Resilience, opportunity and struggle: Preserving and sharing the history of Letitia Carson
Oregon State University, Oregon Black Land Trust, Oregon Black Pioneers and the Linn-Benton NAACP chapter have begun preserving and sharing the history of Letitia Carson, the only Black woman in the state to claim a homestead under 1862’s Homestead Act and who won two lawsuits against a white neighbor who sold her property.
During the Juneteenth weekend celebration, volunteers worked on the former Carson project in an archaeological exploration alongside OSU archaeology graduate students or alumni to excavate the land.
The dig and open house was the first opportunity for the public to gather on the land and reflect on her life while standing in the space Carson once called home, said Zachary Stocks, Executive Director of Oregon Black Pioneers.
The hope is to eventually do more programming on the land, Stocks said.
That could include clean-up days to remove invasive plants and replace them with native species. Stocks said it also could be courses or educational opportunities related to sustainable farming, similar to the work done by partner Black Oregon Land Trust. The organization provides training for Black farmers in Oregon to continue traditional practices tied to the production of food.
Oregon Black Pioneers have been involved in the Letitia Carson Legacy Project since the beginning. They were approached by the Oregon State University College of Agriculture, which currently owns the property where her home was and uses the land as a cattle ranch.
Stocks said that Lauren Gwin, associate director for OSU's Center for Small Farms, gathered the Linn-Benton NAACP and Black Oregon Land Trust to join Black Oregon Pioneers to think about ways to recognize Carson, her story and her land, which was never developed or had additional structures built on it.
Carson’s story
Carson, a slave or former slave, arrived in Oregon in 1845 with a white man named David Carson, according to a digital exhibit on Oregon’s Secretary of State's website. The nature of their relationship is unclear but they had traveled more than 2,000 miles from Missouri.
Carson gave birth to a daughter, Martha, during the journey from May to October, the exhibit states. The Carsons settled on a 640-acre land claim, the amount entitled to married couples. The land was halved in 1850 because Black Americans were not eligible to file land claims in Oregon and the Carsons were unmarried. Their son, Adam, was born in 1849.
David Carson died in 1852 without a will. A neighbor, Greenberry Smith, was made executor of David’s estate. Smith did not recognize Letitia or her children as David’s rightful heirs. In 1853, Smith sold the land and all of Carson’s possessions.
Carson settled in Oregon between the state's 1849 exclusion law that prohibited "negro or mulatto" people from entering into or residing in the territory and the ratification of the state constitution in 1857 that banned blacks in the state from owning real estate, voting, or using the legal system.
Carson sued Smith and David’s estate twice. In 1855, an all-white male jury sided with Letitia who argued that she was entitled to $7,450 for the seven years she had worked on the land and for the sale of their cattle and possessions. The jury awarded her $300 for her work and another $229.50 for her court and legal costs. The next year, a federal judge and another local jury awarded her an additional $1,400 in damages for the sale of their cattle.
In 1863, after moving to Douglas County, Carson filed a claim for 160 acres under the Homestead Act of 1862. Her claim was certified in 1869, making her the only Black woman in Oregon to successfully secure a homestead claim, according to the exhibit. Carsondied in 1888.
Legacy project
The importance of the Carson lands is described on the Oregon Black Pioneers' website: The land is a rare and unique resource to "explore the concepts of home, freedom, and justice" and without any development, it remains a relatively intact space to connect with Black Oregon history.
"There are so few spaces where you can stand and see the land the same way it would have been seen by 19th century Black Oregonians ... any time we get to come and be here, it's sort of like we're standing shoulder to shoulder with her and her children," Stocks said.
Principal investigator of archaeology Cayla Hill described the archaeology dig as an "exciting project." Volunteers were digging at test sites around the former Carson land to explore and further pinpoint where structures like the cabin might have once stood. The hope is to find items to interpret Carson's life further.
"It's exploratory to see what we can find out about the homestead," Hill said.
Heavy rain this spring means people were unable to drive onto the land itself. While the challenge to access the land means some people wanting to visit and volunteer were unable to, Stocks said the walk to the site is one Letitia Carson would have had to make herself.
"Perhaps during that walk, folks can use it as an opportunity to think about the everyday realities of our Black ancestors in Oregon 170 plus years ago," he said.
The Saturday event was intentionally hosted during the Juneteenth weekend. It is a time to share stories of resiliency and opportunity and of struggles, Stocks said.
"All of those things are embodied in the Letitia Carson story, and so, we couldn't think of a better time than Juneteenth to bring people together at the land and think about those things," he said.
Dianne Lugo covers equity and social justice. You can reach her at dlugo@statesmanjournal.com or on Twitter at @DianneLugo.
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Legacy project honors Letitia Carson, Oregon's only Black homesteader
