History of slavery in California

For the similar systems of servitude for Indigenous Californians, see Unfree labor in California. For modern-day trafficking, see Human trafficking in California.
Ruins of Mission San Luis Rey and a residence with a tule-thatched awning (1887)

The history of slavery in California began with the enslavement of Indigenous Californians under Spanish colonial rule. The arrival of the Spanish colonists introduced chattel slavery and involuntary servitude to the area. Over 90,000 Indigenous peoples were forced to stay at the Spanish missions in California between 1770 and 1834, being kept in well-guarded mission compounds. This has been described as de facto slavery,[1] as they were forced to work on the mission's grounds amid abuse, malnourishment, overworking,[2] and a high death rate.[3] Indigenous girls were taken from their parents to be housed in guarded dormitories known as monjeríos for conversion to Catholicism and control over their sexuality.[4][5]

White colonists from the Southern and Eastern United States brought their systems of organized slavery to California. Several thousand[6] free and enslaved people of African ancestry were part of the California Gold Rush (1848–1855). Some were able to buy their freedom and freedom for their families, primarily in the South, with the gold they found.[7][8][9] This included enslaved African American Edmond Edward Wysinger (1816–1891). After arriving in the Northern mine area of the California Mother Lode with his slaver in 1849, Wysinger and a group of 100 or more African American miners surface mined in and around Mormon, Mokelumne Hill at Placerville, and Grass Valley.[10]

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  1. ^ "Lorenzo Asisara (b. 1819)". Annenberg Learner. Retrieved 2023-01-09. Between 1770 and 1834 over 90,000 California Indians (a third of the pre-contact population) were enslaved within the Franciscan missions.
  2. ^ Pritzker, Barry (2000). A Native American encyclopedia : history, culture, and peoples. Barry Pritzker. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 114. ISBN 0-19-513877-5. OCLC 42683042.
  3. ^ Encomium musicae : essays in memory of Robert J. Snow. Robert J. Snow, David Crawford, George Grayson Wagstaff. Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press. 2002. p. 129. ISBN 0-945193-83-1. OCLC 37418391.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. ^ Vaughn, Chelsea K. (2011). "Locating Absence: The Forgotten Presence of Monjeríos in Alta California Missions". Southern California Quarterly. 93 (2): 141–174. doi:10.2307/41172570. ISSN 0038-3929. JSTOR 41172570.
  5. ^ Raquel Casas, Maria (2005). "Victoria Reid and the Politics of Identity". Latina legacies : identity, biography, and community. Vicki Ruíz, Virginia Sánchez Korrol. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 19–38. ISBN 978-0-19-803502-2. OCLC 61330208.
  6. ^ Another estimate is 2,500 forty-niners of African ancestry. Rawls, James, J. and Orsi, Richard (eds.) (1999), p. 5.
  7. ^ Jason B. Johnson, "Slavery in Gold Rush Days -- New Discoveries Prompt Exhibition, Re-examination of State's Involvement," SFGate, January 27, 2007.
  8. ^ Smith, Stacey L. (2015). Freedom's Frontier: California and the Struggle over Unfree Labor, Emancipation, and Reconstruction. University of North Carolina Press. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference dream was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Delilah L. Beasley, The Negro Trail Blazers of California, 1919, pp. 105 & 183 (Has been reprinted in 1997 and 2004).