Cape Verdeans have been some of the earliest pioneers of the Pacific coast. The Lopes family seems to have led these early explorations. In 1858, Manuel Lopes, a Cape Verdean-born native, became the Seattle’s first barber and Black resident. He was a middle-aged sailor who originally settled in Massachusetts prior to moving to Seattle. About seventy years earlier, Marcus Lopez became the first Black to set foot in Oregon and the first to be killed by Native Americans.

Cape Verdeans have been some of the earliest pioneers of the Pacific coast. The Lopes family seems to have led these early explorations. In 1858, Manuel Lopes, a Cape Verdean-born native, became the Seattle’s first barber and Black resident. He was a middle-aged sailor who originally settled in Massachusetts prior to moving to Seattle. About seventy years earlier, Marcus Lopez became the first Black to set foot in Oregon and the first to be killed by Native Americans.

Lopez story is told below:
In 1787, an enterprising voyage was sponsored by businessmen who wanted to trade with Northwest Coast Native Americans for sea otters. A ship, The Lady Washington, was procured for the purpose and was captained by Robert Gray. Lady Washington left Boston, Massachusetts and stopped in Cape Verde to replenish supplies.

A native of the islands, Marcus Lopes, joined the crew as a cabin boy, or valet, for Gray. Another crewmember, Robert Haswell, a nineteen-year-old first mate, kept a diary of the voyage. He commented that Cape Verde was abundance with tropical fruit and that the black people were contented, polite, and hospitable. Lady Washington left Cape Verde on 21 December 1787 and sailed around the tip of South America, into the Pacific Ocean, and up the western coast of North America.

On 14 August 1788, they arrived at the location of present-day Tillamook, Oregon. The initial contact with the Natives was friendly. They brought berries, crabs, and otter skins that were exchanged for knives and axes. Crew members, including Lopez, went ashore looking for food, water, and wood for the crew and animals on the ship. Though Natives brought them fruit to eat, they always came armed.

On 16 August, Natives visited the ship and traded crabs, dried salmon and berries for buttons and novelties. That afternoon, the scantly armed crew went ashore and visited the local village. They were offered food and entertainment, including demonstrations of agility with arrows and spears and a war dance.

After the village entertainment, the crew went to the beach to look for clams. Marcus Lopez stuck his cutlass (knife) in the sand while carrying a load of grass for the livestock back to the boat. One of the Natives took the cutlass.

A crewmember saw what had happened and called out, threatening to shoot, in the hope of preventing the loss of the knife. “Marcus was warned not to interfere with the Indians, but he chased the man who had taken his cutlass into the village.

Other members of the crew followed Lopez, offering a reward if he were returned unharmed. The chief refused to intercede, and suggested that the crew members rescue Lopez themselves. They found him surrounded by a group of well armed Indians, who saw the men approaching, killed Lopez, and attacked the crew members.”

“The other crewmen of the Washington, seeing themselves heavily outnumbered, ran to their longboat and paddled as fast as they could for the sloop, narrowly avoiding being cut off by Tillamook war canoes. The fur traders named the place Murderers Harbor in commemoration of what happened to Lopez, who was probably the first person of African descent to set foot in what would later become the state of Oregon.”

Over two hundred years have passed since the death of Lopez. The Cape Verdean population has remained small in Oregon, numbering only 104 residents, according to the 2000 Census.

By Jose dos Anjos
References: Laut, Agnes Christina. Vikings of the Pacific: The Adventures of the Explorers who Came from the West, Eastward. London: McMillan Company, 1914. Page 216. “Chapter One - Into the Wilderness.” A Peculiar Paradise - A History of Blacks in Oregon, 1788-1940. The Standard-Times, June 26, 2004, [retrieved March 21, 2008]. “Haswell's Log of Sloop Washington, 1788.” Oregon History Project. . [Retreived March 21, 2008] 2000 US Federal Census. . [Retrieved March 21, 2008].