• jordanlund@lemmy.world
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    6 hours ago

    Oregon has history on both sides, unfortunately.

    For example:

    Oregon was an early supporter of womens right to vote, passing it in 1912. It wouldn’t be passed at the federal level until the 19th Amendment in 1920.

    BUT - It took Oregon SIX tries to get there, having the vote fail in 1884, 1900, 1906, 1908, and 1910. Oregon was the 9th state to pass it, following Wyoming (1890), Colorado (1893), Utah & Idaho (1896), Washington (1910), California (1911), Arizona & Kansas (1912).

    OTOH - Oregon’s constitution in 1859 was written explicitly to deny property rights to blacks. We also have a long history with the Klan. :(

    https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/exclusion_laws/

    "Incorporated into the Bill of Rights, the clause prohibited Black people from being in the state, owning property, and making contracts. Oregon thus became the only free state admitted to the Union with an exclusion clause in its constitution.

    The clause was never enforced, although several attempts were made in the legislature to pass an enforcement law. The 1865 legislature rejected a proposal for a county-by-county census of Black people that would have authorized the county sheriffs to deport them. A Senate committee killed the last attempt at legislative enforcement in 1866. The clause was rendered moot by the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, although it was not repealed by voters until 1926. Other racist language in the state constitution was removed in 2002."