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California gold rush

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California gold miners, ca. 1850–1852.

A Gold Rush of Witnesses

Letters, diaries, and remembrances shared on JSTOR by University of the Pacific reveal the hardships of day-to-day life during the California Gold Rush.
by Matthew Wills via JSTOR Daily on April 23, 2025
The San Francisco 49ers running onto a football field led by their mascot, a gold prospector.

Who Were the Real 49ers?

San Francisco 49ers fans may feel like their team name is less racist than the “Chiefs,” but given the history of the Gold Rush, they shouldn’t be so smug.
by Simon Moya-Smith via The Nation on February 9, 2024
Twin brothers Jonathan and Matthew Burgess.

The Black Families Seeking Reparations in California’s Gold Country

Descendants of enslaved people want land seized by the state returned and recognition of the gold rush’s rich, and largely ignored, Black history.
by Michael Scott Moore via The New Yorker on May 17, 2023
Chainlink fence in a desert with a danger sign warning of arsenic poison

The Toxic Legacy of the Gold Rush

Almost 175 years after the Gold Rush began, Californians are left holding the bag for thousands of abandoned mines.
by Leah Campbell via Gizmodo on May 15, 2023
A parrot and a monkey superimposed over a map of Northern California. Illustration by Emily Lankiewicz.

The Monkeys and Parrots Caught Up in the California Gold Rush

Researchers combed through 19th-century records and found evidence of the species, which joined a menagerie that included Galapagos tortoises and kangaroos.
by Bridget Alex via Smithsonian on June 16, 2022
Photo of California gold fragment found by John Sutter in 1848

A Pacific Gold Rush

On the roads and seas miners traveled to reach gold in the United States and Australia.
by Mae Ngai via Lapham’s Quarterly on August 25, 2021

Comic Gold

The Gold Rush introduced a new figure into the American imagination – the effete Eastern urbanite who travels to the Wild West in quest of his fortune.
by Alex Andriesse via The Public Domain Review on March 12, 2020
Women and men sifting for gold

Yes, Women Participated in the Gold Rush

“Conventional wisdom tells us that the gold rush was a male undertaking,” writes the historian Glenda Riley. But women were there, too.
by Erin Blakemore, Glenda Riley via JSTOR Daily on December 19, 2019
The Bullion Mine, Virginia City, Nevada, in a village at the foot of a mountain.

Gold Diggers on Camera

Creating the myth of the gold rush with the help of daguerreotypists.
by Jane Lee Aspinwall via Lapham’s Quarterly on October 28, 2019

I Retraced the Gold Rush Trail to Find the American Dream

A disenchanted San Franciscan rides west with a motley crew of pioneers.
by Alexis Coe via The New Republic on March 14, 2016
California assemblyman and member of the Serrano/Cahuilla tribe James Ramos, Governor Gavin Newsom, and tribal leaders.

Reclaiming Native Identity in California

The genocide of Native Americans was nowhere more methodically savage than in California. A new state initiative seeks to reckon with this history.
by Ed Vulliamy via New York Review of Books on June 1, 2023
two men, with one holding a basket on his basket, climb up sharp rocks on the Farallon Islands.

How a War Over Eggs Marked the Early History of San Francisco

Competition over eggs on the Farallon Islands in the midst of the California Gold Rush in San Francisco led to an all out war between eggers.
by Lizzie Stark via Literary Hub on March 29, 2023
Malcolm Harris, left, and the cover of his book "Palo Alto," right. (Photo by Julia Burke)

The Obscene Invention of California Capitalism

A new history examines Silicon Valley, Palo Alto, the West Coast's settler ideology, and recent turbulence in the world of tech.
by Malcolm Harris, Emma Hager via The Nation on March 15, 2023
Book cover of "The Chinese Question The Gold Rushes and Global Politics"

Who Digs the Mines?

A new book recognizes the global character of Asian exclusion.
by Andrew Liu via London Review of Books on July 13, 2022
Occupation of Alcatraz; sign reads "Indians Welcome"

The Past and Future of Native California

A new book explores California’s history through the experience of its Native peoples.
by Julian Brave NoiseCat via The Nation on January 24, 2022
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.
by Kevin Waite via The Atlantic on November 25, 2021

The United States Didn't Really Begin Until 1848

America, you’ve got the dates wrong. Your intense debate over which year marks the real beginning of the United States—1619 (slavery’s arrival) or 1776.
by Joe Mathews via Zócalo Public Square on October 5, 2021
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.
by Arvind Dilawar, Kevin Waite via Jacobin on September 21, 2021
Tarred as a “coolie race,” the Chinese were cast as a threat to free white labor. Train with fire around it and a face in the back.

America Was Eager for Chinese Immigrants. What Happened?

In the gold-rush era, ceremonial greetings swiftly gave way to bigotry and violence.
by Michael Luo via The New Yorker on August 20, 2021
Illustration by Valerie Chiang; Source text from PBS; Library of Congress; Source photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnston / Library of Congress / Corbis / Getty (children); Getty (other)

The Forgotten History of the Campaign to Purge Chinese from America

The surge in violence against Asian-Americans is a reminder that America’s present reality reflects its exclusionary past.
by Michael Luo via The New Yorker on April 22, 2021
Asian-American men waiting to be questioned by white police officers

Racism Has Always Been Part of the Asian American Experience

If we don’t understand the history of Asian exclusion, we cannot understand the racist hatred of the present.
by Mae Ngai via The Atlantic on April 21, 2021
Screenshot of map showing post offices between 1848 and 1895.

Gossamer Network

An interactive digital history project chronicling how the U.S. Post was the underlying circuitry of western expansion.
by Cameron Blevins, Yan Wu, Steven Braun via Northeastern University on March 31, 2021
Woman working on a computer and holding a baby in her lap.
partner

Will Covid-19 Lead to Men and Women Splitting Care Work More Evenly?

History shows that men have always been able to handle care work — when they have to.
by Sarah Keyes via Made By History on May 12, 2020

The Real Story of the 49ers

The reality of the early gold-rush prospectors was not nearly as benevolent as the mascot’s wide smile may suggest.
by Bruce Barcott via The Atlantic on February 2, 2020

Pioneers of American Publicity

How John and Jessie Frémont explored the frontiers of legend-making.
by Adam Gopnik via The New Yorker on January 20, 2020

Campaign Unveils Hidden History of Slavery in California

California entered the Union as a free state, but there are hidden stories of slavery to be told.
by Emily Nonko via Next City on January 8, 2020

Can Colonial Nations Truly Recognise the Sovereignty of Indigenous People?

The Lakota, like other groups, see themselves as a sovereign people. Can Indigenous sovereignty survive colonisation?
by Pekka Hämäläinen via Aeon on October 2, 2019

When California Went to War Over Eggs

As the Gold Rush brought more settlers to San Francisco, battles erupted over the egg yolks of a remote seabird colony.
by Jessica Gingrich via Smithsonian on April 15, 2019
Calle de los Negros, circa 1886.

Calle de los Negros: L.A.'s "Forgotten" Street

How did Calle de los Negros get its name? And why did the city raze it in 1887?
by William D. Estrada via KCET on October 21, 2017

Old West Theme Parks Paint a False Picture of Pioneer California

As the nation debates monuments and public memory, it’s important to understand how other cultural sites help people learn (false) history.
by Amanda Tewes via The Conversation on August 30, 2017
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