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Hey, history lovers.

I'm Mike Rosenwald with Retropod, a show about the past, rediscovered.

This is the story of a pretty shameful piece of our country's past.

In 1926, Oregon amended its state constitution to remove a law from its Bill of Rights.

It was a law that had been part of the Constitution since Oregon became a state in 1859, and it had its

roots in policies that were dated back to 1843, when Oregon was just a territory. It was an

exclusion law, and it made it illegal for black people to live in the state of Oregon. That's right, Oregon was admitted to the United States of America as a white-only state.

In 1844, Oregon was a huge territory under American rule that stretched from the Pacific

coast to the Rocky Mountains.

And the former slaveholder at the head of Oregon County's provisional government, Peter

Burnett, passed a law.

The law allowed slaveholders to keep their slaves for a three-year grace period.

After that, all black people were required to leave Oregon County.

Black women were given three years to get out.

Black men were required to leave in two.

Those who refused were to be severely whipped.

By law, they would be whipped every six months until they left. It was called the

Peter Burnett Lash Law. The Lash Law was quickly amended and then repealed. No black people

were actually lashed as a result of it. But it was the first of three exclusion laws that shaped the history of the Pacific Northwest.

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