Artwork courtesy of the Tom Feelings Collection, LLC
California is mired in contradictions.
It has a reputation as the proverbial “Golden
State” of opportunity, promise, innovation, and fearless resistance. But there is an inconvenient truth that may surprise anyone who learned that California decried slavery and was admitted to the Union as a “free” state. "Little known is the fact that the state’s founding went hand in hand with official government policies that sanctioned slavery and genocide,” says Abdi Soltani, executive director of the ACLU of Northern California.
Laws were passed to force Native people into servitude, while authorities actively encouraged the slaughter of tribes across the state. African Americans toiled as slaves in the mines during the Gold Rush and beyond even though the state constitution banned slavery. Through narratives, public records, archival material and images, this project exposes California’s hidden history and its legacy in the state’s courts, culture, and conscience.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom formally apologizes to Native tribes for the state-sanctioned atrocities committed against them. He issues an executive order that establishes the California Truth and Healing Council to allow Native Americans to “clarify the record” about the relationship between California and the tribes.
Looking to satisfy demands for cheap household labor, California passed a law that encouraged the kidnapping of Native Children.
George Gordon, a black barber and local civil rights activist in San Francisco, was beaten and shot to death by a white man in full view of witnesses. Eyewitness were not allowed to testify because the law prohibited blacks and "mulattoes" from giving testimony against whites. As a result, Gordon's killer served a mere two years in prison.
"Kill the Indian...and save the man" was the founding mission of Indian Boarding Schools, a massive government project that warehoused thousands of children in state-run institutions..
Bridget “Biddy” Mason was brought as a slave to California. When she learned of her legal rights, she sued for freedom for herself and her family and won, in what became a landmark court case.
In the first test of California’s Fugitive Slave Law, three formerly enslaved black men who had built a lucrative mining supply business were stripped of their freedom and deported back to Mississippi.
After being enslaved and starved by two white cattle ranchers, Pomo tribe members in Clear Lake rose up and killed their captors. In retaliation, government troops slaughtered as many as 200 Native people.
A medicine woman of the Tongva nation, Toypurina helped lead a rebellion against Spanish missionaries who invaded her homeland.
Artwork courtesy of the Tom Feelings Collection, LLC
The third episode of our Gold Chains podcast tells a timely story that connects the dots between Indigenous child slavery in California to the present...
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To understand the quest for reparations for African Americans in California, it’s necessary to take a hard look at the prevalence of slavery in the “free” state...
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Black people didn’t always have the right to testify in court in the U.S...and not just in the Jim Crow South, but in California as well...
The mission of Gold Chains is to uncover the hidden history of slavery in California by lifting up the voices of courageous African American and Native American individuals who challenged their brutal treatment and demanded their civil rights, inspiring us with their ingenuity, resilience, and tenacity. We aim to expose the role of the courts, laws, and the tacit acceptance of white supremacy in sanctioning race-based violence and discrimination that continues into the present day. Through an unflinching examination of our collective past, we invite California to become truly aware and authentically enlightened.
