The Tillamook County Pioneer Museum hosts a special free presentation on Thursday, July 11th, at 4pm from Oregon Black Pioneers’s “Oregon History: 450 Years in 45 Minutes”. Explore Oregon’s unique and centuries-old Black history during this free event as we learn about key individuals and events.
People of African descent have lived and worked in Oregon since before the founding of the earliest English-speaking settlements. Despite this, the state’s popular narrative excludes the historic experiences of African Americans before the mid-20th century. This erasure is the result of legal and social marginalization that contributes to the ignorance of Oregon’s Black heritage, as well as influences contemporary disparities in day-to-day life.
Oregon Black Pioneers have been helping Museum Staff bring Markus Lopeus’ story to the Ocean Breeze Exhibit.
Markus Lopeus was the first known Black person to set foot in Oregon when the sloop Lady Washington sailed into Tillamook Bay in 1788. Check out his story on your next visit to the Museum.
Another prominent black pioneer in Tillamook County was Thomas King.
Visit Tillamook Coast celebrated Juneteenth by sharing the story of Thomas King. Born into slavery and was in his 40s when he first came to Oregon, he lived in Salem for many years before taking a homestead in Tillamook County, in Beaver. The following excerpt is from research compiled by Kylie Pine for the Willamette Heritage Center:”His death certificate lists his age as ’50 or more’ and one obituary states ‘he was born in Tennessee or Kentucky.’ In his later life, he was described as a: ‘man who for so many years held a responsible position on the big Wallace farm.’ He was intelligent and thoroughly upright, and a valuable hand wherever placed. He prospered in the past few years, and has been looking after work and business of his own. He has a timber tract in Tillamook County, having only just recently returned from there. His friends think that possibly the unusual exertion of his trip may have been responsible for the attack which caused his untimely death. All who know Tom remember him with pleasure, and his death will cause a feeling of regret among his many friends.
What brought King to Oregon may be an unsolvable mystery, but we do know from newspaper accounts that he seems to have arrived by July of 1891. The timber tract mentioned as the potential cause of death in his obituaries was 160 acres of land in Tillamook County just north of the community of Beaver. Today the property is part of the Tillamook State Forest.”
On June 22, celebrated Oregon painter Jeremy Okai Davis will unveil a portrait he made of King at the Bush House Museum in Salem.
Join us at the Tillamook County Pioneer Museum on Thursday July 11th at 4 pm for a free presentation about Oregon’s Black Pioneers.
If you’re interested in learning more about Oregon’s Black heritage, visit the Oregon Black Pioneers Facebook page or their website https://oregonblackpioneers.org/