The Place We Make Breaking the Legacy of Legalized Hate

The stunning true story of a Black man convicted and exiled from Oregon under the territory’s Exclusion Law in 1851, showing how the wrongs of the past reverberate today and challenging us, collectively and individually, to fight for change.

Summer 1851. Jacob Vanderpool was exiled from the Oregon Territory under an exclusion law that banned people of African descent from living within its borders. To this day, he remains the only person in the United States to ever have been tried, convicted, and punished solely for the “crime” of being Black. 

More than a century and a half later, Sarah L. Sanderson made the shocking discovery that she was related to not just one but two of the White men who played a role in Jacob’s exile. This discovery started an investigative journey to confront her ancestors’ overt racism and her own unconscious biases, and find a way forward with repentance and humility.

Brave, compassionate, and filled with transformative realizations, this stunning work of research and reflection is an invitation into the holy work of self-examination and repentance to guide you to better understand, care, and love the people and places we call home.

Sarah Sanderson is a creative writing teacher, and mother of four. She speaks regularly and holds a master of fine arts in creative nonfiction from Seattle Pacific University, a master in teaching from Seattle University, and a bachelor of English and philosophy from Wheaton College. Her lifelong pursuits include peace, wholeness, compassion, and the error-free completion of the Sunday New York Times crossword.