A street with a sign above it reading "Welcome to San Bernardino."

California's Never-Ending Secessionist Movement — and its Grim Ties To Slavery in the State

San Bernardino County may explore seceding from California. Many of the earliest separatists wanted to transform Southern California into a slave state.
Antiquated image of two Indigenous people, against the backdrop of a settlement.

What Slavery Looked Like in the West

Tens of thousands of Indigenous people labored in bondage across the western United States in the 1800s.
Photo of Jefferson Davis

The Southern Slaveholders Dreamed of a Slaveholding Empire

Antebellum slaveholders weren't content with an economic and social system based on trafficking in human flesh in the South alone.
Document from the first session of Congress

California’s Vigilante Tradition

The far-right protestors in Huntington Beach aren’t as novel as they seem.
Poet Amanda Gorman recites a piece at Biddy Mason Memorial Park on Aug. 18, 2018, at a gathering to mark the 200th birthday of Biddy Mason, a key figure in the establishment and development of downtown Los Angeles. (Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images)
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California Is Finally Confronting Its History of Slavery. Here’s How.

Los Angeles is finding success at reshaping its commemorative landscape.

The Bloody History of Anti-Asian Violence in the West

One of the largest mass lynchings in the United States targeted Chinese immigrants in Los Angeles.
Chinese immigrants working in a market stop to pose for a photo

The California Klan’s Anti-Asian Crusade

Whereas southern Klansmen assaulted Black Americans and their white allies, western vigilantes targeted those they deemed a greater threat: Chinese immigrants.

California's Forgotten Slave History

San Bernardino, California's early success rested on a pair of seemingly incongruous forces: Mormonism and slavery.

California’s Forgotten Confederate History

Why was the Golden State once chock-full of memorials to the Southern rebels?
James Longstreet's daughter visits his statue at Gettysburg.
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The Missing Statues That Expose the Truth About Confederate Monuments

Why Confederacy supporters erased the legacy of one its most accomplished soldiers.
Robert E. Lee statue
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Robert E. Lee WAS a Man of Honor. That’s the Problem.

For white southerners, honor had little to do with justice.
A stone marker for the Jefferson Davis Highway in Crawfordville, Georgia.
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The Largest Confederate Monument in America Can't Be Taken Down

It has to be renamed, state by state.