2024 CA Black History Month - Reclaiming and Restoring our "Freedom Seekers"

25th Anniversary - California Black History Month
February 2024 - California Gold Mining District

(Sacramento, California
The Underground Railroad reached all over America and there are many examples it was alive and active in California. Just like in the east it was an individual act but it was also an organized group activity. Black philanthropist San Francisco resident Mary Pleasant was reportedly one of the largest donors to the UGRR movement.

African-Dutch William Leidesdorff in 1844 was granted 35,500 acres in San Francisco by the Mexican government. He became a leading citizen in the community. The Library Services and Technology Act Grant (LSTA) for the Underground Railroad Digital Archives California State University in Sacramento intends to digitize the publications Mirror of the Times, The Elevator, and the Pacific Appeal newspapers and other documents located in repositories all over California.

For Joe and Shirley Moore, the projects coordinators, this is a ten-year dream come true. “The archives will be an on-line repository of information including manumission papers, fugitive slave records, photographs, newspapers and bibliographies, relevant to the African American experience in nineteenth century California,” said Joe Moore.

It was two years ago that Guy Washington, National Park Service Ranger organized a meeting with Dr. Kevin Starr and after a presentations by Washington and various persons including Cheryl Brown of Black Voice News, Starr agreed to help secure a grant to start the process. For months a cross-section of people met to set the parameters of a digital project. The grant was secured and CSUS won the RFP.

Recently phase I of the project was completed and an all day workshop was held, “From Slavery to Freedom, Preserving 19th Century Documents for the 21st Century. The Archive will be available to the CSUS community and to the general public beginning February 2004.

The Roundtable panelists participating were: Susan Bragg, University of Washington, Dr. Albert Broussard, Texas A&M, Dr. Douglas H. Daniels, UC Santa Barbara, Dr. Joseph A. Pitti CSU, Sacramento, and Dr. Quintard Taylor, University of Washington. They spoke about the history of African Americans in California and the West.

After lunch taken directly from Mary Pleasants own cookbook, a panel of the California based team explained the way that the project came together. There were Carson Carlos and Bin Zhang, Sac State Technicians, Ben Amata, CSUS Library, Clarence Caesar, California State Parks; Rick Moss Oakland CAs African American Museum and Library, Dr. Adrian Praetzellis, CSU, Sonoma, and Guy Washington, National Parks Service. Sheila ONeill of the CSUS Library Archives moderated the panel.

According to Dr. Broussard early Blacks in the state were consumed with the law that forbade Blacks from testifying in court. If a Black man witnessed a crime against anyone his testimony could not be considered. Professor Daniels said that his area of study is Urban Slavery. He explained that Negro slavery was different than any other in the world. “Negro slavery was permanent because you were a slave for life. Other slave societies were not permanent,” said Daniels.

An archeologist said he did not go looking for the African American history but it found him. He spoke of the Thomas Cook family whos husband was a barber and wife was a dressmaker and during the archaeological dig while building Cypress freeway in the Bay area, the history screamed out from the ground. At that time Blacks were not allowed serve other Blacks in their barbershop but he found that Cook did their hair at his house. He said the artifacts tell the story.

Susan Bragg spoke of her research of several cases in California, places that were safe and places that were unsafe and offered the Lee Archy case as proof although California was a free state that slavery was none the less practiced. Biddy Mason, was one of those who won her freedom from a court in Los Angeles. She was reportedly enslaved for three years in San Bernardino.

Quintard Taylor said, “not enough has been done on this story.” Taylor, an expert on Blacks in the West in the 19th Century said, ” there are cases of Blacks suing for their freedom — one in the Oregon Territory. There are records of one being held in slavery in Washington State,” he said.

The afternoon panel spoke of the creation of the Digital Archive Project and gave examples of people who were affected by the states policies.

Guy Washington was pleased that his efforts of two years had come to fruition and his boss Dianne Miller gave him high marks for fulfilling the mandates of the National Park Service, the keepers of Americas history and culture.

The beauty of this program is that documents can remain the property of the owner but the information can be made available to citizens,” said Dr. Peg Hill, committee member and History and Social Studies Coordinator for San Bernardino County Schools.