1790 - 1870

Immigrants' Rights: 1790

Congress passes a law limiting naturalization to "free white persons."

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends Mexican American War.

Gold discovered in California

The HoundsThe Hounds, a paramilitary gang, attack Chileans in San Francisco.

Bilingual Spanish-English Constitutional Convention held in Monterey.

Constitucion del Estado de CaliforniaVoters approve the bilingual state constitution, which outlaws slavery.

First state legislature meets in San Jose.

Foreign Miners’ Tax of $20 a month is levied to discourage Latino miners. The tax is repealed in 1851.

A mob drives Mexican miners out of Tuolumne County, killing many of them.

Legislature passes a ban on abortion; in 1858 the law is extended to criminalize disseminating information about abortion.

Legislature passes laws:

Allowing for the virtual slavery of Indian children and of adult Indians declared “vagrants” by judges. The law expires in 1863.
Barring African Americans, Indians, and mulattoes from testifying against whites in criminal cases. The following year, the legislature bans testimony from the same groups in civil trials.
Criminalizing abortion except in cases where the mother’s life is endangered.

February 24, 2012

Federal decision conflicts with an existing state appellate court decision. The issue will likely go to the United States Supreme Court.

February 23, 2012

Judge says that the federal law denying rights to same-sex married couples is irrational and violates equal protection under the law.

February 7, 2012

Court of Appeals rules that the ballot initiative barring same-sex marriages violates equal protection rights.

paperback, 6 x 9, 512 pages, with 90 historical images scattered throughout
ISBN: 978-1-59714-114-7
$24.95

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Date:

October 24, 2009

Listen to KPFA's Apex Express – Asian Pacific Islander Expressions broadcast Stan Yogi reading excerpts from Wherever There's a Fight at a program at Berkeley's Eastwind Bookstore.