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Live/Livestream: February 6, 2026 @ Noon

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A History of Exclusion: The Black Eugene Experience and the Black Cultural Initiative

Oregon was considered a “white utopia” for American settlers. As a result, Oregon has a deep history of discrimination which includes but is not limited to: * Three Black Exclusion Laws, 1844-1857, that made it illegal for Black people to settle in Oregon, and provisions in the Oregon Constitution that prohibited Black land ownership; * The highest per-capita Ku Klux Klan membership in the United States, with Eugene having one of the highest concentrations; * Restrictions that prevented Black people from buying property or moving to Oregon without white sponsorship or employment until 1965; * Eugene was a “sundown town”…

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