© 2024 | Jefferson Public Radio
Southern Oregon University
1250 Siskiyou Blvd.
Ashland, OR 97520
541.552.6301 | 800.782.6191
a service of Southern Oregon University
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Exchange Exemplar: The Rare Black Man In Early Oregon

Painter: John Mix Stanley, Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas.
Oregon City around 1850.

Oregon's heavily white racial present owes much to Oregon's heavily white past.  The territory, then the state, chose to avoid completely the whole slave-vs-free issue by just barring all black people from living here. 

It didn't work.  Some people of African descent lived in Oregon anyway, including the focus of the book Dangerous Subjects: James D. Saules and the Rise of Black Exclusion in Oregon

The book, from Oregon State University Press, shines light on an obscure corner of Oregon history, as little is known about Saules.  Author Kenneth Coleman visited in 2017 for this interview. 

Stay Connected
The Jefferson Exchange is Jefferson Public Radio's daily talk show focused on news and interests across our region of Southern Oregon and Northern California. Angela Decker is the senior producer, Charlie Zimmermann is the assistant producer, and Geoffrey Riley hosts the show.