0:00

You're listening to an Airwave

0:02

Media Podcast. Ben Franklin's

0:04

world is a production of

0:07

Colonial Williamsburg Innovation Studios. There

0:10

was an underground railroad in

0:12

California and there was a

0:14

mass exodus in 1858 of 800 African

0:19

Americans who fled to

0:21

Vancouver. So

0:23

I think we're living with a series

0:26

of myths because California

0:28

was and has been a

0:31

slave state. Hello

0:41

and welcome to episode 387 of Ben Franklin's World. The

0:46

podcast dedicated to helping you learn more about

0:48

how the people and events of our early

0:50

American past have shaped the present day world

0:52

we live in. And I'm your

0:54

host, Liz Kovart. When

0:57

we think of California, our

0:59

minds might conjure sunny weather,

1:01

Hollywood, beaches, wine country, or

1:03

perhaps even the gold rush. What

1:05

we don't usually think about when we

1:08

think about California is the state's long

1:10

history with slavery. Jean

1:12

Felser, a Californian and a professor

1:14

emeritus of English, Asian Studies and

1:16

Women and Gender Studies at the

1:18

University of Delaware, joins us

1:20

to lead us through some of

1:22

California's long 250-year history of slavery

1:24

with details from her book, California,

1:27

a Slave State. Now,

1:29

during our investigation of California's slave

1:31

past, Jean reveals the

1:34

great diversity of California's indigenous populations

1:36

prior to Spanish colonization. Details

1:40

about how and why the Spanish,

1:42

Russians, Americans, and Chinese brought different

1:44

forms of slavery to California, and

1:47

the truth about the myth that California

1:49

entered the United States Union as a

1:51

free state in 1850. But

1:54

first, if you can believe it, our

1:57

400th episode will be published in December.

2:00

And we need your help to figure out how

2:02

we should celebrate. So what kind of

2:04

episode would you like to hear for episode 400? Right

2:08

now we're asking this question of members of our

2:10

listener community on Facebook. But if

2:12

you're not on Facebook, you can still tell

2:14

us what you think by sending me an

2:16

email. Liz at BenFranklin's world.com Right

2:19

now the idea in the lead is asking

2:21

a group of former guests a big question

2:23

about history, just like we did in episode

2:25

300. And that way

2:27

we can gather their many different insights into

2:29

that question. So join our

2:31

listener community on Facebook or send

2:33

me an email, Liz at BenFranklin's

2:35

world.com and tell me what you

2:38

think about this idea or share your own idea

2:40

for how we should mark episode 400. This

2:43

will be exciting and I'm so glad we'll have

2:45

your input so that we can create a really

2:47

great episode. Alright, are

2:49

you ready to explore the early history of

2:51

California and the state slave past? Allow

2:54

me to introduce you to our

2:56

guest historian. Joining

3:11

us is a professor emerita of English,

3:13

Asian studies and women and gender studies

3:15

at the University of Delaware. She

3:18

is an internationally recognized scholar and

3:20

public intellectual who speaks on issues

3:23

of migration, resistance, oppression and survival.

3:26

She's also written several books,

3:28

including California, a Slave State.

3:31

Welcome to BenFranklin's World, Jean Felser.

3:34

Thank you for having me. So the

3:36

title of Jean's book, California Slave State, is

3:38

really a play on the fact that if

3:40

we were to look at the history of

3:42

when California entered the United States as a

3:45

state, we would find

3:47

that in 1850, California entered the

3:49

Union as quote, a free state.

3:52

But Jean, as you detail in your book,

3:54

slavery was really something that had always existed

3:56

in California, at least since

3:58

the start of European history. colonization. So,

4:01

Jean, would you give us an

4:03

overview of California before the Spanish began

4:05

their colonization and tell us

4:07

who lived in California, what their lives

4:09

were like, and whether indigenous

4:12

Californians had any concept

4:14

of the similar geographic boundaries for California

4:16

like we would see on a map today? Thank

4:20

you for that question because it sets

4:22

the frame for why I called the

4:24

book California a Slave State. California

4:27

has had over 250 years of slavery, so it has a

4:29

very long duration as

4:34

a Slave State. Our story

4:37

begins with slavery in 1769. The

4:39

first invaders of California were

4:45

the Spanish who enter

4:49

in 1769, and they brought slavery

4:51

with them. Before

4:53

that, anthropologists and

4:56

Native American scholars and

4:58

historians believe that there

5:00

were Native people living in California for

5:03

at least 10,000 years. Some claim even

5:05

20,000 years. The estimates are about

5:11

250 tribes.

5:15

Unlike the big Indian nations, as

5:17

they're called in the East, these

5:20

were much smaller groups of

5:23

people, geographically divided, divided by

5:25

languages. There were at

5:28

least 100, some people say 200

5:30

depending on dialect, different

5:33

languages in California. And

5:36

the Spanish intention was

5:39

to invade California and

5:41

establish a system of

5:43

missions copied with slightly

5:45

different intentions from what they were

5:48

already doing in Mexico and Peru

5:51

in the silver mines and

5:53

in the Spanish colonies and plantations

5:55

as well. The

5:58

era of quote discovery which

6:00

of course it's a misnomer, California

6:03

existed. The

6:05

first Spaniard to see

6:08

California was Juan

6:10

Cabrillo, and he enters

6:13

California in 1542. And then there

6:15

were a series of Spanish explorers

6:19

who followed Cabrillo. In 1769,

6:21

the Spanish enter with a very clear intention. They

6:29

are going to set up

6:31

four military districts, which they'll

6:33

call Presidios, and

6:36

their goal was to set up

6:38

19 missions. Ultimately,

6:40

because they're worried about the Russians

6:42

coming from the north, they end

6:44

up setting up 21 missions. But

6:47

the original plan was for there to

6:49

be 19 missions.

6:53

The people who they were

6:55

about to try and conquer

6:57

were the coastal people of

7:00

California. Our story

7:02

today of the missions and the

7:04

conquest by the Spanish is pretty

7:06

much going to stick to the

7:08

800 miles of coastline from San

7:11

Diego up to Oregon. And

7:14

depending on how you chart the coves

7:16

and the inlets in the river systems,

7:18

that's about 800 miles

7:20

that was available and desired

7:22

by Spanish conquest. In

7:25

fact, they don't go that

7:27

far. They go as far

7:29

as Sonoma County, north of

7:31

San Francisco. So

7:33

from San Diego to about

7:35

50, 80 miles north of

7:38

San Francisco, Napa Valley, Sonoma

7:40

County, what's now called the

7:43

wine country is the area

7:45

of Spanish conquest. The Native

7:47

Americans in California were totally

7:51

separate from the Native Americans in the

7:53

rest of the United States. There

7:56

seemed to be no ties

7:58

of language, no fanfic. family

8:00

ties, relational ties, even DNA

8:02

ties to the tribes of

8:05

the plains. And that

8:07

has to do with California. Picture

8:10

this. There's the 800 miles of

8:12

coastland, and then there's a

8:14

long chain of mountains that are

8:17

variously connected. Generally, they're part of

8:19

the Sierras or the Sierra Madre

8:22

mountains that pretty much walled off

8:24

Northern California from the rest

8:26

of what would become the United

8:28

States. And then below

8:30

the Sierras, they sort of morph

8:33

into deserts, mainly the Mojave Desert,

8:35

where there weren't Native American people

8:37

living. But for people coming from

8:39

the outside, climates of 120 degrees,

8:41

the hot sand, what appeared

8:46

to be unlivable, although Native

8:48

people absolutely lived on that

8:50

land. But there was a

8:53

barrier of mountains and deserts

8:55

that walled off California geographically

8:57

from the rest of the

8:59

United States. The Native

9:01

Americans in California didn't define their

9:03

land by borders. They defined their

9:05

land by the land that they

9:08

lived on, the land that they

9:10

could take care of. There

9:12

were no geographic borders, and there

9:15

were no geographic wars. It

9:18

was so lush, with everything

9:20

coming from the sea, the

9:23

salmon, the crab, the sturgeon,

9:25

the steelhead, seals, otters, whales

9:27

coming from the sea. And

9:30

on land, there was a rich population

9:32

of protein from deer

9:35

and elk and bear

9:37

and small rodents. And

9:39

then the land was lush,

9:42

with berries and nuts and

9:44

acorns and wood. So

9:46

they didn't need borders. And when

9:48

I first began to look at

9:50

the relations between the tribes, I

9:52

was just struck by the fact

9:54

that there weren't tribal wars. Without

9:57

tribal wars, you didn't

9:59

have a any quantity

10:01

of slavery. There were

10:03

tussles over people, over

10:05

marriages, and occasionally there

10:07

was a skirmish and

10:10

a prisoner of war was taken.

10:12

But there weren't notable wars

10:14

along the coast. There weren't

10:16

borders. There weren't treaties. I

10:19

think a lot about scarcity and

10:21

how bad scarcity is. Scarcity

10:24

is bad in relationships. Not

10:27

enough money, not enough love,

10:29

not enough jobs. Scarcity is

10:31

bad politically and causes stress

10:33

and friction. But there wasn't

10:35

a whole lot of scarcity

10:37

in California and all of

10:39

these tribes, they lived brilliantly

10:41

within the ecosystems they inhabited.

10:43

And they lived very differently

10:45

depending on where they were.

10:47

But they weren't duking it

10:49

out in tribal wars. And

10:51

because the geography is so

10:54

divided, with the mountains, the

10:56

valleys, the streams, the river

10:58

systems, there just wasn't a

11:00

lot of friction between the

11:02

tribes and the landscape. Occasionally,

11:05

as I said, there were

11:07

slaves who were a spoil

11:09

of war, but these were

11:11

noticeably absent and small and

11:13

irregular. So that's the

11:15

situation, the land, that the

11:17

Spanish entered into in 1769.

11:22

You mentioned that because early California

11:24

was a land with plentiful resources

11:26

that had enough space for every

11:28

one of the estimated 250 indigenous

11:31

tribes who lived and are still

11:33

living in California, that warfare between

11:35

California tribes just wasn't an issue

11:37

because people weren't competing for the

11:40

natural resources that they needed to

11:42

live. And so without prolonged

11:44

periods of warfare, California tribes

11:46

didn't really have a reason to

11:48

enslave and take war captives. But

11:51

we do know that slavery came to

11:53

California. So Jean, would you

11:55

tell us more about the Spanish mission

11:58

system and the connection between the and

14:00

also to support the other missions

14:03

that were not doing well. There

14:05

were tensions between the Franciscans and

14:07

the Jesuits, and the

14:09

mission system in Mexico was hurting.

14:12

And this was going to

14:14

be the solution, was to

14:16

start another mission system in

14:19

Alta, California, high or upper

14:21

California, for these three purposes

14:23

of empire, of food,

14:26

and of Catholic conversion. So,

14:29

indeed, that's what happens. Junipera

14:32

Serra, Father Serra, is appointed

14:35

the head of the theological

14:37

part of the mission, and

14:40

he's got a companion in

14:42

Portola who's heading up the

14:45

military mission. Serra

14:47

is in terrible shape. He

14:49

walks a thousand miles to

14:51

meet up with Portola at

14:53

the border. He's got

14:55

an infected leg. He leaves with

14:58

a loaf of bread. He decides

15:00

he's going to do this hike

15:02

barefoot, and we can picture that

15:05

mountainous, rocky desert land, and he's

15:07

going to beg, and he's actually

15:09

begging from converts from the missions

15:12

in Mexico for food, and indeed,

15:14

they meet up at the border

15:17

and join forces, and they're

15:19

going to invade California by

15:21

land and by sea. So,

15:24

they split off three

15:26

boats sail from Vallecata

15:29

and sail north to San Diego.

15:32

Two of the boats make it, and

15:34

almost half of those sailors die.

15:37

Then the other group, led

15:39

by Serra and Portola, walk

15:41

across the border. The

15:44

native people of California did not

15:46

have the horse, and

15:48

that also determines their mobility,

15:50

the kind of food they

15:53

could reach, and how they

15:55

become available for conquest, because

15:58

the horse is an Englishman. The

18:01

next thing they see is them

18:03

unloading the ships in what San

18:05

Diego harbor. And they're seeing

18:07

that half of the people coming off

18:09

the ships are dead, and

18:11

that the first thing that the Spanish

18:14

have to do is bury their dead.

18:16

So this is not a very

18:19

persuasive invasion if you're looking to

18:21

convert people. So

18:23

the Kumeyaay are curious and

18:26

the Spanish are determined. Now,

18:29

Juanípero Osera and his men established the

18:31

first Spanish mission in California at San

18:34

Diego in mid-July 1769. They

18:37

called this mission Mission San Diego

18:39

Acala. Now perhaps you've

18:41

had the chance to visit a California mission.

18:44

If you have, you'll notice that the

18:46

Spanish generally established mission complexes where there

18:48

was a good water supply and enough

18:50

land where they could build a church,

18:53

a central courtyard in front of that

18:55

church, and outbuildings around

18:57

these religious spaces that served

18:59

as things like church offices,

19:01

workshops, kitchens, and dormitories. And

19:04

outside of this central mission complex, you

19:06

would have also found plenty of farm

19:08

fields. Jean, would

19:11

you tell us how the Spanish

19:13

attracted California's indigenous peoples into their

19:15

missions and what their day-to-day lives

19:17

were like once they were living in these missions?

19:21

There are several ways that

19:23

conquest occurred. One

19:25

of the padres, the fathers, says,

19:28

we're going to conquer through the

19:30

mouth. The first thing

19:32

that they do is let

19:34

loose their cattle and their

19:36

horses on what were Native

19:38

American seed fields. The

19:41

seed fields were something I didn't know

19:43

about. The California

19:45

Natives planted these vast

19:47

seed fields, especially in

19:49

Southern California, and the

19:52

game would come onto the fields and

19:54

they'd be hanging out. And

19:56

they would wait for the game to come to

19:58

them and then with a bow and a arrow.

20:00

an arrow, they would kill the game. So

20:03

immediately, the cattle are hungry,

20:05

the horses are hungry, and

20:07

the Spanish let them loose on

20:10

these fertile Native American seed fields.

20:13

The horses urinate and

20:15

defecate and stomp down

20:17

the fields. And

20:19

it's a setup for hunger

20:22

for the Native people to

20:24

have their sources of protein,

20:27

their hunting grounds destroyed. So

20:30

food was always a form

20:32

of conquest. And then

20:34

they really believed that

20:36

Catholicism would be so

20:38

compelling and attractive

20:41

that people would come to

20:43

voluntarily convert, and then they

20:45

would work for them. The

20:48

missions are in fact plantations.

20:50

They're vast farms, and

20:53

they're going to be worked by the

20:55

Native people of California. And

20:57

some of them come out of

20:59

curiosity, but most of them come

21:02

hoping for food, and

21:04

many of them are captured. One

21:07

of the ways they were captured is

21:09

that the soldiers, the soldadas, would

21:11

go into the Native villages, and

21:13

they would have long ropes with

21:15

loops on them. And

21:18

they would bring in chains

21:20

of Native people looped by

21:22

rope around their necks across

21:24

the mission system to bring

21:26

them into the missions and

21:28

force them to labor. The

21:30

Native people were allowed to

21:32

leave until they were baptized.

21:35

If they accept baptism, then

21:37

they were never allowed to

21:39

leave again. But the notion

21:41

of how voluntary and intentional

21:43

baptism was is up for

21:45

dispute, given the conditions of

21:47

captivity. So

21:49

violence, captivity, hunger,

21:52

and curiosity brought people

21:55

toward the missions. And

21:57

then once they were in the missions, the assault was over.

22:01

There was a deep and

22:03

systematic and implemented system

22:06

of rape in the missions. Junipera

22:09

Serra writes letter after letter

22:11

back to the mother mission

22:13

in Laredo, Mexico, saying

22:16

we're not going to be able to keep

22:18

people here as long as these rapes go

22:20

on. What we now

22:22

know is that the rapes were not just

22:24

by the soldiers, but they were by the

22:27

priests. And they

22:29

were very organized and

22:31

traumatic and compelled to kind

22:33

of fear and traumatic

22:35

obedience. There was

22:38

constant flogging, constant whipping.

22:41

Minor infractions got you 25 floggings

22:43

a day over a period of

22:45

60 days. The

22:48

four presidios that get built

22:50

very quickly in the first

22:52

decades are military forts, but

22:54

they're also brutal prisons. So

22:57

with minor infractions, you were sent

22:59

to a presidio. Since there were

23:01

only four, it could be very

23:03

far from home. So

23:05

there was systematic fear as well

23:07

as the attraction. And

23:10

it's very interesting to read

23:12

how deeply faithful the

23:15

priests were. It's very

23:17

hard for me to believe in

23:19

this notion of conversion under

23:22

these circumstances. But within

23:24

about 10 days under the first two

23:26

weeks, Junipera Serra holds

23:28

a mass on the beach. And

23:31

the Kumeyaay were really curious

23:34

about what were these golden

23:36

embroidered robes and what was

23:38

the gold cross. And

23:41

they're very curious about an image,

23:43

a painting of the Madonna and

23:45

the child. In fact,

23:47

they're so curious. Serra sends for some

23:49

cheap reproductions, thinking that a print of

23:51

the Madonna and the child is going

23:53

to do the deed. Although

23:55

there was nothing like these

23:57

paintings in the rock paintings.

24:00

the land painting of native

24:02

traditions in Southern California.

24:05

And it's not surprising that

24:07

native people were just curious

24:09

tourists about what this was

24:11

all about. So those

24:13

were some of the ways that

24:15

they were attracted. And

24:17

the life that was offered them was

24:20

harsh. They were required

24:22

to work in the fields or be

24:24

beaten. They were required

24:26

to build the churches, and each

24:29

mission had a little cathedral. And

24:32

the soldiers were required to build

24:34

their own barracks. They're

24:37

very serious visions between the

24:39

soldiers and the priests. And

24:41

the priests are terrified of the soldiers. They're

24:44

terrified of the Indians, and they're terrified

24:46

of the soldiers. They figure

24:48

their best bet is to be on the

24:50

side of the soldiers. So

24:53

they don't stop the rapes. And

24:55

they don't stop the violence. They

24:58

also had a fourth reason to

25:00

come, which was eugenics.

25:03

They had the idea that

25:05

they could conquer California by

25:08

having the soldiers mate with

25:10

indigenous women and

25:12

create a new Spanish

25:14

population in California. So

25:17

there were all of these different systems

25:20

of control and violence that

25:22

they used to bring natives

25:24

into the mission system. The

25:27

missions were small. They were decrepit. There

25:29

would be a cross. And

25:32

the natives who are trapped in

25:34

the mission system are required

25:36

to show up for mass. Their

25:39

lives, which had been controlled by

25:41

the seasons and the rhythms of

25:44

nature, are suddenly now controlled by

25:46

the bell. The bell

25:48

calls them to meals. The bell

25:50

heals for work. It's

25:52

not the freedom of constructing

25:55

their lives around sustenance

25:57

and pleasure and ritual.

26:00

and prayer that they had evolved

26:02

in all of their own terms.

26:05

And each of the tribes had

26:07

different sets of rituals. It

26:10

sounds like indigenous Californians had many reasons

26:12

that they might go to a mission.

26:15

As you stated, some were just curious about Christianity,

26:17

so they went to a mission to learn more.

26:20

Others were captured, and then they were brought

26:22

to the mission forcibly, where they were enslaved

26:25

and forced to build the churches and the

26:27

mission complex, and then to labor in the

26:29

fields. And still many more

26:31

were just starving, because the Spanish unleashed

26:33

horses and domesticated animals on their seed

26:36

fields, and so they went to the

26:38

missions to seek food and relief from

26:40

their starvation. Jean, you

26:43

also mentioned that the missions were

26:45

violent places, that once indigenous peoples

26:47

got there, it may not

26:49

have seen the peaceable place that it may

26:51

have seen from the outside. On the inside,

26:54

there was lots of violence, where indigenous peoples

26:56

experienced physical and sexual assault

26:58

at the hands of both priests

27:00

and soldiers. Now, I

27:02

know many of us must be thinking, you can't

27:04

just serve up violence against a population, and expect

27:07

that there will be no resistance and no violence

27:09

in return. So Jean, after

27:11

we take a moment to thank our episode

27:13

sponsor, I hope you'll tell us

27:15

about the many forms of indigenous resistance to

27:18

the Spanish and to the Spanish missions. As

27:22

we get ready to commemorate, celebrate, and reflect

27:24

on the 250th anniversary of

27:26

the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution,

27:29

we should remember that we're part of

27:32

a longer tradition of marking these historic

27:34

occasions. For example, 200 years

27:36

ago, Americans prepared

27:38

to commemorate 50 years of American

27:40

independence and democracy. As

27:42

part of their commemoration, they invited the

27:44

Marquis de Lafayette, the hero of two

27:46

worlds, to return to the United States

27:48

to help them mark the occasion. On

27:51

August 16, 1824, Lafayette arrived in New York

27:53

Harbor and

27:55

disembarked to a crowd of more than 80,000 Americans lining

27:59

the streets of Manhattan. Manhattan. Lafayette's landing

28:01

in New York marked the start of a

28:03

13-month tour of the United States, which at

28:05

the time consisted of 24 states.

28:08

Now, none of us were alive 200 years ago

28:10

to witness this grand event and celebration, but we

28:12

can witness a recreation of parts of Lafayette's grand

28:14

tour in 2024 and 2025. On August 16, 2024,

28:17

in honor of the

28:23

200th anniversary of Lafayette's grand tour of

28:25

the United States, the American

28:27

Friends of Lafayette organization will kick off

28:29

a recreation of Lafayette's return to the

28:32

United States. To learn more

28:34

about Lafayette 200 and how and where you

28:36

can attend one of its events, visit

28:40

benfranklinsworld.com/Lafayette200. That's

28:44

benfranklinsworld.com/Lafayette200. Gene,

28:47

would you take us through the

28:50

ways indigenous peoples in California resisted

28:52

the Spanish and their missionization and

28:54

conversion efforts? I

28:56

didn't know this. I grew up

28:58

in California. I was born in Los

29:01

Angeles. I took the field trips to

29:03

the missions. I grounded

29:05

acorn in my class. I

29:08

was before the tradition of

29:11

the fourth grade mission project. The

29:14

fourth grade mission projects were

29:16

a very idealized way of

29:18

teaching the mission system in

29:20

California. And I had

29:22

no idea of the brutality and

29:24

I had no idea of the

29:27

slave revolts. We can

29:29

start right in San Diego with

29:31

the Kumeyaay. Sarah arrives

29:33

in 1769 and most of

29:35

the people forced to be

29:37

at the mission were Kumeyaay

29:40

people. And

29:43

in 1775, just six, seven

29:45

years later, the Kumeyaay plan

29:47

a revolt. The Kumeyaay

29:49

were a very large group of

29:52

people and they're up in the

29:54

maces that formed the eastern border

29:57

of San Diego. They're

29:59

villages. or clan settlements along

30:01

the coast. In

30:03

a totally coordinated way, they plan

30:06

a revolt for 1775. They

30:10

meet, they make new arrows,

30:12

they strengthen the animal sinews

30:14

so that their bows are

30:16

strong, they build new bows,

30:19

and they're holding meeting after

30:21

meeting to plan this revolt.

30:23

And then in 1775, on one night, the

30:27

Kumeyaay sleep into the San Diego

30:29

mission, which is pretty primitive and

30:31

basic. It's kind of a wood

30:34

shanty system that still even had

30:36

some reeds for roofs. And

30:39

they sleep in, they murder the

30:41

head priest, Father Jaime, they brutalize

30:43

him and throw him in a

30:46

ditch. They burn the

30:48

mission to the ground, and

30:50

they free all of their people, never

30:53

to return. The soldiers

30:55

who were supposed to be guarding

30:58

Mission San Diego have

31:00

decided they really don't like

31:02

this job, and they build

31:04

their fort seven miles away

31:06

from the mission. That's

31:08

a long distance. They see

31:10

as the night goes on that the mission

31:12

has gone up in smoke, and they don't

31:15

show up until the next day. And

31:17

by then, there's total decimation.

31:20

Almost all of the Kumeyaay have fled

31:23

by then, and in a rather sad

31:25

march, they take

31:27

the surviving priest and some of

31:29

the servants and what was left

31:31

of the cattle and

31:34

slowly march back down to their

31:36

fort at the coast. And

31:38

then the soldiers go on a

31:41

rampage, looking for the Kumeyaay. And

31:44

of course, they can't identify who the

31:46

true leaders were, so they will

31:48

capture and whip whoever they can,

31:50

take them back to the fort.

31:53

And this went on for months

31:55

and months to try and get

31:57

people to expose the leadership of

31:59

them. this revolt. So

32:02

that was the first and in some

32:04

ways the most famous revolt.

32:07

There were all kinds of individual

32:09

rebellions and flights because the villages

32:11

were not far away and they

32:14

were starving at the missions. Sometimes

32:16

it was much easier to go

32:18

back to the land that they

32:20

knew and there weren't enough soldiers

32:23

to really confine the hundreds of

32:25

people and to feed the

32:27

hundreds of people. So the

32:29

soldiers become this military police

32:31

force to go into the

32:33

villages and retrieve the runaways.

32:36

But there were runaways that

32:38

there were murders of priests.

32:41

And what I didn't know is

32:43

that in the middle missions around

32:46

Santa Inez, La Parissima,

32:48

Santa Barbara, the Chumash

32:51

people, this is

32:53

in the middle part of

32:55

the state between Los Angeles

32:57

and San Francisco right at

32:59

the coast. And the Chumash

33:02

people organized a series of

33:04

slave revolts that blend into

33:06

a coordinated mass slave revolt

33:08

where they torch the missions,

33:10

they seize the priests, they

33:12

seize the cannon, and they

33:14

flee to the hinterlands, they

33:16

flee to the east through

33:18

what we call in California,

33:20

the Tule Marshes, which are

33:22

marshes with long bristly,

33:25

scratchy grasses. That's where the

33:27

Yup'ik people live and they're

33:29

waiting to help the native

33:31

people from the coast. They're waiting to

33:33

receive them and they hide

33:36

out in the Tule Marshes and

33:38

then lead into the mountains for

33:40

up to two years. Especially

33:42

in the summer, there are routes

33:44

of the Indian people who are

33:46

hiding out from the missions, who

33:49

fled the missions, who've burnt the

33:51

missions. And finally the

33:53

Spanish go in with a monster

33:55

cannon that they can drag

33:57

through the marshes and blow

33:59

up. up the fortifications behind

34:01

which the too much people

34:03

were living. Some escape and

34:05

some are captured. Spain's

34:08

mission system in California ended in less than

34:10

70 years. The system came to

34:12

an end in the 1830s. But

34:14

as Jean told us at the start of

34:17

our conversation, the Spanish weren't the only people

34:19

to bring slavery to California and the North

34:21

American West Coast. Jean,

34:23

would you tell us about the system of

34:25

slavery Russia developed on the West Coast and

34:28

in California? And would you

34:30

also tell us something about the Pacific

34:32

Triangle Trade that developed? Because

34:34

I think when many of us think

34:36

of the Triangle Trade, we're focused on

34:38

the Atlantic slave trade. But as you

34:40

point out in your book, California Slave

34:42

State, there was also a Pacific based

34:44

triangular slave trade. Yeah,

34:46

I've bestowed that name on it because

34:49

it fit. This

34:51

wasn't about rum and

34:53

enslaved Africans. This

34:55

is a whole different story. In

34:58

1745, Bering crosses the Pacific. There

35:03

are two ships that go

35:05

forth from Russia and the

35:07

Tsar of Russia is funding

35:09

this expedition, looking for a

35:11

route to China. Bering

35:14

and his colleague head out, they

35:16

instantly lose each other in the

35:18

fog. And

35:20

they're discovering that Alaska is

35:23

a chain of islands and

35:25

then a mainland. There

35:28

are hundreds of little islands and

35:30

this is the chain of the

35:32

Aleutian Islands and it runs from

35:34

very close to Russia up

35:36

to the mainland of Alaska. And

35:38

then if you can picture to

35:40

the south of the mainland of

35:43

Alaska are some large islands like

35:45

Kodiak Island. Bering cannot

35:47

find a route to China. He

35:49

can't find his colleague's ship. He

35:52

sails back to mother Russia.

35:55

He's within a few miles actually

35:57

of the Siberian coast and he.

36:00

He crashes on a little rocky

36:02

island. He dies

36:04

in the shipwreck, and his

36:06

sailors spend the winter there.

36:09

By the spring, they discover that

36:11

the island is surrounded by sea

36:13

otters. Sea otters are

36:15

the cute little ones that we have

36:17

pictures of that can clap their hands

36:20

together to crack a crab and lie

36:22

on their back. Their young

36:24

nurse on their bellies as they lie

36:26

on their back. What

36:28

they have is fur. They've

36:31

got a million pieces of fur

36:33

per square inch. They

36:35

are the softest fur in the world.

36:39

The sailors from Bering return. They

36:41

rebuild what they can from their

36:43

broken ship, take it back, and

36:45

sea otters are going to save

36:47

the Tsar. They're going to save

36:50

the Russian Empire. Those

36:52

little pelts that they bring back, and

36:54

I think they bring back almost a

36:56

thousand from the island with Bering, sell

36:59

for, at the time, what was $3,500

37:01

per pelt. It's

37:05

a fortune in money, and

37:07

that starts the Russian invasion

37:10

of Alaska. Island

37:12

by island finally leading up to

37:14

Kodiak. At

37:16

first, it's these, they're called

37:19

promoschliniki. They're the

37:21

independent fur hunters. They're

37:23

violent, and it's like the gold rush.

37:26

They're on these crummy little ships. They

37:29

don't know what they're doing, and they

37:31

realize right away that the only people

37:33

who know how to hunt the sea

37:35

otter are the Alaska natives. They

37:38

do it from their kayaks. They've done

37:40

it for thousands upon thousands of years.

37:43

They only kill the otters that they

37:45

need for warmth. Think

37:47

about pictures of the Chinese

37:50

Mandarin class in their

37:52

golden silk robes with fur around

37:54

their neck and fur around the

37:56

hems and maybe a fur muff

37:58

to keep working. warm. This

38:01

is the warmest fur in the world.

38:03

The Russians are done in Siberia.

38:06

They've depleted the Ermine and the

38:08

Sable, and all of a sudden

38:10

from Bering's shipwreck, they've got a

38:12

gift from the sea. It's

38:15

gold. They invade

38:17

Alaska. They capture the

38:19

Alaskan natives. The

38:21

women know how to stitch

38:24

these incredible waterproof

38:26

clothing made out

38:28

of the gut of a

38:31

seal. Sometimes they're one piece

38:33

and stitched the very, very

38:35

low kayak. They're made of

38:37

animal skin, so the kayaker

38:39

can actually see through where

38:41

the otters are. They have

38:43

beautifully decorated helmets to protect

38:46

them from the sun. They

38:48

know how to do this. The

38:51

Russians invade Alaska, capture the natives

38:53

and the women for sex, but

38:55

also for their sewing skills. Eventually

38:59

they've decimated the Alaska native

39:01

tribes. They move further and

39:04

further east onto Kodiak Island,

39:06

onto the mainland, and

39:08

when they've pretty much killed off

39:10

the otter population, they turn right.

39:13

At this point, the Russians

39:15

have formed the Russian-America

39:17

Company. The whole otter

39:20

business has been taken over by

39:22

the Tsar, and in

39:24

the contracts that launched

39:26

the Russian-American Company, they

39:28

allow the fur hunters

39:30

to enslave 50% of

39:33

the men, each for a period of

39:35

five years. When they've

39:37

built up this population, they turn

39:41

right and head south down the

39:43

Pacific coast. They

39:45

skip what's now Vancouver,

39:47

Victoria, British Columbia, and

39:50

Washington State and

39:52

Oregon because the Tlingit Indians live

39:54

there they're very militant, and

39:57

they land in Northern California

39:59

in Trinidad. Bay, they

40:01

start to move down the coast,

40:03

killing otters, depositing the native Alaskans

40:06

on the shore, and they

40:09

build a base at what's called

40:11

Fort Ross or Woodman Fort Russia,

40:13

right at the northern edge of

40:15

the missions. So the

40:18

Spanish are right, the Russians are coming. The

40:21

Russians build the slave plantation

40:23

at Fort Ross, and

40:25

they can't deposit the Alaska

40:28

natives land because the Spanish

40:30

don't want them there. So

40:32

they dump them on the Farallon

40:35

Islands, which are

40:37

little, brutal rock outcroppings,

40:39

maybe 20 miles

40:42

offshore. You can barely

40:44

see them from shore outside what would

40:46

now be the Golden Gate Bridge. And

40:48

they deposit them there for six months, and

40:51

then they sweep by and collect the

40:53

pelts, and they give them a

40:56

couple of pounds of flour. They're

40:58

told to collect fresh water from the

41:00

rocks, and those islands then

41:02

is now are surrounded by sharks.

41:04

So it's very hard, even though

41:06

these are super skillful

41:09

mariners in their kayaks, it's

41:11

very hard for them to escape. And

41:14

if they escape, they're only going to escape to

41:16

the Spanish who are going to capture them. So

41:19

it's a brutal system, and

41:22

the Russians stay until they've

41:24

killed off the population of

41:26

otters along the coast. After

41:29

they've killed off the otters, it's

41:31

time to leave. And

41:34

some of the Alaska natives can

41:36

escape up rivers, and we don't

41:39

know their stories. They

41:41

weren't people with a tradition of written

41:43

culture. So they

41:45

escape upriver, and I'm still

41:47

not sure how many actually

41:50

flee. Some of

41:52

them probably were able to

41:54

paddle back the 1,000, 1,500

41:56

miles back to Alaska. Their

41:58

islands are decimated. And finally,

42:00

the Russians leave. Thus

42:03

far, we've been talking about how the

42:05

Spanish and the Russians brought different ideas

42:07

and practices of indigenous enslavement to California

42:09

and to the rest of the North

42:11

American West Coast during the mid to

42:13

late 18th and early 19th centuries. Jean,

42:16

you mentioned that when the Russians came to

42:19

California, there was a bit of an otter

42:21

gold rush. So no one

42:23

wondering about the actual gold rush. In

42:26

1848, the United States took over territorial

42:28

control of California with the signing of

42:30

the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago. Just

42:33

before the signing of the treaty, James

42:35

Marshall discovered gold on John Sutter's land

42:37

in Coloma, California. This discovery

42:40

caused the population of California to soar

42:42

and grew very rapidly. And in 1850,

42:45

the United States admitted California

42:47

to its union as quote, a

42:49

free state. Jean, would

42:52

you tell us about the California

42:54

gold rush and its role in

42:56

how slavery continued and changed in

42:58

early California? Yeah, the

43:01

California gold rush generates a

43:03

series of systems of slavery

43:06

that come both locally and

43:09

also from China. The

43:11

quantity of gold is sort

43:13

of beyond belief. Within

43:16

the first couple of years of

43:18

the gold rush, California is shipping

43:20

annually $1.5 billion worth of gold

43:24

to the banks and to the government. The

43:28

East coast and people from all over

43:30

the world here of

43:32

gold in California. Some

43:35

of the first people in are the

43:37

Argentinians and the Chileans and the Mexicans

43:39

who are skilled miners. And

43:42

then Chinese people come. In

43:44

fact, it was easier to get

43:47

from China to California than across

43:49

the plains to California. And

43:52

then comes the rush

43:54

of African-American slavery. Slave

43:57

owners cross the plains. with

44:00

enslaved African Americans for the

44:03

gold rush. There are

44:05

already enslaved Africans and plantation

44:08

owners who've gone out to

44:10

California in 1848, even

44:14

maybe a little bit earlier for land. Tobacco

44:17

was harsh on land, cotton

44:19

was harsh on land. There

44:21

was always the intention of

44:24

taking slavery west. After

44:26

the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

44:28

and around that time, Texas

44:30

becomes very favorable to slavery.

44:32

In fact, there were 200,000

44:34

enslaved Africans growing

44:38

cotton in Texas just about

44:40

this time. And

44:42

slave owners are going to transport

44:45

people to work for them in

44:47

the gold mines. They're not

44:49

gonna bring a lot. Probably between

44:51

1500 and 2000 enslaved African Americans are

44:56

carried across the plains against

44:58

their will to work for

45:00

their owners panning for gold. It

45:04

was a rough trip. The

45:06

enslaved people are given the worst

45:08

jobs. Generally their job was

45:10

to manage the oxen, which

45:13

meant that enslaved men and

45:15

some women walked across the

45:17

plains from Mississippi and Missouri

45:20

and then up and over the

45:22

Rockies and then through the

45:24

valleys. Sometimes crossing the

45:26

Mojave Desert, sometimes further north,

45:29

and then up and over the Sierra

45:31

Mountains because the gold was on

45:33

the western or Pacific slope of

45:36

the Sierras. So

45:38

suddenly in California, they're

45:40

enslaved African Americans. Free

45:44

blacks also come to California.

45:47

They come for the same reason

45:49

as everybody else is for gold

45:52

and the opportunity that was not happening

45:54

for them in the north, but

45:57

they also have the 1850 fugitive states. slave

46:00

law at their back. Frederick

46:02

Douglass at first doesn't want

46:05

free blacks to go to

46:07

California. He's not yet aware

46:09

of the quantity of enslaved

46:11

blacks in California. But

46:13

he says, if you folks leave,

46:16

you're abandoning the abolition movement. And

46:19

they say, Douglas, everybody else

46:21

is going, this is our one chance.

46:23

Plus, we've got the fugitive slave law

46:25

at our back. And he

46:28

says to some of the leaders, if you

46:30

travel with me for the summer and learn

46:33

how to become abolitionist leaders

46:35

and speakers, then you go

46:37

with my blessing. And people

46:40

like Peter Lester, Mifflin Whisker

46:42

Gibbs work with Douglas,

46:44

and then they go to California.

46:46

And it's there that

46:48

there's this surprise encounter

46:50

between enslaved blacks and

46:52

free blacks in California.

46:55

And the free blacks

46:57

work very hard to

46:59

rescue, hide, protect enslaved

47:01

blacks. They start a series

47:04

of lawsuits. There are

47:06

four colored conventions in

47:08

California. Colored conventions

47:11

are happening all over the

47:13

United States where thousands of

47:16

black people would freely meet

47:18

to talk about schools and

47:21

freedom and religion. And they

47:23

call for three colored conventions

47:25

before the Civil War in

47:27

California. What they want is

47:29

the right to testify. I kept

47:32

reading these minutes thinking, where's the

47:34

demand for freedom? What I

47:37

didn't understand is that in

47:39

the California Constitution, neither

47:41

blacks, Indians, nor Chinese

47:43

people could testify in

47:45

court. But if you're a

47:47

free person, a free black person,

47:49

and you're not allowed to enter

47:52

into evidence your freedom papers,

47:54

you're vulnerable to being enslaved.

47:57

So California reproduces

48:00

a lot of the slave codes,

48:02

both from the South, more

48:04

importantly from the North, of how

48:06

to take a free people and

48:09

enslave them. I think

48:11

we need to dip back to

48:13

the California Constitution because

48:15

California passes a quote

48:18

free constitution. Remember

48:21

there's going to be this balance. We're

48:23

going to admit one free state for

48:25

every slave state, the quote great compromise.

48:28

There's no state to match

48:30

with California and the United

48:32

States wants that $1.5 billion a

48:36

year really bad. They are

48:38

going to admit California and they're

48:40

going to admit it as a free state. And

48:43

at the Constitutional Convention

48:45

where Californians write their

48:48

constitution, it's run by

48:50

slaveholders. And at

48:53

that constitution, they say

48:55

slavery will never be

48:57

tolerated in California. Tolerate

49:00

is not a legal standard. You

49:03

and I can say we won't tolerate

49:05

that. It has no force of law.

49:08

So they have built an out into

49:11

the constitution and

49:13

then they start copying

49:15

laws from the East,

49:17

from the North that

49:20

maintains slavery in the

49:22

Northern States. With

49:24

those laws and with passing

49:27

its own fugitive slave law of

49:29

1852, California legalizes black slavery.

49:36

California has a long and unique history with slavery

49:38

that differs from the history of slavery that

49:40

we often associate with the early United States,

49:43

mostly with the East Coast. Jean,

49:46

often when we talk about the history of

49:48

slavery in United States history, we're

49:51

really talking about the slavery that developed in

49:53

the British American context and

49:55

then expanded into the United States context

49:57

after 1776. So

50:00

would you tell us why we don't

50:03

necessarily talk about slavery in California as

50:05

much as we talk about Black chattel

50:07

slavery of the colonial and early republic

50:09

periods? We don't

50:11

look at slavery in California because

50:13

we live with the myth that

50:15

slavery was only African

50:18

American slavery. We

50:20

live with the myth that slavery is

50:22

over and we are not

50:24

looking at human trafficking. There

50:27

is a vast silence in the

50:29

archives that if you want to

50:32

look for slavery in California, you

50:34

have to back into it and

50:37

look through local tribal histories

50:40

or Chinese American histories where

50:43

Chinese girls were kidnapped from

50:45

the port cities of Guangdong

50:47

and sold on the docks

50:49

of San Francisco. We

50:52

have to back up search and sold

50:54

into prostitution initially to service the

50:56

quote bachelor community of men who

50:59

came out for the gold rush.

51:01

It doesn't sit comfortably with

51:04

Christianity and the notions

51:06

of conversion. We

51:08

haven't listened to the voices of

51:11

the enslaved people. Once

51:13

we get into the archives, it's

51:15

sitting right beneath the surface. The

51:18

research that I found was vast.

51:21

I found five African

51:23

American slave narratives like

51:26

Frederick Douglass's or Harriet Jacobs

51:28

or Harriet Wilson's. These

51:30

were the people who we read and

51:33

taught. We didn't even

51:35

think to look for slave

51:37

narratives from California. It's

51:40

counter of the illusions

51:42

of California that the fulsome

51:44

of life in California, the

51:46

people who live there know.

51:50

We should move into the time warp. This

51:52

is a fun segment of the show where

51:54

we ask you a hypothetical history question about

51:56

what might have happened if something had occurred differently

51:58

or if someone had been had

52:00

acted differently. Jane,

52:22

in your opinion, what would

52:25

have happened if California had entered the American

52:27

Union in 1850 as

52:29

a slave state rather than as a

52:31

stated free state? How do

52:33

you think California's status as an official

52:36

slave state would have impacted California's history

52:38

and the development of the state? As

52:41

I write in California, a slave

52:43

state, it in fact did enter

52:45

as a slave state. What

52:48

my challenge was, was to unpack

52:50

that illusion that it entered as

52:53

a free state. It

52:55

copied codes from the North, like

52:57

the Sojourner Code that said that

53:00

a slave holder could keep a

53:02

slave with him if he intended

53:04

to leave. But there

53:06

was no date line on how soon

53:09

you intended to leave. I

53:11

didn't know that the capture

53:13

and forced indenture of Native

53:16

Americans was California's very first

53:18

law. I didn't

53:20

know that there was an underground

53:22

railroad in California and that there

53:24

was a mass exodus in

53:27

1858 of 800 African Americans who fled together over a period of

53:29

a few weeks to Vancouver. So

53:37

I think that it's

53:39

taking apart an illusion

53:41

of class, of whiteness,

53:43

of safety, of freedom,

53:46

of the summer of love,

53:48

or easy profits, or Hollywood

53:51

that drew people to California

53:53

despite authors like Steinbeck who

53:56

talked about the depression in

53:58

California and poverty. in California,

54:01

or despite the fact that

54:04

the Chinese organized the first

54:06

farmworker strikes in American history

54:08

in California. So

54:11

I think we're living with

54:13

a series of myths. And

54:15

once we tell the truth

54:17

and read the truth, then

54:19

the question will unpack itself,

54:21

because California was and has

54:23

been a slave state. Right

54:27

now, it's the fifth most

54:29

populous site of human trafficking

54:31

in the United States. People

54:34

are being brought into California to

54:36

work in the canneries, to work

54:38

in the fields, to work in

54:41

the marijuana grows, to work

54:43

in the sex trade, to work in

54:45

factories, to work in sweatshops.

54:48

And I think that it's just

54:51

important that the question be flipped

54:53

and acknowledged that this is a

54:55

history, but it's also a history

54:57

of slave revolts. It

54:59

changes the narrative when we

55:01

think about the revolts at

55:03

the missions, or we

55:06

think about the laws that African

55:08

Americans push through so that they

55:10

could have the right to testify

55:12

and establish that they were free,

55:15

or the Chinese enslaved prostitutes

55:17

who flee from being kept

55:20

in cages on Jackson

55:22

Street in San Francisco 20 times

55:25

a day, their sexual services

55:27

were sold. And

55:29

when they can flee, they're some

55:32

of the founders of all the

55:34

Chinatowns across Northern California.

55:36

So I think looking at

55:38

this history with eyes wide

55:41

open really expands the idea

55:43

that California, which is the

55:45

most multiracial state in the

55:48

country and where

55:50

every ethnicity lives in

55:52

California, once that

55:54

true story becomes told, then

55:57

the idea of what if

55:59

changes. into notions

56:02

of the courage and determination

56:04

of California people to be

56:07

free. California's slave

56:09

state is an impressive history of the

56:11

history of slavery in California, and

56:13

we've only just scratched the surface of what's in

56:15

Jean's book. Jean, you've

56:17

written this very impressive tome on slavery

56:19

and its long history in California, and

56:22

I wonder, are you sticking with

56:24

this topic or are you working on something

56:26

new? I'm sitting

56:28

on all kinds of

56:30

archives of voices of

56:32

the enslaved from the

56:34

missions, from testimonies and

56:36

confessions that the priests

56:38

transcribed, slave narratives

56:41

of African Americans, letters

56:43

between Chinese women about

56:45

their lives, legends

56:48

of Native Americans of

56:50

how they found their freedom and what

56:52

happened to their people. Like

56:55

court cases of

56:57

trafficked people testifying, the

57:00

history of San Quentin Prison

57:02

is the history of unfree

57:05

convict labor, and there are

57:07

prison diaries. So

57:09

what I'm doing now is creating

57:11

a reader, if you will, a

57:14

collection of the voices of the

57:16

enslaved in California so that readers

57:18

can hear the story from themselves

57:21

and hear it in the first

57:23

person, from the people who were

57:25

captured and who fled and figured

57:27

out a way to tell their

57:30

stories. Jean, if we

57:32

have more questions about the history of slavery

57:34

in California, is there a good way we

57:36

can reach out and ask you our questions?

57:39

Yes, and I'm delighted to answer them.

57:42

Probably the easiest way

57:45

to locate me is

57:47

through my webpage. It's

57:49

www.jeanfelzer.com. My

57:56

email is readily available

57:58

and public. It's my

58:00

last name at udell.edu.

58:03

So I'm not hard

58:05

to find and I'm very eager

58:07

to have these conversations. Gene

58:10

Felser, thank you for taking us through some

58:12

of the early history of California and the

58:14

state's very long history with slavery. Oh,

58:17

thank you for your questions and thank you

58:19

for welcoming me. Rich

58:21

in natural resources, California proved to be

58:23

a land of abundance for the approximately

58:25

250 indigenous nations

58:27

who resided there before European

58:30

colonization. California then

58:32

as now has a rich diversity

58:34

of growing zones, seasons, and climates,

58:37

which is in part why the state has

58:39

emerged as a breadbasket of the United States

58:41

and has become known as an agricultural paradise

58:43

of sorts. The state's growing zones

58:46

and soils not only support the growth of

58:48

wheat and corn, but fresh fruits,

58:50

nuts, and leafy greens. Plus,

58:53

California also has forests to

58:55

supply trees and support larger game animals

58:57

for hunting. It has a very

58:59

long coastline that supplies fish and sea

59:01

life and several large lakes

59:04

and rivers that also supply fish and

59:06

support smaller game animals. With

59:08

such an abundance of natural agricultural

59:10

produce to feed and sustain themselves,

59:13

the indigenous peoples of California weren't

59:15

often engaged in warfare. And

59:18

without regular and prolonged periods of warfare,

59:21

the indigenous peoples of California did

59:23

not often take war captives, which

59:25

also means they did not develop

59:27

a regular practice of slavery to employ

59:30

war captives. But then

59:32

the Spanish came in 1769.

59:35

They arrived in the area of present-day San Diego,

59:37

and they arrived with a plan to execute.

59:40

As Jean revealed, the Spanish sought

59:43

to accomplish three goals in colonizing

59:45

California. First, they sought to

59:47

block Russian and later English expansion into

59:49

the North American West Coast. Spain

59:52

believed that by establishing colonies in California,

59:54

it would cement its imperial claims to

59:57

the region. Second,

59:59

Spain believed that believe that by

1:00:01

establishing primarily agricultural settlements

1:00:03

in California, its people could

1:00:05

focus on growing enough food to support

1:00:07

its troubled Catholic missions in Mexico and

1:00:09

its mining operations in Mexico and Peru.

1:00:13

And third, Spain intended to

1:00:15

fulfill its papal-ordered religious mission

1:00:18

to convert California's indigenous peoples

1:00:20

to Catholicism. Spain's

1:00:23

imperial ambitions relied on slavery. Having

1:00:26

enslaved indigenous labor in California to grow

1:00:28

crops meant freeing up enslaved labor

1:00:30

in Mexico and Peru to work in Spanish

1:00:32

gold and silver mines. Likewise,

1:00:35

the Russians, Americans, and Chinese,

1:00:37

who came at various points in California's history,

1:00:40

also had ambitions that relied on slavery.

1:00:43

The Russians enslaved indigenous peoples to hunt

1:00:45

sea otters. The Americans and

1:00:47

Chinese, who flooded into California after the

1:00:49

discovery of gold in 1848,

1:00:52

also relied on enslaved labor to build and

1:00:54

assist their mining operations. So

1:00:57

unlike some regions of the United

1:00:59

States, which developed practices of first

1:01:01

indigenous and then African chattel slavery,

1:01:04

California has experience with indigenous,

1:01:06

African and African American, Chinese,

1:01:09

and other systems of slavery. This

1:01:12

makes California a great case study as

1:01:14

we try to better understand the United

1:01:16

States' complex history with slavery and systems

1:01:19

of labor. Look

1:01:21

for more information about Jean, her book,

1:01:24

California's Slave State, plus notes,

1:01:26

links, and a transcript for everything we talked

1:01:28

about today on the show notes

1:01:30

page, benfranklinsworld.com/387.

1:01:36

Friends tell friends about their favorite podcasts,

1:01:38

so please tell your friends and family

1:01:40

about Ben Franklin's World. Information

1:01:43

assistance for this podcast comes from

1:01:45

my colleagues at Colonial Williamsburg Innovation

1:01:48

Studios, Jordan Hammond, Ashley

1:01:50

Bocknight, and Morgan McCullough. Breakmaster

1:01:53

Cylinder composed our custom theme music.

1:01:56

This podcast is part of the Airwave

1:01:58

Media Podcast Network to discover and

1:02:00

listen to their other podcasts,

1:02:02

visit airwavemedia.com. Finally,

1:02:05

what other aspects of early California or

1:02:07

Western history would you like to investigate?

1:02:09

Let me know. Liz at

1:02:12

benfranklinsworld.com. Ben Franklin's

1:02:15

World is a production of

1:02:17

Colonial Williamsburg Innovation Studios. Learn

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more at www.benfranklin.com.