resistance, resilience, and courage of Black people in Oregon.
In May 1845, Letitia Carson accompanied David Carson, a naturalized Irish immigrant, on a six-month journey along the Oregon Trail from Missouri to what is now Benton County, Oregon. Two years prior to their journey, the July 5, 1843, Organic Act established Oregon’s provisional government. To attract migrants to the region, the act gave 320 acres of land to any white man in the region who was at least eighteen years old and 640 acres to a married couple. When David, Letitia, and Martha Jane (their daughter born on the Oregon Trail), settled in Soap Creek Valley, David filed a land claim for 640 acres, the amount entitled to married couples.
After the passage of the federal Donation Land Claim Act of 1850 (DCLA), which validated settlers’ original land claims under the provisional government, David had to recertify his 1845 land claim. The DCLA was the only federal land distribution program to limit land grants by race as it was meant to attract white settlers to Oregon, with the largest amount allotted to single, white men. Under the provisional government and the DCLA, Native men with white fathers could also apply for land grants. Since Black people were excluded from the program and his marriage with Letitia was not recognized under Oregon law, their land claim was reduced to 320 acres.
David died unexpectedly in September 1852, leaving behind Letitia and their two children, Martha Jane and Adam. Neither Letitia nor her children were recognized as David’s heirs by the assigned executor of his estate, Greenberry Smith, who sold their land and possessions. Under Oregon’s exclusion law at that time, Black emigrants could not reside in Oregon’s borders for longer than six months nor could they own land or file suit. Since Letitia had arrived in Oregon before 1849, the year when the law took effect, she was able to bring two lawsuits against Smith. The first suit argued that Letitia was David’s servant and was due back wages for the seven years they lived together. The second suit was that Smith unlawfully sold the cattle in David’s estate because they had belonged to Letitia. A jury of all white men from Benton County ruled in Letitia’s favor both times. She was awarded nearly $2,000 for both cases, which also included money for court costs and fees.
In May 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law. Unlike the DCLA, this law did not bar people based on race or gender. Both free Black people and single or widowed women could apply for homesteads. On June 17, 1863, Letitia Carson filed the 71st homestead claim in the nation — as a widow, not a free slave — for 160 acres on South Myrtle Creek in Douglas County, Oregon. On October 1, 1869, President Ulysses S. Grant certified Letitia Carson’s homestead claim. Letitia Carson was born enslaved in Kentucky sometime between 1814 and 1818, and although it is unknown when her legal status changed to being a free Black woman, she did not let the convergence of white supremacist ideology — neither enslavement nor Black exclusion — stop her from belonging and prospering in a state that criminalized her very identity. In fact, she used the ambiguity of her legal status and relationship to David Carson to strategically to navigate the legal system, from being his domestic servant to being his widow.
During her lifetime, free Black people in Oregon and across the United States existed on the margins of citizenship as the framers of the U.S. Constitution did not include a constitutional provision on citizenship. In fact, Carson would not have even been able to apply for the Homestead Act if Attorney General Edward Bates had not partially overturned the Dred Scott decision in 1862, which had declared free Black people non-citizens. This marginalized status continued to hinder free Black people until the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, which conferred citizenship to those born or naturalized in the United States and also made Oregon’s state constitution exclusion clause invalid: “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
Knowing Carson’s story and understanding Black history is vital to understanding Oregon’s past, present, and future. The resistance, work, and prosperity of Black people, organizations, and communities is as much a part of Oregon’s history as the state’s constitution, from the arrival of Markus Lopius, a crewmember of the American Ship Lady Washington in 1788, to the election of Margaret Carter to the Oregon Legislature in 1984, and everyone in between and who came after.
Educational Resources
The Letitia Carson Digital History Collection is an online collection created by the Letitia Carson Legacy Project that brings together all the current biographical information, primary documents, photographs, and research being done about this remarkable woman and her story. The Collection also includes digital exhibits about different aspects of Letitia Carson’s life and legacy and ongoing research about her story. Bob Zybach and Jan Meranda are credited with assembling and transcribing all of the documents pertaining to Letitia Carson, which are made available on this site. That work is documented in an online exhibit titled “Zybach and Meranda Historiography 1989–Today.”
The Letitia Carson Story elementary school lesson plans, developed by the Oregon Black Pioneers and educational partners, includes a teacher guide, daily lessons, and activities. These multi-day lessons are designed to align with Oregon Social Studies standards and Ethnic Studies standards.
Life Story: Letitia Carson (ca. 1815–1888), created by the New-York Historical Society as part of the Women & The American Story Curriculum, includes primary resources, teaching materials, and suggested activities for educators.
Sources
Cain Allen, “Debate Over Oregon Constitution,” Oregon History Project (accessed January 29, 2023)
Cain Allen, “Draft of Oregon State Constitution,” Oregon History Project (accessed January 29, 2023)
Kenneth Coleman, “‘We’ll All Start Even’: White Egalitarianism and the Oregon Donation Land Claim Act.” Oregon Historical Quarterly 120, no. 4 (2019): 414–439. (accessed January 27, 2023)
Greg Nokes, “Black Exclusion Laws in Oregon,” The Oregon Encyclopedia (accessed January 29, 2023)
Darrell Millner, “Blacks in Oregon,” The Oregon Encyclopedia (accessed January 27, 2023)
William G. Robbins, “Oregon Donation Land Law,” The Oregon Encyclopedia (accessed January 29, 2023)
Oregon Secretary of State, “Letitia Carson,” Black History Month, online exhibit (accessed January 29, 2023)
Oregon Secretary of State, Crafting the Oregon Constitution, online exhibit (accessed January 29, 2023)
Zachary Stocks, “Introducing the Letitia Carson Legacy Project!” Oregon Black Pioneers (accessed January 29, 2023)
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