Though often omitted from history books, African American people had feet on the ground side by side with early explorers of the Oregon Territory—from Markus Lopius, a "servant" on the
Lady Washington in 1788 with Robert Gray, to York, a slave on the Lewis and Clark expedition, to Moses Harris, a free black mountain man and legend in the fur trade and later a sought-after wagon train guide. There's also James Douglas, chief factor at Fort Vancouver in the 1840s and concurrent governor on Vancouver Island and British Columbia.
Somewhat simultaneous with Douglas' rise to political power, legislated race restrictions known as Exclusion Laws were set for Oregon Trail immigration. Racial limitations also applied with the Oregon Donation Land Law in 1850. These federally enforced restrictions, present at the inception of Oregon, created major undeniable barriers. Bearing these inequities in mind, we've set aside some ink this week to look at some of Oregon's modern and early Black trail blazers—by no means a comprehensive list of contemporary Black leaders who have molded pop culture, athletics, social change and beyond.