Blacks in Gold Rush CaliforniaIn the two years after the discovery of gold as Sutter's Mill in 1848, one hundred thousand persons made the difficult trek to California in search of quick wealth. One thousand of them were blacks. By 1860 there were five thousand. They formed the largest voluntary migration of American blacks before the Civil War. Yet few whites then or now have been aware of the part that blacks played in America's epic adventure. Most black Forty-niners went west less to escape a hard lot than to seek their fortune. Some mined alone or together with whites, others formed companies of their own. They included both free blacks and slaves. Lapp examines their life in mining communities and their relationships with other minorities and with whites. He also records for the first time in detail the history of the California Colored Conventions, examining the ideology and eastern origin of its leadership, its problems, and the exodus of many of its members to Canada. Altogether, the author has pieced together a coherent and fascinating narrative of this missing chapter of history. -- from Book Jacket. |
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Contents
in California | 126 |
Convention Movement | 186 |
The Three Conventions | 210 |
The Exodus to Victoria | 239 |
The Last Years of the Decade | 255 |
Notes | 275 |
Bibliographical Essay | 307 |
Common terms and phrases
abolitionist Alta American Angeles Anglo-African antislavery Appeal April Archy Lee arrived August Bancroft Library Baptist barber became Bedford black children black community black woman British Columbia brought Bulletin Calif Califor California blacks California Negroes called census Chinese cisco Colored Convention Convention leader Cornelius Cole County court decade December delegates Douglass'Paper El Dorado County emigration February Frederick Douglass free black free Negroes freedom Fugitive Slave Law Gibbs gold rush Grass Valley History of Sacramento Ibid ifornia Indian January John Journal July later leadership legislature letters March Marysville master Mexican miners mining Missouri named Newby newspaper northern November number of black October organized Orleans Picayune Panama paper party petition Proceedings reported returned Reverend River route Sacramento Sacramento County San Fran San Francisco black Sanderson ship slaveowners slavery southern Stockton Street testimony tion took Tuolumne Tuolumne County Victoria Weekly Anglo-African West William wrote York Yuba
Bibliographic information
| Title | Blacks in Gold Rush California The Lamar Series in Western History Series Volume 29 of Yale Western Americana series, ISSN 0084-3563 |
| Author | Rudolph M. Lapp |
| Edition | illustrated, reissue, revised |
| Publisher | Yale University Press, 1977 |
| ISBN | 0300065450, 9780300065459 |
| Length | 321 pages |
| Subjects | › › Social Science / Ethnic Studies / African American Studies |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |