A Bit About The History of Portland, Oregon
In 1844, Oregon began implementing the Oregon black exclusion laws. These were laws preventing African Americans from moving to Oregon. Its founders quite literally said they were looking to create a “white utopia” in the United States of America, where they forcibly segregated and killed Indigenous Americans and excluded African Americans from moving there. They argued that they were scared that African Americans would incite Indigenous Americans to revolt and kill European colonizers.
These openly racist laws were created in 1844 and existed in Oregon until 1926, when the last of the laws was expunged from the record (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_Oregon). That being said, Oregon by that point was a bastion for white racist settlement and hardly any people of color desired a life in a place where the foundational documents of the place contained anti-black racist ideas. Though people of color were technically able to move to Oregon after 1926, very few did because it was still an openly hostile place for African Americans.
Nowadays, people often ask why Oregon is so white. People often forget that Oregon was home to many anti-slavery societies and part of their foundational oeuvre was inspired by the distaste for slavery that would fuel the state’s agricultural industry. In the absence of African Americans, you would assume that no racist groups arose to terrorize African-Americans. That being said, several domestic terror organizations do exist in Oregon, despite the fact that they are not surrounded by African Americans they could be (inauthentically and forcibly) threatened by.
Somehow, some of the largest white nationalist groups have grown in Oregon and made sociologists and other researchers reconsider the organic nature of hate groups in America and the pervasiveness of anti-blackness throughout the world, even in societies where no black people exist. Oregon serves as a fascinating counterargument to any discussions of anti-blackness that are rooted in people being exposed to a culture, they deem inferior. The truly global nature of anti-blackness is evidenced in the history of Oregon and the demise of any African American communities who tried to settle there.
Renting an RV in Portland, Oregon Today
Therefore, when we consider the nature of family construction in America, we often think about people jumping into RVs and seeing the country. That is an archetypal experience we expect many Americans to have (or have had). Someone in your family must have taken the wheel of a recreational vehicle and driven cross country from sea to shining sea! That archetype only holds water when we consider that only white Americans could make such a trip without needing a Green Book or other anti-racist guides for them to arrive everywhere alive. So, in today’s society, when we consider an American family trip, we should think about all American families, even those who have been traditionally marginalized.
This is why when you are thinking about an RV rental Portland is a place you should consider, no matter your race, ethnicity or background. African Americans are Americans too, and everyone should be able to visit the contiguous states in a vehicle without having to worry for their safety and security. A recreational vehicle serves as a great alternative to a train car, a plane or high-speed rail (which we simply do not have in America, partly due to the unwillingness of older Americans to invest in future generations, and partly due to the desire for continued segregation). There are many towns in America that are notorious for their lack of sidewalks, intended to discourage people of lower incomes from traversing through their terrain. This is also a form of racial discrimination, and this form of discrimination can be combated by the acquisition of a caravan rental to see the country in from the safety of your vehicle.
During The Great Depression, recreational vehicle usage boomed in America as many people sought affordable housing at a time when things were extremely expensive, and few Americans could afford to purchase a home or finance a mortgage. Some people called them house cars, and some called them caravans, but either way, they amounted to the same type of vehicle we now know and love as the perfect way to facilitate camping and cross-country road trips. In the 1950s and 60s, as RVs increased in numbers, their quality went up as well as campers, kitchens, bedrooms and other amenities were either added, expanded or made more luxurious inside of the vehicles.
The lightweight construction advancements of this era enabled people to outfit their RVs with a variety of highlights and luxuries, things we now take for granted as an indelible portion of the RV experience. Before you consider renting a recreational vehicle, you should learn more about the vehicle and its functionality on the road. Now, when we think of an RV, we think of a family vehicle for two or more people to gather to enjoy the landscape of the country they are driving through. To this day, RV vacations are one of the most popular forms of destination travel in the world, due to the affordability of RV Rentals in places like Portland, where many people (especially people of color) have never visited.