Footsteps articles from January 2000

Footsteps archives from January 2000

Before THE `Rush'.(northern California pre-Gold Rush)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... If ever there was a "perfect place" here on earth, it would have to be northern California before the Gold Rush. Food and land were plentiful, the weather was moderate, the American and Sacramento rivers were clean and teeming with salmon and...

African Americans in Early California History.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... According to the records, the population of San Francisco in 1848 was only 850. Of the few dozen African Americans who lived in California prior to the Gold Rush, the most famous were "Black" Peter Ranne and Jim Beckwourth. Both were beaver...

Mining FOR Gold.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... September 1848, San Francisco Docks: A white man who wanted help carrying his luggage stopped a black man. The African American drew a small sack from his pocket. "Do you think I'll stoop to lugging trunks when I can get this much in one day?"...

Goes FOR THE Gold.(New Bedford, Massachusetts; blacks who migrated to California)(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... By the 1840s, there was a large black community in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and it included a number of fugitive slaves. The city, with its strong Quaker background, was a tolerant community. It was also cosmopolitan. As a result of its...

Over THE Trails TO CALIFORNIA.(Brief Article)
January 1, 2000... During the Gold Rush period, about 200,000 people packed their belongings and followed trails that led to California. Another 53,000 traveled west by way of the Oregon Trail, which lay a little farther north. While all dreamed of finding gold...

Try Testing Gold.
January 1, 2000... In 1848, when gold was discovered in California, people "rushed" from all over the United States to get some of the valuable metal for themselves. But why is gold so precious? Gold is unequaled in its ability to be molded into any shape...

Tricks of the Trade.(gold mining techniques)
January 1, 2000... Prospectors panned in streams, near sandbars, and along low-lying gravel banks. They stooped or squatted in freezing water, swirling and shaking the pan so that sand washed over the rim and gold flecks sank to the bottom. Dried-up...

`Panning' For Words.(glossary of terms about gold mining)
January 1, 2000... The Gold Rush brought with it its own vocabulary. Try your luck "panning" for these words! All may be found in the issue. 1. Argonaut: the nickname for someone going to California seeking gold during the Gold Rush period. (The name traces...

The Miners' Songs.(songs slaves who became gold miners sung about freedom)
January 1, 2000... Stories of California and the discovery of gold attracted adventurous immigrants from many different geographical areas and cultural backgrounds. This diversity was reflected in the black population of California as well as in other ethnic...

Black Dream Builders.(blacks in California during the Gold Rush years)
January 1, 2000... A Land of Opportunity When a black ship captain named William Leidesdorff sailed his schooner into San Francisco Bay in 1841, he did not know that in a few years the city would be home to a booming black community. At the time, very few...

Racism AMIDST Opportunity.(laws that limited legal rights of slaves in Gold Rush period of California history)
January 1, 2000... In Gold Rush California, there was greater economic opportunity available for African Americans than racial equality. The Colored Convention reports glowed with information about the income and property ownership of their people. However, these...

Never A Slave State BUT NOT QUITE FREE.(California)
January 1, 2000... The United States acquired California after defeating Mexico in the war of 1846. African slavery did not exist in Mexico at this time because the new nation of Mexico bad abolished it some years earlier. When the white Gold Rushers began...

Exodus to Victoria.(why African Americans left California during the Gold Rush years)
January 1, 2000... In the early days of the Gold Rush, from 1848 to 1849, Native Americans, African Americans, and foreigners were tolerated by white Americans because gold was relatively easy to find and labor was in short supply. As gold and jobs became harder...

The Shirley Letters from California Mines in 1851-52.
January 1, 2000... In 1849, the newlyweds Dr. and Mrs. Fayette Clappe left Massachusetts and set sail for California aboard the ship Manila. They settled in San Francisco, and Dr. Clappe opened an office. When the doctor fell ill in 1851, the couple moved to...

Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park.(history of land that became state historic site)
January 1, 2000... "The old town has changed a lot since my time, but the land is still the same." These were the words of James (Jim) Monroe, grandson of Nancy Gooch. Jim was referring to Coloma, California, where in 1848, gold was discovered at John Sutter's...

AN INTERVIEW WITH EVELYN GREEN.(descendent of former owner of gold discovery site in Coloma, California)
January 1, 2000... Evelyn Green is a descendant of Nancy Gooch. The mother of two grown children, she lives in Sacramento, California. But she spent much of her young life living at the family ranch in Coloma that today is the Marshall Gold Discovery State...

YOUR PAGES.(Poem)
January 1, 2000... Your short poems, essays, and drawings are welcome -- especially those related to upcoming themes about Touissant L'Overture and Haiti, Slavery at Mount Vernon, Liberia, Voluntary Immigration to the U.S., and the American Negro Theater. All...

BOOKS.(Brief Article)(Bibliography)
January 1, 2000... The Black Experience in the Caribbean and the USA by Bob Rees and Marika Sherwood (Peter Bedrick, 1993) offers of wealth of information about the African slave trade -- much of it in sidebar-style and accompanied by maps and illustrations. ...

RESOURCES.(Review)
January 1, 2000... California Gold Rush: 1849 compiled by Andrew Bronin (Jackdaws Publications, reprinted 1996) includes facsimiles of various contemporary newspaper articles, a map of the gold regions, a poster showing mining methods, six broadsheets, a study...

MEDIA.(Review)
January 1, 2000... African American Artists: Affirmation Today (Boulder, Colorado) includes a 28-minute video, 20 slides, and 12 color reproductions. A study guide relates works of art from the National Museum of American Art's African American collection to...

CD-ROM.(Apple Pie Music)
January 1, 2000... Apple Pie Music includes a great variety of songs representing almost 350 years of America's history through its music. For more information, call Queue, Inc., at 800-232-2224.

COBBLESTONE RESOURCES.(Bibliography)
January 1, 2000... The following issues provide a good cross-reference for this issue on Blacks in the Gold Rush: Gold (CALIFORNIA CHRONICLES Charter Issue ISBN 0382409574) Yukon Gold Rush/Klondike Stampede (COBBLESTONE 0382402979) The California...

MINE FOR GOLD ON THE INTERNET.
January 1, 2000... Rush to this site for a wealth of information on the Gold Rush and related events: www.malakoff.com/gorh.htm Click here to learn more about the Gold Rush and the people involved: www.museumca.org/goldrush/shock.html Turn to...

Checking the Records.
January 1, 2000... In her search for material relating to blacks in California, Delilah L. Beasley spent almost nine years studying "many records of interest to the Negro contained in the California Archives and the Bancroft Library at the University of...