Riches for All

by Owens, Kenneth N.

• ISBN13: 9780803286177
• ISBN10: 0803286171
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-11-01
• Publisher: Univ of Nebraska Pr

Summary

The California Gold Rush was much more than a western or white event-it involved and affected diverse peoples, places, and histories far outside of its region and time. In this volume, leading scholars cast new light on the Gold Rush by examining its trajectory and legacy within a global context of race, economics, and culture.A dynamic range of peoples were drawn to and impacted by the California Gold Rush-including Mormons, California Indians, African Americans, Chinese, Mexicans and Latin Americans. Special attention is given here to their varying motivations and experiences and frequently shared struggle against racism in California. The roles and influence of other important components of Gold Rush society-women, workers, law-breakers, and law-enforcers-are also examined. A number of contributors cast their eyes beyond the event to consider its long-term consequences for California history and for subsequent gold rushes in the northwest and Klondike.With lively and incisive strokes, the contributors to this collection paint the most complete and nuanced portrait of the California Gold Rush to date.Kenneth N. Owens is a professor emeritus of history at California State University. He is the editor of The Wreck of the Sv. Nikolai and John Sutter and a Wider West, both published by the University of Nebraska Press.

Author Biography

Kenneth N. Owens is a professor emeritus of history and ethnic studies at California State University, Sacramento. He is the editor of The Wreck of the Sv. Nikolai and John Sutter and a Wider West, both available in Bison Books editions.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
Gold-Rich Saints: Mormon Beginnings of the California Gold Rush	p. 29
"We Will Make Our Fortunes--No Doubt of It": The Worldwide Rush to California	p. 55
"The Greatest and Most Perverted Paradise": The Forty-Niners in Latin America	p. 71
Clouded Legacy: California Indians and the Gold Rush	p. 90
"My Brother's Keeper": Mexicans and the Hunt for Prosperity in California, 1848-2000	p. 118
Never Far from Home: Being Chinese in the California Gold Rush	p. 142
"Do You Think I'll Lug Trunks?" African Americans in Gold Rush California	p. 161
Disorder, Crime, and Punishment in the California Gold Rush	p. 176
Where Have All the Young Men Gone? The Social Legacy of the California Gold Rush	p. 202
The Last Fandango: Women, Work, and the End of the California Gold Rush	p. 230
After California: Later Gold Rushes of the Pacific Basin	p. 264
From Gold Pans to California Dredges: The Search for Mass Production in Placer Mining	p. 296
The Last Great Gold Rush: From California to the Klondike in the Nineteenth Century	p. 317
Begun by Gold: Sacramento and the Gold Rush Legacy after 150 Years	p. 328
Contributors	p. 355
Index	p. 359
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.