Page 25 - Corvallis, OR Historic Preservation Plan

Historic Preservation Plan

People of Color in Early Corvallis ■mm ..

The story of Corvallis would be incomplete without acknowledging w .
the experience and contributions of non-white populations in the V’ i
city’s past. While the work of the City’s historic preservation program
primarily focuses on the preservation of historic artifacts of the
built environment, which are primarily associated with whites, the
experiences of non-white populations are no less essential to the story
of Corvallis. The descriptions provided here are not intended to be
an exhaustive survey of non-white populations and their respective Shawala Point
experiences, and are purposefully abridged.

Native Peoples

The area that would become Corvallis and the surrounding area was
historically inhabited by the Marys River band of Kalapuya people,
specifically the Chepenafas. By the mid to late 1800s their numbers
had greatly diminished. Following a series of failed treaty attempts, the
Willamette Valley Treaty saw the establishment of the Grande Ronde
Agency and later the Coast Reservation and any remaining native
families were relocated. Following their removal from the Willamette
Valley, many native families would return to work the seasonal harvests
of hops and berries. Into at least the late 1800s, there are accounts
of seasonal camping by native families at the Marys River Flat (aka
Shawala Point) where they would sell baskets.

Black Pioneers

While slavery was never technically legal within Oregon, slavery was
indeed present through much of its settlement and no less than
three separate black exclusion laws were adopted. Many of the early
pioneers consisted of non-slaveholding farmers from the south who
opposed slavery from fear of the economic disadvantage they had
experienced in their home states. However, they were also opposed to
living alongside blacks and strongly supported the exclusion laws that
were passed between 1843 and 1849. There are instances of white
settlers arriving with slaves, but where the exclusion laws required
any black persons to leave the area within a certain amount of time.
There appears to have been relatively lax enforcement of these laws
as some black settlers were present throughout this time, but there
is little doubt that these laws were effective in discouraging any
significant number of early black settlers. These anti-black sentiments
were maintained through statehood where Oregon has the dubious
distinction of being the only free state admitted to the Union with an
exclusion law in its constitution.

Two notable black persons that made their home in Corvallis during
the settlement era include Hannah and Eliza Gorman. Hannah and
daughter Eliza Gorman arrived in Oregon from Missouri as part of the

Final: November 15, 2017 19