Good morning POU! It’s Saturday. This week we highlighted extraordinary African-Americans in the Pacific Northwest. Today, we are going to discuss Richard Arthur Bogle.
Richard Arthur Bogle (1835—1904)> was an American pioneer and the first African-American businessman in Walla Walla, Washington.
Bogle was born into slavery in Jamaica in 1835. At the age of 12, he escaped by smuggling himself onto a ship bound for New York. At age 16, Bogle joined a wagon train to the Oregon Territory. From there, he traveled to Deadwood, California, where he mined for gold and opened a barbershop and restaurant. Bogle later returned to Oregon to start a barbershop in Roseburg.
On January 1, 1863, Bogle married America Waldo, an Oregon pioneer from Missouri. The wedding caused controversy due to the attendance of several white guests, including Oregon Supreme Court judge Joseph G. Wilson and state legislator Daniel Waldo. Daniel, who raised America and is thought to have been her uncle, gave them “several gifts of great value with which to start their home.”
Newspaper editor Asahel Bush called the wedding “shameful” for its “negro equality sentiment”.However, The Oregonian defended Wilson and Waldo’s attendance, writing that “the good feeling thus frequently called forth” by the presence of white guests “is one of the gratifications of the blacks that reconciles them to their lot.”
Soon after their wedding, the Bogles moved to Walla Walla, Washington. Richard Bogle started a barbershop on Main Street, making him the first black businessman in Walla Walla. Racial segregation made it difficult for black visitors to find accommodation in Walla Walla, so Bogle often allowed them to stay in his shop. He was a co-founder of the Walla Walla Building and Loan Association. The Bogles also ran a successful 200-acre ranch.
Bogle’s three oldest children appear to have died between 1876 and 1878. His five younger children- Belle, Waldo, Arthur, Warren, and Katherine- lived to adulthood. Bogle’s great-grandson, also named Richard Bogle, was one of the first African-American police officers in Portland, Oregon, and its second African-American city commissioner.