History of the First African Americans in California

The first African Americans in California

The first African Americans in California

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Like many people from other parts of the world , African Americans have come to the United States , specifically to seek greener pastures , so to speak . Through the years , the state of California has become a place that has deep roots of very rich African American history in its soil

Africans are just about the most disriminated group of people in the world . Most of them have started out working as slaves . In seeking to find freedom , they

fled to different parts of the world where they believe they will truly be free from any form of oppression , free to be what they want to be . One of these places was California (Magagnini 1998

African Americans have long been a presence in the United States . The proliferation of African American population to California dates back to the Spanish , Mexican eras of colonization and World War II . A lot of African freemen were among those who helped establish pueblos during that time . Among the first settlers in the state of California were black Americans (The Bancroft Library , 2005

The population of African Americans in California started out small . To make a living , most started they tended farms , worked in the mines , and had businesses of their own . African Americans were often discriminated upon . The pre-Civil War years saw how they were denied of most of their rights . The population of African Americans had increased as years went by and started to allow their formidable presence felt in society specifically in the fields of politics , sports , business and entertainment . Inspite of these accomplishments , prejudice and discrimination against black Americans have remained a big issue . They weren 't given equal rights and opportunities as the local Americans (learncalifornia .org , 2007 ) This was true with regard to the matter of finding employment , owning property and other basic human needs . Even children were not spared of this tragedy . At their very tender age children learned how difficult it is to survive in the world as (learncalifornia .org , 2007

The California gold rush was a very significant period of time in African American history . This particular time signalled the beginning of major developments in the life and history of African Americans in California and the United States as a whole

During the period of the California gold rush , gold became the great equalizer . It allowed people to buy food , clothing , property and just about anything that they needed . At that time , it gave people their place in the world . With the gold rush creating a large demand for workers , thousands of African Americans came to California with hopes of improving their lives

For most African Americans who come from very oppressed backgrounds gold was the symbol of freedom . Stephen Magagnini wrote that apart from giving them the basic necessities in life , gold had the capability to grant them freedom from slavery (Magagnini , 1998

With gold dust , many African Americans who were slaves were...