Among the prejudices created by societies around the globe, racism continues to be leading factor in the history of discrimination. The idea of superiority within a race and the distinctive characteristic of skin color are treated as if they determine culture and personality. History of segregation, slaves, and militant racism within the southern states is no secret to Americans. However, the fundamental history that lies within the roots of the western states also contains deep connections to racial discrimination. Provisional Oregonians were frightened by mixed-blood families that began settling in Oregon, with the fear of immigrants taking land, these racial attitudes grew into Territorial Oregon. The discrimination continued in Oregon and found its way into the 1857 Oregon constitution that denied citizenship to anyone other than whites. Following statehood the Ku Klux Klan landed into Oregon and into politics. Eventually, the KKK had a falling out in Oregon and has not appeared prominently since the late 1920s.
Britain and the United States agreed in the
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The discrimination that Oregonians put towards non-whites was represented directly into the constitution: Article I, Section 31 states “Only white immigrants may become citizens of Oregon.” Article I, section 35 “Free negroes and mulattoes not currently residing in Oregon (at the time the constitution was written) may not come to Oregon and those already living her many not enter contracts, use the court system or own and real estate” and, Article II, section 6 “Negroes, Chinamen, and mulattoes do not have the right to vote.” These articles gave diverse races no opportunities in Oregon. Although Negroes, Chinamen and Mulattoes could live in Oregon, they could not become citizens or contribute to society. Late 1800’s beliefs in not only Oregon but all of the Unites States began the rise of a new