Prompted by the 2020 murder of George Floyd and the nationwide protests that followed, The Oregonian/OregonLive chose to examine this newspaper’s racist history.

The first installment of the new series looks at the two white men primarily responsible for The Oregonian throughout its first 60 years as a daily paper: Henry Pittock, the publisher and majority owner, and Harvey Scott, the editor and minority owner.

“The Oregonian was a racist newspaper,” said Darrell Millner, an emeritus professor at Portland State University and authority on Black history in Oregon, calling the paper both a reflection of a racist society and a force helping to perpetuate it.

The overtly racist words Pittock and Scott printed from 1861 to 1919 made Oregon a more hostile place for people of color to live, excusing lynching, supporting segregation, opposing equal rights. They are still honored throughout Portland today as the namesakes for a mountain, mansion, city park, university building, downtown building and two elementary schools.

On the latest episode of Beat Check with The Oregonian, editor Therese Bottomly discusses the series, her apology and the future.

Bottomly outlines how the newspaper plans to better engage with communities of color going forward. Learn about some of the modern impacts of the newspaper’s historically racist coverage, which included supporting segregation and advocating for a discriminatory jury system. Read it all here.

The Oregonian/OregonLive would like to hear from you. Please share your comments about this project, provide ideas for future stories or tell us about your experience with racism in Oregon. Contact us at [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 503-221-8055.

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