African-American Resources for California

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]
Surnames/tags: California black_heritage

US Black Heritage Project Home Page

African-American Genealogy Resources

African-American Resources by State

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Online resources about slavery in California

Contents 1 History and General Resources 1.1 Black Newspapers 2 Resources by Location 2.1 Nevada County 3 Slave Resources

History and General Resources

History of Slavery in California at WikiPedia

Black Newspapers

• The Elevator was in publication from 1869 to 1874 (per Wikipedia; another site claims through 1898); published out of San Francisco; it reached African Americans throughout California and the West. See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Elevator_(newspaper). The paper has been digitized and is searchable here.

Resources by Location

Nevada County

During the Gold Rush, a combination of enslaved, escaped slaves and free Blacks were brought (by their enslavers) or came to Nevada County. From 1850 to about 1890, a thriving Black community existed in Grass Valley and nearby Nevada City.

• Nevada County Historical Society, "Civility To All, Servility To None: African American Pioneers of Nevada County, CA"
• Laura Petersen, "Nevada County recognizes prominent Nevada City pioneers during Black History Month," in Nevada County, California "Newsflash" (blog) February 15, 2024; citing the research of Linda Jack
• Grass Valley General Plan - Background Report (Draft); Chapter 9 - Historical Element; Nov 1998; in particular, pages 13-7 and 13-8 describe the historical presence of African Americans in the county.
• Hank Meals, A Brief Look at Soem 19th Century Black Pioneers in Yuma-Bear River Country (Monday, June 29, 2020); includes information about adjacent Yuba County as well.

Slave Resources

• California Department of Insurance Slave Names. This is a compilation which includes Name of Slave, County (or Parish), State Other Identifying Information, Slaveholder, County (or Parish), State, and the insurance company that submitted the information.
  • http://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/150-other-prog/10-seir/upload/Slave-Names-Registry.pdf
  • http://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/150-other-prog/10-seir/slave-names.cfm