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| Salem's
Ethnic Histories |
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African Americans In Salem
African-American settlers in Salem faced many difficult
obstacles. Although slavery was illegal in Oregon, it
was not unheard of in the 1840s and 50s. Many more blacks
worked in menial and poorly paid jobs, and struggled to
get an education. Technically, these hard-working African-Americans
were not supposed to be in the state at all. From 1844
to 1926, Oregon’s laws prohibited blacks from living
in the state. As Egbert Oliver wrote, “African-Americans
were essentially illegal aliens in Oregon.” Learn
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Chinese Americans In Salem.
Most of the Chinese who worked in the area came from
the province of Kwang Tung, heading first to the goldfields
in California around 1850, then later headeding north.
Chinese were recruited by six "companies"
in China these organizations held life and death power
over its members and demanded tax beyond the passage
money, 1/3 to go to the central Chinese government,
1/3 to the immigrant’s tong and 1/3 for return
of the immigrants ashes to his homeland. Ships bringing
Chinese to Oregon direct from Hong Kong began to arrive
in Portland beginning in 1868, consigned under contract
to Tong Duck Chung.
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Japanese Americans In Salem.
On the first day of June, 1942, there was an unusually
large group around a train at the Southern Pacific train
depot on 13th Street in Salem. The passengers already
aboard, Japanese-Americans who had been picked up in cities
to the north and their armed soldier escorts, waited during
the train’s stop of two hours. Local families and
their possessions, everything a few large bundles could
contain, were slowly boarded. Remaining on the platform
were a group of whites from the Salem Council of Church
Women and other friends of the departing families. Learn
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The Kalapuya: Salem's Native
Americans
The Kalapuya Indians (also known as the Calapooya or Calapooia)
"lived in the heart of the fertile Willamette Valley
between the Coast Range Mountains and the Cascade Mountains,"
notes an article entitled "The Kalapuya: a Wealthy
Way of Life." "Their territories stretched from
the winter villages of the Tualatin" (near present
day Portland) to the Yonkalla, who lived from just northeast
of Roseburg, to the Calapooia Mountains," continues
this Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde publication.
"As a semi-nomadic people, the Kalapuya(s) lived
in permanent winter homes and migrated throughout the
Willamette Valley during the...
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Salem's Latino Community
The signs of a vibrant Latino culture are everywhere in
Salem today. Restaurants serving burritos, fajitas,
and enchiladas are as common as those selling hamburgers.
Grocery stores stock traditional Mexican carnes,
chiles, and dulces. Dress shops and
party stores provide all the necessities for an elaborate
quinceañera, and there are dance clubs playing
cumbia and ranchera music. Salem's
Mexican-American community has been growing rapidly since
the 1970s, and the flowering of Latino culture is a relatively
recent development in its history.
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