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Mining for Freedom: Black History Meets the California Gold Rush
Did you know that an estimated 5,000 blacks were an early and integral part of the California Gold Rush? Did you know that black history in California precedes Gold Rush history by some 300 years?Did you know that in California during the Gold Rush, blacks created one of the wealthiest, most culturally advanced, most politically active communities in the nation?Few people are aware of the intriguing, dynamic often wholly inspirational stories of African American argonauts, from backgrounds as diverse as those of their less sturdy- complexioned peers. Defying strict California fugitive slave laws and an unforgiving court testimony ban in a state that declared itself free, black men and women combined skill, ambition and courage and rose to meet that daunting challenge with dignity, determination and even a certain lan, leaving behind a legacy that has gone starkly under-reported.Mainstream history tends to contribute to the illusion that African Americans were all but absent from the California Gold Rush experience. This remarkable book, illustrated with dozens of photos, offers definitive contradiction to that illusion and opens a door that leads the reader into a forgotten world long shrouded behind the shadowy curtains of time.
160 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 31, 2008
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November 21, 2024
In only 70 pages of narrative text Roberts accomplished three things. First, she provided a general introduction and some historical context in which to consider how these Black (she refers to this way rather than as African Americans because some came from Africa or the Caribbean islands) men and women dealt with the oftentimes racist and harsh circumstances they experienced in 1850’s California. Although I have audited a college course on the history of the State and done some reading of my own about it, there were still some basic facts which I learned in Mining. For example, 18% of the population counted in the 1790 census had some portion of African descent. Or Pio Pico, the first Spanish Governor of the territory was of mixed Spanish, African, and Indigenous heritage. Or the territory was named after a Black Amazonian woman Queen named Califia.
Second, chapters 3-8 pages long succinctly described the lives of various men who came to the state during the decade leading up to the Civil War. Some were so successful as to start businesses, including a bank in San Francisco, a newspaper, and money lending. Others became ranchers and farmers owning significant amounts of land. A few advocated actively for the civil and political rights denied African Americans. There was one chapter on some little known women who also made significant contributions to their community both in California and the USA more generally.
Third, a 5 page Bibliography provided sources for readers who might wish to follow up with deeper enquiries into some of these individuals. All of this is skillfully referenced in the narrative text itself and with 5 pages of End Notes.
Roberts’ narrative style of prose largely using declarative sentences made this book readily readable. And the large number of photos enhanced my engagement with it as well.
IMHO, Mining had two relative flaws. First, its presentations of the people were so succinct that they lack some of the depth and subtleties which must have characterized the lives of these people. They engaged in heroic struggles which deserved to be described in greater depth.
Second, the book California, a Slave State disclosed that some Californian African Americans helped slaves escape from their masters. Roberts made no mention of this nascent Underground Railroad in Mining.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
11/21/24 Addendum: Mining has 2 appendices. One offers examples of the freedom papers filed to release African American slaves into freedom. There are 5 of these.
The other appendix is a newspaper report about a party organized by one of the African Americans living in those times in California to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the end of slavery in the British West Indies. It offers a wide ranging description of this Jubilee which was held in 1859.
Second, chapters 3-8 pages long succinctly described the lives of various men who came to the state during the decade leading up to the Civil War. Some were so successful as to start businesses, including a bank in San Francisco, a newspaper, and money lending. Others became ranchers and farmers owning significant amounts of land. A few advocated actively for the civil and political rights denied African Americans. There was one chapter on some little known women who also made significant contributions to their community both in California and the USA more generally.
Third, a 5 page Bibliography provided sources for readers who might wish to follow up with deeper enquiries into some of these individuals. All of this is skillfully referenced in the narrative text itself and with 5 pages of End Notes.
Roberts’ narrative style of prose largely using declarative sentences made this book readily readable. And the large number of photos enhanced my engagement with it as well.
IMHO, Mining had two relative flaws. First, its presentations of the people were so succinct that they lack some of the depth and subtleties which must have characterized the lives of these people. They engaged in heroic struggles which deserved to be described in greater depth.
Second, the book California, a Slave State disclosed that some Californian African Americans helped slaves escape from their masters. Roberts made no mention of this nascent Underground Railroad in Mining.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...
11/21/24 Addendum: Mining has 2 appendices. One offers examples of the freedom papers filed to release African American slaves into freedom. There are 5 of these.
The other appendix is a newspaper report about a party organized by one of the African Americans living in those times in California to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the end of slavery in the British West Indies. It offers a wide ranging description of this Jubilee which was held in 1859.
Displaying 1 of 1 review