HISTORY 344: SURVEY OF CALIFORNIA HISTORY, A MULTICULTURAL PERSPECTIVE
PROF. STUART GRAYBILL – OFFICE (RN 211) – INFORMATION
MTWTh 9:15am-10:15am
Friday 2:30-4:00 pm
(or, by appointment)
E-mail: graybis@scc.losrios.edu
Phone: (916) 558-2309
Website: web.scc.losrios.edu/graybis
COURSE OVERVIEW
This course will examine the historical development of California from the era of the first settlement by
native peoples to the present, and it will emphasize the evolution of the state’s multicultural society.
Lectures and readings and other class materials will introduce students to the origins and consequences
of the major historical forces (economic, social, cultural and political) that helped shape life in
California over the last several centuries.
REQUIRED READING MATERIALS
Course Textbook:
California: An Interpretive History, James Rawls, Walton Bean
(The book above is available in the SCC College Store)
GRADED ASSIGNMENTS:
Students will be required to complete TWO MIDTERM EXAMS, a FINAL EXAM, and ONE
DOCUMENTARY SOURCE PROBLEM (from a selection of two). The schedule for completing these
assignments, and their relative value, as a percentage of course grade, is provided below:
First Midterm Exam:
Second Midterm Exam:
Formal Essay:
Final Exam:
Miscellaneous:
Thursday September 27
Thursday November 8
Tuesday November 20
Thursday, December 20
20%
20%
20%
20%
20%
* MIDTERM and FINAL EXAMINATIONS will examine students on course readings and in-class
material (lectures, films, textbook, handouts, etc.). In examinations, students will write essays, short
answers, identification exercises or a combination of these methods. Bring a green book to all exams!
* FORMAL ESSAY will require students to identify, analyze and interpret an issue, event, person/s,
movement or force in California history from questions provided by the professor (approximately 5
pages, typed, double-spaced, 1" margins, with a cover page – more complete instructions for writing the
essays follow later in this syllabus). Students must complete the formal essay to pass the class!
* The MISCELLANEOUS portion of students' grade is a composite of students' regular (or irregular)
attendance, on-time (or untimely) arrival, participation in class activities, etc. Lack of attendance and
late arrival to, or early departure from, class counts against students’ miscellaneous grade component.
The easiest “A” in the class is to attend every class session and participate in all the class exercises.
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POLICY REGARDING MISSED EXAMS:
-If an unforeseen emergency compels you to miss one of the exams, you may make up that exam at the
end of this semester. However, you may make-up only ONE of the exams!
-Since there are two exams that students may make-up, I will not compose a make-up exam for each
individual exam (that would be simply too much extra work for me). So, the make-up exam will be
drawn from the material assigned for the first two exams (see the “Exam Preparation” section of the
syllabus for more information).
-A SINGLE MAKE-UP DATE for a missed exam will be offered during the final exam, at the end of
the summer session. If you miss the make-up exam, you will receive a zero (0) for that exam.
Furthermore, if you wish to make-up a missed exam, you must inform the professor of your intent to do
so well in advance of the make-up exam date.
POLICY REGARDING LATE PAPERS:
* Late papers will be PENALIZED ONE FULL LETTER GRADE.
* Late Papers must be submitted within ONE WEEK of the due date.
* NO PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED BEYOND ONE WEEK FOLLOWING THE DUE DATE!
*Therefore, in order to ensure you pass the course and maximize your chances for the best possible
grade, complete the paper on time.
RECOMMENDED COURSES, SKILLS:
Completion of ENGWR 100 with a grade of "C" or better, or ESLW 320 and ESLR 320 with grades of
"C" or better is STRONGLY ADVISED! The principal method of assessment in this course is through
evaluation of written work. Therefore, to be successful in this course, proficiency in English
composition is a strong asset.
STANDARDS FOR CLASSROOM COURTESY:
1) Students are not permitted to answer cell phones, text, or use other electronic devices in class! 2) Cell
phones must be turned off or set to vibrate mode. 3) If you must return phone calls during the class
period, exit the classroom as unobtrusively as possible and take the call outside. If you anticipate that
you may need to answer a call, please position yourself close to the exit so that you do not disturb class
when you leave. 4) Arrive in class on time. 5) no laptop computers are allowed without the express
permission of the professor.
LEARNING ACCOMMODATIONS:
I will be delighted to assist students who present to me proper verification of their need for learning
accommodations. Please inform the professor at the beginning of the semester in order to make
arrangements for completing assignments.
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History 344
SAMPLE EXAM
Graybill
PART I – Extra Credit – One line only!
1. When did Europeans first explore California?
2. When did Russian fur traders build Fort Ross?
3. When was California admitted to the Union?
4. When was the Wheatland Riot?
5. When was the UFW formed? By Whom?
PARTS II & III ON REVERSE SIDE
In the questions you choose to answer in Parts II & III, be sure to discuss the relevance of the
main theme of the course to the subject matter of the question.
And, please double-space your essays in your green book to make them easier to read.
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PART II – Essay – 50% – Answer ONE of the following questions from the textbook and lectures:
1. Explain the similarities and differences among the various Indian "culture areas" of California.
(Chapter 2, Question 2)
In your answer to the question above, explain (from your understanding of lecture material) the diversity
of Native Californians.
2. What were the reasons for the limited Spanish commitment to the development of Alta
California? (Chapter 4, Question 1)
In your answer, drawing on lecture and the text, explain the operations of the Spanish government in
North America in the 18th century.
3. Write an essay that assesses the motives and rationalizations used to justify the oppression of
racial minorities in California during the 1850s and 1860s.
(Chapter 11, Question 2)
How does the textbook answer the question above? Also, drawing on lecture material, explain the
genocide of California between 1845 and 1880.
PART III – Essay – 50% – Answer ONE of the following questions from the textbook and
lectures:
1. Summarize the main provisions and consequences of the constitution of 1879.
(Chapter 15, Question 3)
How does the textbook answer the question above? Also, discuss, from lecture, the alternative concepts
of freedom at the heart of the competing visions for California at the California Constitutional
Convention in 1878-1879.
2. Describe the status of women in twentieth-century California. What economic and political
gains have been made? What problems of inequality remain?
(Chapter 30, Question 2)
How does the textbook answer the question above? Also, discuss, from lecture, the following: The Civil
Rights Act of 1964, and “affirmative action” programs based on that act, did more for women than any
other single act of the twentieth century (including the 19th Amendment).
3. What have been the major trends in California education since World War II?
(Chapter 31, Question 2)
How does the textbook answer the question above? Also, discuss, from lecture, Propositions 187 and
209 in the 1990s.
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EXAM PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS
The midterm and final examinations are structurally identical and will be divided into three parts.
PART I is an extra credit section containing several very short answer questions (drawn from the
chronology tables supplied later in this syllabus). PARTS II & III will examine you on textbook and
lecture material. Please bring a green book to all exams!
Essay questions on PARTS II & III of the exams will be drawn from POTENTIAL ESSAY
QUESTIONS, accompanying each chapter of the textbook, California: An Interpretive History
(supplied at the end of this syllabus). So, by the time you complete reading each chapter of
textbook, you should be prepared to write an examination essay on each of the POTENTIAL
ESSAY QUESTIONS for that chapter (which are included in this syallbus).
FOR EXAMPLE: In PART II of the first midterm exam, I will choose, at random, TWO or THREE of
the POTENTIAL ESSAY QUESTIONS from chapters 1-6 in the textbook, California, and place those
questions on the exam (there are a total of 12 POTENTIAL ESSAY QUESTIONS in chapters 1-6). You
will then write an ESSAY on ONE of those three questions – the one question that you think you are
best able to answer.
On PART III of the first midterm exam, I will choose, at random, TWO or THREE of the POTENTIAL
ESSAY QUESTIONS from chapters 7-12 in the textbook, California, and place those questions on the
exam (there are a total of 11 POTENTIAL ESSAY QUESTIONS in chapters 7-12). You will then write
an ESSAY on ONE of those three questions – the one question that you think you are best able to
answer.
In PART II of the second midterm exam, I will choose, at random, TWO or THREE of the
POTENTIAL ESSAY QUESTIONS from chapters 13-16 in the textbook, California, and place those
questions on the exam (there are a total of 11 POTENTIAL ESSAY QUESTIONS in chapters 13-16).
You will then write an ESSAY on ONE of those three questions – the one question that you think you
are best able to answer.
On PART III of the second midterm exam, I will choose, at random, TWO or THREE of the
POTENTIAL ESSAY QUESTIONS from chapters 17-22 in the textbook, California, and place those
questions on the exam (there are a total of 10 POTENTIAL ESSAY QUESTIONS in chapters 18-22).
You will then write an ESSAY on ONE of those three questions – the one question that you think you
are best able to answer.
In PART II of the final exam, I will choose, at random, TWO or THREE of the POTENTIAL ESSAY
QUESTIONS from chapters 23-29 in the textbook, California, and place those questions on the exam
(there are a total of 15 POTENTIAL ESSAY QUESTIONS in chapters 25-30). You will then write an
ESSAY on ONE of those three questions – the one question that you think you are best able to answer.
On PART III of the final exam, I will choose, at random, TWO or THREE of the POTENTIAL ESSAY
QUESTIONS from chapters 30-36 in the textbook, California, and place those questions on the exam
(there are a total of 17 POTENTIAL ESSAY QUESTIONS in chapters 31-36). And, remember, you’ll
answer the one question that you think you are best able to answer.
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INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPOSING EXAM PREPARATION CARDS:
In order to assist you in writing your essays, during the Midterm and the Final examinations you may
use EXAM PREPARATION CARDS, if you take the time to create them. You may prepare an essay in
response to each of the POTENTIAL ESSAY QUESTIONS for California: An Interpretive History.
For example, on the FIRST MIDTERM EXAM, you may compose a total of 23 3x5 NOTE CARDS
(one for each POTENTIAL ESSAY QUESTION) for chapters 1-12 of California: An Interpretive
History.
During the examinations you may use (but are NOT required to create) EXAM PREPARATION
CARDS (on 3x5 notecards) to assist you in writing your essays. You may prepare notes to write an
essay in response to each of the "Potential Essay Questions" for each chapter of California: An
Interpretive History.
If you decide to prepare cards for Part II & III of the exams, your cards should conform to the
following rules:
On a 3x5 notecard, you may include:
1) NAME in the upper right hand corner - REQUIRED FOR ANY CARDS YOU CREATE
2) you may write out, longhand, the QUESTION from the "Potential Essay Questions" supplied
for the relevant chapter of California: An Interpretive History.
3) you may identify the BOOK and the CHAPTER number from which the question comes.
4) a THESIS STATEMENT for the essay you intend to write.
5) a FIVE POINT OUTLINE for the essay you intend to write.
In this outline, you may write a complete topic sentence. You may also include all the
factual information that you might include in the essay. That is, you may include dates,
names, events, movements, organizations, geographical locations, etc. You may include as
much of this sort of information as you can crowd onto the card. You may hand the card or
you may also type it.
With the exception of the thesis statement and the topic sentence for the outlines, however,
YOU MAY NOT WRITE COMPLETE SENTENCES ON THE CARD, AND YOU MAY NOT
COPY THE ESSAY ON TO YOUR CARD!
Remember! The cards are VOLUNTARY! You are not required to make them, but you will
almost certainly do better on the exams if you do make them. If you decide to make the cards and
use them on the exam, you must submit the cards you use for writing the exam essays with your
green book. Don’t forget to bring a green book to all exams!
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INSTRUCTIONS FOR WRITING FORMAL ESSAYS (PAY CAREFUL ATTENTION!!!!):
The textbook, California: An Interpretive History, as well as the lectures, films, and other class
materials are the subject matter for the 5 page formal essays assigned for this class.
Due Tuesday November 20
To prepare for this assignment, read the following essay questions and pick the one question that most
interests you. You should then read the textbook and review lectures and class materials for all the
information that might help you answer your question.
1. Imagine that you are a Kumeyaay Indian standing on the shore of a great bay, what European
settlers will later call, San Diego Bay, on the morning of May 14, 1769. Off in the distance, you
see a number of strange looking vessels coming into the bay (the first European settlers to the
region). Unlike your loved ones in the tribe, you have foreknowledge of the future. Explain to
them, in detail, what is going to happen in their homeland over the next 75-100 years, and then
suggest to them what you think might be the best strategy for dealing with those changes.
2. Imagine that you have an opportunity to sit down and have discussion with Juan Crespi, Junipero
Serra, and Gaspar de Portola about what they thought they were doing in late Eighteenth-century,
why they were doing it, and the resulting consequences for relationships among Spanish soldiers,
missionaries, and Indians. If you could talk to them about how future generations would view
their actions, what would you tell them. Why would future generations’ view of their actions
differ from their own?
3. Imagine that you can have a conversation with a Spanish missionary in one of California’s
Franciscan missions in California in 1810. Ask him to describe the daily lives of the people,
native and nonnative, who occupied the presidios, missions, ranchos, and pueblos. How do you
think he would he respond if you asked him WHY people lived the way they did at that time?
4. Write a work of historical fiction, a memoir of a Californio (male or female) who was born in
Spanish California in 1800, and lived in California throughout the Spanish and Mexican eras.
Drawing on the descriptions of the Californio period in the textbook, describe this individual’s
life – i.e., the major events, historical forces, ideas, attitudes, beliefs, ways of life, and social
customs that influenced this individual’s life and development.
5. Construct an imaginary discussion between four people – James Beckworth, John Bidwell, John
C. Fremont, and Pio Pico. What would a discussion between them be like if the topic was “what
were the various routes to California in the Nineteenth-century, and how and why did people
travel to California on those routes, and what were their experiences like?”
6. Imagine that you are a time-traveling oral historian, interested in the consequences of the
California Gold Rush. Interview four people, John A. Sutter, Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo, Louise
Clapp, and Biddy Mason. What would they tell you about the Gold Rush?
7. Construct an imaginary discussion between two people, Henry George and Carey McWilliams.
What would they say about their experience of California?
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8. Construct an imaginary discussion between four people – all of whom are individuals of color.
Assume that two of these individuals came to California in the second half of the Nineteenthcentury (1850-1900), and the other two came to California in the second half of the Twentiethcentury (1950-2000). The topic of their discussion is “what were the experiences of non-white
immigrants to California, and what factors most influenced their experience?”
9. Write a biography of a man or woman you know over the age of sixty (this person may be a
relative, a neighbor, a coworker, etc). Learn as much as you can about this person’s life before
writing. The best biographers not only focus on the individual they are writing about; they also
attempt to explain for the reader the times that individual lived through and how the times shaped
that person’s life (that is, the culture, the society, the politics, economics, major events, etc.).
Thus the title of your biography should be something like,
The Life and Times of _________ ______________.
If you decide to write on this last question, be careful, because it can be the trickiest. Writing a
good biography is tough, because it not only requires a good familiarity with the crucial events
of the subject’s life, but, more broadly, the major historical forces and events that shaped their
experiences. That is, you should be thoroughly familiar with the entire history of the country
during their lives – and you should precisely explain what major historical forces shaped your
subject’s life.
So, any biography written for this class should be richly supported with evidence from the
textbook, California: An Interpretive History. Essays that have little or no supporting evidence
from the textbook, and demonstrate little familiarity with it, will receive a failing grade,
You have wide creative latitude to decide how to construct your essays. But, be careful. In your essays
be SPECIFIC, be historically PRECISE, and be ACCURATE!
Essays that are general, imprecise, and vague will demonstrate a lack of serious application and will be
graded accordingly.
You may consult outside sources. BUT, ABOVE ALL, YOUR GRADE ON THIS ASSIGNMENT
WILL BE BASED ON HOW WELL YOU DEMONSTRATE A THOROUGH COMMAND OF
THE RELEVANT SUBJECT MATTER FOR THE QUESTION FROM THE TEXTBOOK AND
CLASS MATERIALS!
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ORGANIZATION AND MECHANICS OF FORMAL ESSAYS
1. Essays should be composed in the following manner:
approximately 5 pages, typed, double-spaced, 12 pt. font, 1" margins, with a title page, and
should include an introductory paragraph, a body, and a conclusion.
2. The introduction should provide just that – an introduction to the imaginary conversation. A good
introduction provides a thesis statement (a single sentence or a small number of sentences that decisively
state an argument or position that you will develop and demonstrate in your essay) and a brief statement
of the main points you intend to develop in your essay. Or, to put it another way, the introduction should
introduce the WHO? WHAT? WHERE? WHEN? factual elements of your essay. WHO are the main
figures in this story? WHAT is it about? WHERE does it take place? WHEN does it take place?
3. The body should be composed of several paragraphs that support your thesis and main points of your
essay. Above all, the body should provide hard EVIDENCE and EXAMPLES, drawn from the
California: An Interpretive History and class materials sufficient to prove your thesis.
In this sense, your creative essay should demonstrate thorough familiarity with the time period in
question. That is, you should read the relevant chapters in the textbook thoroughly and refer to
evidence from those chapters to support your essay.
More than any other single criteria, your work will be judged on the quality of your analysis of
precise and specific examples and evidence from the textbook and class materials!
So you should devote most of your time to assembling and intelligently examining evidence and
examples!
For the purposes of the essay you will be writing, the term "evidence" includes examples and major
ideas drawn from the textbook and class materials. Thus your essay should contain numerous quotations
drawn specifically from California: An Interpretive History, and your writing should carefully examine
the evidence and main ideas of the sources you will be reading.
While you may consult other sources for essay on your own, the essay you write must be supported
by evidence from the textbook and class materials. If your essay does not demonstrate command
of class material, no matter how much outside material you use, it will receive a failing grade!
4. The conclusion can be constructed in a variety of ways: it may be a brief summary of the main points
of your essay; it may also be a restatement of your thesis; but the best conclusion is one that
demonstrates the historical significance of the issue you are examining and your analysis of it.
When you read over your essay before submitting it, you should be sure that the WHO? WHAT?
WHERE? WHEN? and WHY? questions have been answered.
5. Quotations and evidence should be cited in the following style:
If you quote from the textbook:
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According to James Rawls, “the first objective of the whole expedition was the founding of a presidio
and a mission at San Diego as a way station for the journey to Monterey.” (California, p. 37)
If you quote from class materials:
Theodore Judah declared in 1858 that, “the Sierra Nevada mountains are a challenging obstacle to the
construction of a Railroad to California, but the are not an insurmountable obstacle.” (Film, The
Transcontinetal Railroad).
If you quote from lecture:
Economic depressions in the nineteenth century were gradually lasting longer, becoming more frequent
and more severe. (Graybill, 10-6-12)
If you quote from some other source, identify it more completely in a works cited page.
5. When you write about the past, use the simple past tense.
Avoid constructions such as the following:
“After the arrival of Anglo-Americans, the Californios would lose their status as the
preeminent social group in California.”
Substitute above with:
“After the arrival of Anglo-Americans, the Californios lost their status as the
preeminent social group in California.”
6. Avoid passive sentences (e.g. “mistakes were made”). Thus, avoid forms of the verb “to be”,
especially “was” and “were”. Use active verbs wherever possible (e.g. “Earl Warren made a mistake”).
Passive voice often obscures meaning, while the active makes responsibility clear.
For example:
Passive Voice Construction:
Early in the crisis, many alternative responses were considered (who is “considering”?)
Active Voice Construction:
Early in the crisis, the leaders of the movement considered several alternative responses
(responsibility is clear).
7. Write at least one rough draft, and then read it thoroughly to identify and correct weaknesses in
logic, style, spelling, grammar, and evidence.
REMEMBER!
YOUR GRADE ON THIS ASSIGNMENT WILL BE BASED ON HOW WELL YOU
DEMONSTRATE A COMMAND OF THE RELEVANT SUBJECT MATTER FROM THE
TEXTBOOK AND CLASS MATERIALS FOR THE QUESTION YOU CHOOSE TO ANSWER!
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Assistance on the Formal Essays from the Professor and the Writing Center
I encourage all students to come see me during my office hours to discuss your formal essays. If you are
having any difficulties at all, or if you simply need pointers about how to do the assignment, don’t
hesitate to come see me.
Moreover, the Writing Center will be available to help students over the summer in LR144, Mondays
and Thursdays, from 10 am to 3 pm. Students with writing assignments from any SCC summer course
can come in and sign up to work with a tutor. Writing tutoring will be available in the Writing Center
beginning June 13.
A WARNING ON PLAGIARISM!
Plagiarism is literary and intellectual thievery! It is the wholesale use of somebody else’s material, and an
attempt to pass it off as if it were your own, in a paper or an exam essay. The following are examples of the
criteria that will be used in this class to identify plagiarism:
1. The use of somebody else’s exact wording, whatever the material, without indicating the source and without
using quotation marks or other accepted typographical devises. Changing a few words here and there is not
sufficient to avoid plagiarism!
2. Reproducing the whole pattern of organization and points of view of a source without giving credit via
standard, in-text, written citation.
3. Reproducing facts, figures, or ideas in a pattern that originates with, and are the property of, a particular
source rather than a matter of information commonly available in many sources.
4. Collaborating with other students to the extent that two or more assignments are identical in wording, pattern
of organization, or points of view.
Your essays should be composed in your own words, though you may quote passages (with clearly
identified quotation marks) and cite facts and evidence from the textbook, lectures, videos, etc.
Plagiarism is a serious offense (and I treat it seriously); it can lead to dismissal from the college and
severe long-term implications for completing a college or university education in the United States.
ESSAYS WILL BE EVALUATED ACCORDING TO THE FOLLOWING CRITERIA:
1. Organization, logic, coherence (that is, introduction, thesis, body, conclusion, etc.).
2. Content (quantity and quality of evidence, level of analysis, level of command of subject matter).
3. Grammar, syntax, spelling.
The best essays will demonstrate command of the subject matter of the documents as well as
careful preparation and composition of the essay.
On the following page is an example of the grading criteria sheet that I will use to score your essay.
Use it to prepare for writing the formal essay and to understand the professor’s expectations for your
essay. If you use the grading criteria sheet to grade your essay, you’ll have a better idea of how to polish
it before you turn it in.
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California History
GRADING CRITERIA
Graybill
Student_____________________________________________________________
CONTENT:
60% of grade
Grade________________
<-WELL-DONE – NEEDS IMPROVEMENT->
Examples – abundant? adequate? scarce?
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Examples – detailed, specific, precise, accurate, relevant?
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Knowledge – demonstrate command of the historical context?
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Knowledge – clear understanding of cause & effect?
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Knowledge – identification of a clear chronology?
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Persuasion – does the essay directly answer the questions?
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Analysis/Description – critical analysis of subject matter?
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ORGANIZATION: 20% of grade
<-WELL-DONE – NEEDS IMPROVEMENT->
Introduction – who? where? what? when?
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Thesis – is a thesis present and historically accurate?
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Body – does the argument support the thesis?
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Body – clear organizational structure (chronological, thematic, etc.)?
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Conclusion – conclusion makes the historical significance
of the question clear (the “why”?)
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COMPOSITION: 20% of grade
<-WELL-DONE – NEEDS IMPROVEMENT->
Syntax/Grammar
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Clarity of Sentences
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Spelling/Textual Errors/Punctuation
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Is it clear essay conforms to syllabus instructions?
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Please come see me if you have any questions or would like additional help!
Prof. Graybill
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A WARNING ON PLAGIARISM!
Plagiarism is literary and intellectual thievery! It is the wholesale use of somebody else’s material, and an
attempt to pass it off as if it were your own, in a paper or an exam essay. The following are examples of the
criteria that will be used in this class to identify plagiarism:
1. The use of somebody else’s exact wording, whatever the material, without indicating the source and without
using quotation marks or other accepted typographical devises. Changing a few words here and there is not
sufficient to avoid plagiarism!
2. Borrowing the whole pattern of organization and points of view of a source without giving credit via standard
in-text written citation.
3. Borrowing facts, figures, or ideas that originated with and are the property of a particular source rather than a
matter of common information available in many sources.
4. Collaborating with other students to the extent that two or more assignments are identical in wording, pattern
of organization, or points of view.
Plagiarism is a serious offense (and I treat it seriously). It can lead to dismissal from the college and
severe long-term implications for completing a college or university education in the United States.
Select List of Major Topics and Themes Covered in this Course:
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1. California Prior to “the European Invasion”
2. The Societies and Cultures of Original Californians
3. The Evolution of California’s Natural Environment
4. Spanish Exploration and Settlement, from the 16th to the 19th Century
5. Mission Society and Culture in the 19th Century
6. “Californio” Society
7. Ibero-American and Anglo-American versions of the concept of “Race”
8. The “American” Conquest, 1845-1850
9. California’s Holocaust: The Extermination of Native Californians
10. The Gold Rush and the Railroad Era
11. The Evolution of Anti-Asian Prejudice in California
12. Labor/Business Conflict
13. The Origins and Achievements of California Progressivism
14. The Rise of Southern California
15. The Impact of the Great Depression
16. World War II and California
17. The Civil Rights Movement, the UFW, and the Hispanic Movement
18. The Turmoil of the 1960s
19. The Legacy of Proposition 13
20. The Evolution of Modern California Conservatism
21. The Evolution and Consequences of Immigration, 1965-2008
22. California’s Modern Multicultural Society
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Essay questions on PARTS II & III of the exams will be drawn from the list of POTENTIAL
ESSAY QUESTIONS below – for material from CALIFORNIA: AN INTERPRETIVE HISTORY.
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 1
1. Write an essay that 1) explains the major varieties of California geography and climate, 2) assesses the
interaction of geography and culture in California history.
2. Granting that both climate and geography have considerable influence on human culture, which one of
these two conditions do you consider to be the more important in California’s development? Why?
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 2
1. Write an essay that 1) assesses the significance of geographical isolation in the development of California
Indian culture, and, 2) explains to what extent were the food, population, and material culture of the
California Indians determined by the natural resources of the region?
2. Explain the similarities and differences among the various Indian "culture areas" of California.
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 3
1. Explain the motives that led the Spanish to explore and settle Alta California.
2. Write an essay that 1) describes the general purposes of Spanish Indian policy and how these purposes
were accomplished in California, and, 2) identifies and briefly explains the various viewpoints
concerning the impact of mission life on the Indians of California.
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 4
1. What were the reasons for the limited Spanish commitment to the development of Alta California?
2. Write an essay that 1) evaluates the impact of the Spanish missions on the California Indians, and, 2)
identifies and briefly explains the various responses of California Indians to Spanish missionization.
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 5
1. What was the nature of government and politics in Mexican California?
2. Explain the secularization of the California missions. What was the process employed, and what was
the outcome of secularization for the mission Indians?
3. Explain the political, economic, and social impact of the Mexican rancho system in California.
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 6
1. Write an essay that explains, 1) what brought the first United States citizens to California, 2) the
major economic activities of early United States settlers in California, and 3) the efforts made by some
United States (American) settlers in Mexican California to encourage further immigration from the
USA?
15
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 7
1. Write an essay that explains, 1) why the United States government took such a strong interest in
acquiring California during the 1830s and 1840s, 2) the specific actions taken by the Polk administration
to establish American control of California, 3) the course of the Mexican War in California, and, 4) the
impact of the war on California's Mexican population?
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 8
1. The authors of the textbook write that the gold rush “was a foundational event, not only for the
economic development of mid-nineteenth-century California, but for much of its political, social, and
cultural history as well.”
Write and essay that explains what evidence supports this statement
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 9
1. Explain the reasons for the confused legal and political status of California from the outbreak of the
Mexican War until the achievement of statehood.
2. Explain the impact of the major national political issues on California during the 1850s and 1860s.
3. What were the major reasons for the movement for state division during the 1850s?
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 10
1. Write an essay that analyzes the phenomenon of vigilance committee in California in the 1850s,
including, 1) the psychological, political, economic, and social factors which contributed to the
emergence of vigilantism in early American California, 2) the San Francisco Vigilance Committees of
1851 and 1856, its leaders and its activities, and, 3) the formation and actions of vigilance committees
outside of San Francisco.
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 11
1. Write an essay that explains the differences between the American and Mexican concepts of land title
in California. Explain the system of determining the validity of Mexican land titles after 1851. How
were the Mexican land grantees placed at a disadvantage? What was the final outcome of the process?
2. Write an essay that assesses the motives and rationalizations used to justify the oppression of racial
minorities in California during the 1850s and 1860s?
3. Write an essay that compares the nature of racial discrimination against Mexicans, Chinese, Indians,
and African Americans during the 1850s and 1860s. What forms did this discrimination take, and which
group suffered the worst kind of oppression? Explain.
16
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 12
1. What was the relationship between California's peculiar gold rush society and the flowering of
journalism and literature during the 1850s and the 1860s (in the works of such writers in early American
California as, Dame Shirley, Bret Harte, Mark Twain, Joaquin Miller, and Ina Coolbrith)?
2. Explain the early development of public and private education in California during the 1850s and
1860s.
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 13
1. Describe the nature of transportation in American California before the arrival of the railroad, and the
major financial and physical obstacles encountered in constructing the Central Pacific Railroad. Explain
the federal and state aid given to the Central Pacific Railroad. What was the nature of this support? How
was it justified?
2. Describe the critical role played by Chinese laborers in the building of the Central Pacific.
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 14
1. Explain the negative effects of the completion of the transcontinental railroad on California's
economy.
2. Trace the evolution of the Big Four's transportation and land monopolies in California. What were the
effects of the railroad's transportation and land monopolies on California society?
3. What effect did the Comstock silver booms have on California's economy, and how did the state’s
economy evolve in the 1860s and 1870s?
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 15
1. Write an essay that explains the reasons for California's political upheaval of the 1870s. Why did the
Workingmen's party emerge at this time?
2. Write an essay that assesses the causes of increased anti-Chinese sentiment in California during the
1870s, the anti-Chinese activities that resulted, the Chinese view of the discrimination they faced in
California during the 1870s and 1880s, and the actions they took to oppose this treatment.
3. Summarize the main provisions and consequences of the constitution of 1879.
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 16
1. What role did the state's geography, climate, and technological improvements play in the development
of the wheat, wine, and citrus industries in California?
2. Explain the factors which gave rise to the southern California real estate "booms" of the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
17
3. Explain the major controversies over California water use in the nineteenth century. What measures
were taken to resolve these controversies?
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 17
1. Write an essay that the literature and journalism and journalism of California in the late nineteenth
century. To what extent were these works protests against, or examples of, "oligarchy" in California?
2. Explain the development of higher education in California in the late nineteenth century, especially
the origins and early history of the University of California and Stanford University.
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 18
1. Write an essay that explains how the authors of the textbook (in chapter 18, “Politics in the Era of
Railroad Domination”) trace the influence of the Southern Pacific Railroad in California in the late
nineteenth century and the efforts of reformers to restrain the power of the railroad.
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 19
1. Analyze the struggle between “labor” and “capital” in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries. What were the fundamental sources of these conflicts? Who were the major figures? Where
did the most significant conflicts take place?
2. What were the unique California circumstances which gave rise to the pattern of alien, nonwhite,
migratory agricultural labor in the state?
3. Explain the goals and methods of the IWW in California. Why did the Wobblies meet with only
limited success? If you had been a migrant worker in the early twentieth century, would you have joined
the IWW? Why or why not?
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 20
1. Write an essay that compares and contrast the reform movements in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
What needed reforming in these cities and the state? How were these reform movements similar and in
what ways did they differ?
2. What were the origins and circumstances of the rise of the Lincoln-Roosevelt League and Hiram
Johnson?
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 21
1. What kind of people were progressives in California in the early twentieth century? What did they
have in common? What did they want to accomplish? What were the major reasons for the decline of
progressivism in California? And what are the principal consequences of that era in California today?
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 22
1. What’s the evidence that demonstrates that, as the authors write, “the forces of conservatism were
triumphant throughout the 1920s?”
18
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 23
1. The authors of the textbook claim that in the early twentieth century “the economic and political
center of California was shifting southward.” Explain.
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 24
1. Explain John Muir's philosophy of conservation. How did it differ from the approach of Theodore
Roosevelt and other conservationists of the progressive era?
2. Compare the Hetch Hetchy, Owens Valley, Colorado River Aqueduct, Boulder Canyon, and Central
Valley water projects. Who were these project's supporters and opponents, and what was the ultimate
impact of the ventures?
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 25
1. The Great Depression was the worst economic disaster to hit California (and the nation). Explain the
major events, figures and consequences of this episode in California history.
2. Explain the renewed struggle between laborers and employers in California during the 1930s. What
was caused this renewed combat, and what were its consequences?
3. Identify Upton Sinclair and explain his EPIC program. Why was he so popular in Depression-era
California and how was he defeated in the 1934 gubernatorial election? Who and what were the specific
groups that opposed his candidacy?
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 26
1. Analyze the following statement: “The cultural history of California during the early decades of the
twentieth century was distinguished by several writers of great scope and power. As a cultural region,
California was fast becoming one of the most dynamic and promising of any area in the United States.”
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 27
1. Assess the social and economic impact of massive federal spending in California during World War
II. Which industries ultimately became the most significant factors in the state's economic growth?
2. Based on information in this chapter, describe briefly the experiences of African Americans, Mexican
Americans, and Japanese Americans who served in the armed forces during World War II.
3. Explain the following about the "relocation" of Japanese Americans during World War II:
a. the long-range factors which led to the policy;
b. the groups and individuals who supported the policy;
c. the social and constitutional problems raised by the policy.
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 28
1. Why were Republicans were able to dominate California politics in the 1940s and 1950s?
19
2. Compare the gubernatorial terms of Earl Warren and Edmund G. "Pat" Brown. What were the
philosophies of each man, and what successes and failures did each experience?
3. Explain the background and philosophy of the John Birch Society. What impact did it have on state
and national politics during the 1960s?
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 29
1. Describe the main features of California agribusiness in the twentieth century. Analyze the tactics
used by the Associated Farmers to prevent farm worker organization during the 1930s, and then explain
whether Carey McWilliams's characterization of these methods as "farm fascism" is accurate.
2. Explain the history of the bracero program in California. How was it justified, and what effects did it
have on the wages and bargaining power of American farm workers?
3. What were the factors that contributed to successful unionization of California farm workers during
the 1960s and 1970s? Describe the roles played by Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta in this process.
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 30
1. Compare the twentieth-century socio-economic status of the following California minority groups:
American Indians, Asians, Mexican Americans, African Americans. To what extent have California's
major non-white ethnic groups been able to overcome racist attitudes and government policies in the
twentieth century? What problems of discrimination remain to be solved?
2. Describe the status of women in twentieth-century California. What economic and political gains have
been made? What problems of inequality remain?
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 31
1. What were the reasons for the decline in the growth rate of California's population at the end of the
1960s? And, explain the population shift toward southern California in the past three or four decades.
What caused the shift, and what have been its political effects?
2. What have been the major trends in California education since World War II?
3. Trace the rise and fall of radicalism in California during the 1960s. Who were the radicals, what
issues did they address, and why did the movement decline?
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 32
1. The authors of the textbook state that, “the essence of California’s artistic identity was rooted in the
state’s energizing sense of freedom from prior tradition and constraint.” And they also note that
“journalist Carey McWilliams once remarked that California culture was defined by its willingness to
abandon old ways and its quickness to embrace something new.”
Summarize the major trends in literature, music, painting, sculpture and architecture in northern and
southern California since World War II. How have local elements shaped the work of California artists?
20
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 33
1. What were the factors which contributed to Ronald Reagan's rise to the California governorship in
1966? Evaluate Reagan's two terms as governor of California. What political ideas did he bring to the
office, and how successful was he in securing the policies he advocated?
2. Trace the political career of Jerry Brown from 1969 to 1982. What philosophy did he bring to state
government, and what were his major accomplishments and failures as governor?
3. Explain the roots of California's "tax revolt" of the late 1970s. Summarize the major provisions of
Proposition 13 (1978) and explain its impact on California and the nation.
4. What were the major issues of the governorships of George Deukmejian, Pete Wilson, Gray Davis,
and Arnold Schwarzenegger? What has changed, politically, since the era of Ronald Reagan in the
1960s? What’s remained the same?
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 34
1. Explain the major struggles between the forces of environmental protection and economic
development in recent California history. What have been the gains and setbacks for both sides? How do
you respond to the notion raised in the textbook that "environmental protection and economic growth are
not mutually exclusive?"
2. Summarize the major environmental problems facing California in the coming decades. What are the
prospects that Californians will be able to deal with them successfully?
3. Describe briefly the California electricity energy crisis of the early 2000s. What caused the crisis?
How did the state respond? Who was harmed and who benefited from the crisis?
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 35
1. The authors of the textbook claim that “California’s economic growth in recent decades has been
phenomenal.” What stimulated this growth? How did it change California and its economy?
2. Explain the "paradox of a strong economy" noted in the textbook. What are the challenges for the
California economy in the twenty-first century?
ESSAY QUESTIONS – Chp 36
1. Summarize and explain the major issues confronting California in recent decades. What changes have
been implemented, and how effective have these changes been in reducing crime?
2. Describe the nature of California's diverse population in the early twenty-first century. What are the
state's major ethnic groups and their relative sizes? What are the major challenges facing these groups?
In your view, what is the likelihood of California meeting the “challenge of diversity” in the years
ahead?
Don’t forget to bring a green book to all exams!
21
The questions on PART I of the midterm and final exams
will be drawn from the following chronology tables.
CALIFORNIA CHRONOLOGY – FIRST MIDTERM
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20,000-10,000 BP (BP – Before Present) – Peoples of north-east Asia cross into North America,
begin populating American continents
15,000 BP – First human settlements in California
13,000 BP-8,000 BP – disappearance of large game animals in North and South America,
12,500 BP – Santa Barbara Channel Islands settled
10,000-500 BP – Native California Indian cultures develop
1510 – Las Sergas de Esplandian (Adventures of Esplandian), a romance novel published in
Spain 1510, by Garcia Ordonez de Montalvo, referred to a mythical land named,
“California”
1533 – First Spanish ships explore southern tip of Baja California
1535 – Hernando Cortes attempted, and failed, to plant a colony at La Paz, Baja California
1539 – Francisco de Ulloa explores the eastern and western coasts of Baja California
1540 – Antonio de Mendoza, Viceroy of New Spain, sends a sea expedition under Hernando de
Alarcon up the Gulf of California where they journey up the mouth of the Colorado River
and become the first Europeans to enter California
1542 – Portuguese-born sailor, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, working for the Spanish, is the first
European to explore California; discovers San Diego Bay, Catalina Islands, San Pedro,
Santa Monica, and the Santa Barbara Channel Islands
1579 – Sir Francis Drake lands north of San Francisco Bay, Drake’s Bay, claims the territory –
which he names Nova Albion – for England (though he missed San Francisco Bay
entirely)
1595 – Sebastian Rodriguez Cermeno, explores the California coast as far north as Drake’s Bay
(like Drake, Cermeno completely missed San Francisco Bay)
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1602 – Sebastian Vizcaino, Spaniard, explored the Alta California coast and Monterey Bay.
There would be no more major Spanish or other European explorations of the California
coast for the next 167 years!
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1765 – Jose de Galvez, Visitor General of New Spain, plans ambitious program for colonizing
Alta California
1769 – Spanish explorer, Gaspar de Portola (1723-86), leads expedition from Mexico to establish
settlements in Alta California; arrives in San Diego June 29; July 14, discovers Monterey
Bay; November 2, discovers San Francisco Bay
1769 – San Diego de Alcala – the first of 21 missions along a 650-mile trail, El Camino Real,
from San Diego to Sonoma – is established by Franciscan padres under the leadership of
Padre Junipero Serra
1775 – First major Indian rebellion against Europeans in California occurs at San Diego mission
1775 – American militiamen in Massachusetts fire the first shots of the American Revolution
1775 – De Anza expedition brings numerous new Spanish settlers to California
1776 – Presidio of San Francisco and Mission Dolores founded
1781 – Yuma Indian Uprising
1784 – Chumash Revolt against missions
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1812 – Russian fur traders establish Fort Ross, north of San Francisco
1820 – first ships from Boston begin to visit Spanish towns and Missions along the upper and
lower California coast. Barter for otter and beaver pelts, tallow, cow hides, and materials
used by the natives and settlers
1820s – American trappers and hunters began to drift into the State from the East – some new
arrivals assimilate into Californio culture, marrying daughters of wealthy Mexican
ranchers, and some acquire large land grants
1821 – Mexico wins independence from Spain; California becomes an isolated province of
Mexico
1821 – Russian trading post, Fort Ross, completed near Bodega Bay, enabling Russians to
further explore the northern California coast, as well as hunt for fur seals and sea otters
1824 – End of Chumash rebellion against missions
1826 – After brutal treatment by the Spanish, a group of angry Native Americans attack San
Rafael mission, looting and burning buildings and supplies
1826 – American trapper and explorer, Jedediah Strong Smith, leads a party of U.S. trappers into
California - first overland trip to California from U.S.
1831-1839 – Northern (norteno) and southern (surenos) Californios engage in a long conflict for
control of California province
1833 – Joseph Jeddeford Walker, and other U.S. fur trappers, make the first crossing of the
central Sierras into California from the U.S.
1839-40 – Johann Augustus Sutter acquires large land grant from Mexican authorities in the
Sacramento Valley, begins building Sutter’s Fort.
1846-47 – Donner Party attempts crossing of the Sierra in late October, 1846, becoming trapped,
at what would later be named Donner Lake, by early snows
1846 – The United States declares war on Mexico
1846 – “Bear Flag Revolt” in Sonoma proclaims “California Republic,” U.S. naval expedition
arrives in Monterey, U.S. Army expedition arrives in Southern California – California
completely conquered by U.S. forces by 1847
1848 – Mexico cedes California to the United States in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which
formally concludes the Mexican-American War
1848 – James Marshall discovers gold on the American River, in January 1848.
1849 – Gold Rush
1850 – California admitted into the Union as the 31st state, September 9, 1850
1850 – First Foreign Miners’ License Tax (aimed at Latinos)
1851 – Committee of Vigilance formed in San Francisco
1852 – Antonio Garra leads California revolt in San Diego
1852 – Second Foreign Miners License Tax (aimed at Chinese)
1856 – 1856 Committee of Vigilance in San Francisco
1856 – James King of William, editor of the Evening Bulletin, is shot and killed by James
Casey.
1858 – Sutro & Co. founded in San Francisco by Gustav, Charles, and Emil Sutro
1859 – David S. Terry, former Chief Justice of California Supreme Court, kills David C.
Broderick, United States Senator, in a duel
1859 – Comstock Lode, nation’s largest silver discovery, begins production.
1859 – Joshua A. Norton, proclaims himself “Emperor Norton,” in San Francisco on
September 17, 1859
23
CALIFORNIA CHRONOLOGY – SECOND MIDTERM
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1860 – California's famous mail courier service, the Pony Express, commences operation,
April 1860. Ceases operation just 18 months later, due to prohibitive costs, October 1861
1861-65 – U.S. Civil War
1862 – Congress passes Pacific Railroad Act
1864 – William Ralston launches the Bank of California
1868 – Brothers Charles, and M.H., de Young, launch The Daily Morning Chronicle in
San Francisco in 1868
1869 – May 10, 1869, Union Pacific and Central Pacific lines joined at Promontory Summit,
Utah, completing the Transcontinental Railroad – first westbound train arrives in
San Francisco on September 6
1870 – San Francisco becomes the tenth largest city in the United States
1871 – Anti-Chinese Riot in Los Angeles
1872-73 – Modoc War
1877 – Workingmen’s Party of California founded
1878-79 – Second state constitutional convention held
1879 – Henry George publishes Progress and Poverty
1880 – January 8, Emperor Norton dies – 10,000-30,000 people attend his funeral
1880 – George Hearst takes over publication of the San Francisco Examiner
1882 – Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act, barring all Chinese immigration to U.S.
1882 – Harrison Gray Otis becomes editor of The Los Angeles Daily Times
(later, The Los Angeles Times).
1883 - "Black Bart", gentleman bandit who has been robbing Wells Fargo stages throughout
northern California, turns out to be respectable bank clerk, Charles Bolton
1886 – U.S. Supreme Court issues Yick Wo v. Hopkins decision
1888 – First use of refrigerated railroad cars to transport California fruit to the East
1892 – Sierra Club founded – John Muir is elected group’s president
1899 – Los Angeles builds harbor at San Pedro
1901 – Waterfront workers strike all along the West Coast, particularly in San Francisco
1901 – Union Labor Party founded
1901 – Oil discovered along the Kern River
1905 – The San Francisco Chronicle publishes an inflamatory series which accuses Japanese
immigrants of debauching white women, deliberately undermining the school system,
and causing crime and poverty in California – the series inspires the founding of the
Japanese and Korean Exclusion League, with a membership of 80,000
1906 – San Francisco Earthquake and Fire devastates the city
1907 – “Gentlemen’s Agreement” limits immigration to the U.S. from Japan
1907 – Lincoln-Roosevelt League founded (a coalition of Republican progressives)
1907 – A combination of the San Francisco street railway strike in May, and evidence of
corruption in earthquake repair costs, leads to charges of corruption against the city’s
mayor, “Boss Abe Ruef” and almost all the city supervisors, initiating a political struggle
between local reform elements and the “political machine” that controlled the city
1909 – John Muir (1838-1914) launches movement to save the Hetch Hetchy Valley from
damming
1908-12 – Dr. Raymond G. Taylor helps create a temporary healthcare system, on behalf of the
24
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Los Angeles Board of Public Works, to care for the 10,000 workers on the Owens
Valley-Los Angeles Aqueduct project (forerunner of the first Health Maintenance
Organization – HMO)
1910 – Angel Island Immigration Station opened (served as the West Coast point of entry to the
United States for many immigrants, just as Ellis Island in New York was the East Coast
point of entry) – the immigration compound at Angel Island was initially built to enforce
the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
1910 – Los Angeles Times building bombed
1910 – Progressive reformers capture control of the state legislature
1910-11 – Industrial Workers of the World (IWW – “Wobblies”) conduct a “free speech fight”
in Fresno
1911 – Legislature enacts long list of progressive reforms (e.g. initiative, referendum, and recall)
1911 – October 10, public ratifies California Senate Constitutional Amendment 8 (granting
voting privileges to women)
1911 – Ishi (last “wild” Indian in California, last surviving member of the of Yahi, who were the
last surviving group of Yana people) emerged from the wild near Oroville
1912 – IWW conduct a “free speech fight” in San Diego
1912 – State survey shows that Japanese Americans in California own 12,726 acres of farmland
1913 – Webb Act, more popularly known as the “Alien Land Law,” passes legislature,
prohibiting "aliens ineligible to citizenship" (i.e., all Asian immigrants) from owning land
or property, but permits three-year leases – Ten other western states passed restrictive
land-ownership laws between 1913 and 1923
1913 – Owens Valley-Los Angeles Aqueduct opens
1913 – Congress approves damming Hetch Hetchy Valley
1913 – Wheatland Riot
1914 – World War I begins in Europe
1915 – Panama-Pacific International Exposition held in San Francisco (to commemorate the
opening of the Panama Canal)
1916 – Preparedness Day bombing in San Francisco
1917 – U.S. enters World War I
1918 – World War I ends
1919 – Legislature enacts Criminal Syndicalism Act (twenty states enacted such laws,
1917-1920, largely to suppress IWW)
1920 – ACLU founded
1920-21 – Major oil discoveries in Los Angeles Basin
1922 – Ozawa v. United States, U.S. Supreme Court reaffirms that Asian immigrants were not
eligible for naturalization
1924 – Congress finally confers citizenship on (some) Native Americans
1927 – Jazz Singer, first “talking” movie
25
CALIFORNIA CHRONOLOGY – FINAL EXAM
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1929 – Great Depression begins
1930 – U.S. Census demonstrates that Los Angeles is the nation’s fifth-largest city
1930 – Long Beach Earthquake; Alcatraz Federal Maximum Security Prison opens
1933 – Franklin D. Roosevelt launches New Deal
1934 – May 9, Longshoremen strike on West Coast, known as “West Coast Waterfront Strike”
1934 – July 5, "Bloody Thursday" riot in San Francisco
1934 – Upton Sinclair creates EPIC movement, runs for governor
1935 – Works Progress Administration (WPA) created
1936 – San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (at that time, the largest and most expensive public
works project in the country) opened on November 12, 1936
1937 – Golden Gate Bridge opened on May 27, 1937
1939 – World War II begins in Europe
1939 – John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath published
1940 – Construction on Shasta Dam (first dam in the Central Valley Project) begins
1941 – June 25, Franklin D. Roosevelt issues Executive Order 8802, banning racial
discrimination in businesses contracting with federal government
1941 – December 7, Japanese attack Pearl Harbor – U.S. enters World War II (during the war,
nearly $1 out of every $5 spent by the federal government, nationwide, is spent in
California)
1942 – February 19, FDR signs Executive Order 9066 – leads to incarceration of 110,000
Japanese Americans from the West Coast
1942 – Permanente Health Plan created in Oakland to serve Kaiser shipyard workers in the
Bay Area (forerunner of Kaiser Permanente, nation’s largest HMO by the end of the 20th
century)
1942 – Bracero Program established
1943 – The University of California is selected to manage the United States atomic bomb project
– the Manhattan Project – in Los Alamos, New Mexico (UC continued to manage the
United States’ principal nuclear weapons laboratories, Los Alamos and Livermore, for
decades thereafter)
1943 – “Zoot Suit” riots in Los Angeles
1943 – All-American Canal completed
1943 – Congress passes Magnuson Act, repealing the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
1944 – Port Chicago explosion and “mutiny”
1945 – June 26, United Nations Charter signed, and first UN convention held, in San Francisco.
1947 – HUAC investigations of Hollywood begins
1947 – First air pollution control district created in Los Angeles
1947 – State legislature passed legislation prohibiting segregation in public schools.
1948 – Oyama v. California, U.S. Supreme Court declared some provisions of California Alien
Land Laws violations of the Fourteenth Amendment to U.S. Constitution
1948 – State legislature repealed miscegenation laws
1950 – State legislature adopts loyalty oath for state employees
1951 – Stanford Research Park (embryo of Silicon Valley) opens
1952 – Sei Fuji v. California – California Supreme Court invalidates California Alien Land Laws
(1913 Webb Act)
1955 – Disneyland opens in Anaheim
1956 – Alan Ginsberg publishes Howl – in 1957, he and Lawrence Ferlinghetti (owner of City
Lights bookstore in California) are prosecuted, and acquitted, for obscenity
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1956 – National Interstate and Defense Highways Act passed by Congress (foundation for much
of California’s freeway system)
1958 – Dodgers and Giants relocate from New York to Los Angeles and San Francisco,
respectively – Major League Baseball first comes to California
1958 – Edmund G. “Pat” Brown elected governor
1959 – Introduction of the integrated circuit microprocessor made of silicon (“the chip”)
1959 – Legislature enacts Fair Employment Act and Unruh Civil Rights Act
1960 – Legislature enacts the nation’s first automobile anti-smog law.
1960 – State Master Plan for Higher Education adopted by legislature
1961 – Save San Francisco Bay founded
1962 – Max Rafferty elected State Superintendent for Public Instruction
1962 – National Farm Workers (later renamed, United Farm Workers) founded
1963 – Rumford Fair Housing Act passed by legislature (later repealed in 1964, in a public
referendum)
1964 – UC Berkeley Free Speech Movement
1965 - First combat troops sent to Vietnam
1965 – Watts Riot
1965 – UFW and Cesar Chavez launch Delano Grape strike
1965 – U.S. Immigration Act of 1965 abolishes race-baced immigration quotas
1965-1970 – Major anti-war demonstrations at California universities, especially UC Berkeley
1970 – U.S. Census confirms that California is the nation’s largest state by population
1966 – Ronald Reagan elected governor
1966 – Black Panther Party established in Oakland
1967 – “Summer of Love” in San Francisco (especially Haight-Ashbury)
1969 – Family Law Act passed by legislature (making California the first state in the Union to
allow true “no-fault” divorce)
1969 – Brandenburg v. Ohio, U.S. Supreme Court invalidates Criminal Syndicalism laws,
including the one enacted by California in 1919
1969 – first two nodes of what would become the ARPANET (and later the internet) were
interconnected between UCLA's School of Engineering and Applied Science in Los
Angeles and SRI International (Stanford Research Institute) in Menlo Park, California.
1969-71 – Occupation of Alcatraz Island by Indians of All Tribes, Inc.
1972 – Bay Area Rapid Transit System begins operation
1973-74 – Arab Oil Embargo triggers state energy crisis
1975 – Agricultural Labor Relations Act passed by legislature
1975 – Homosexuality decriminalized by legislature
1976 – Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, and found Apple, which begins operations from the garage of
Jobs’ parents’ home in Los Altos
1978 – Voters pass Proposition 13 (dramatically reducing property taxes)
1978 – Regents of University of California v. Allan Bakke – U.S. Supreme Court rejects racial
quota systems in state affirmative action programs
1978 – Dan White assassinates gay politician Harvey Milk and San Francisco Mayor George
Moscone – Diane Feinstein succeeds Moscone as Mayor of San Francisco
1980 – AIDS identified by Centers for Disease Control
1984 – Berkeley, California becomes the first city in the U.S. to adopt a program of domestic
partnership health benefits for city employees; West Hollywood is founded and becomes
the first U.S. city to elect a city council where a majority of the members are openly gay
or lesbian
1989 – October 17, 7.1 magnitude Earthquake hits Bay Area - The Loma Prieta Earthquake
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1991 – End of the Cold War leads to dramatic cuts in defense spending in California, which
produces a deep economic recession in the state
1992 – Los Angeles riots
1993-2000 – “Dot Com” boom
1993 – Congress approves North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
1994 – Northridge Earthquake
1994 – Voters pass Proposition 187 (to prohibit illegal aliens from using health care, public
education, and other social services – later overturned by federal courts)
1995 – O.J. Simpson Trial
1996 – Voters pass Proposition 209 (to prohibit state public institutions from considering race,
sex, or ethnicity, in admittance to state programs and institutions – thereby dismantling
state “affirmative action” programs)
2000 – U.S. Census demonstrates that California has no ethnic majority
2000-2001 – State energy crisis
2001 – “Dot Com” Crash
2001 – U.S. invades Afghanistan following September 11 terrorist attacks
2002 – Legislature grants registered domestic partners the same rights under state law as married
spouses
2003 – Governor Gray Davis recalled, Arnold Schwarzenegger elected governor
2003 – U.S. invades Iraq – California National Guard units periodically deployed to Iraq
2004 – Gavin Newsom, mayor San Francisco, issues marriage licenses during the summer of that
year, regardless of applicants’ gender, in violation of state law, precipitating court
challenges
2008 – May 15, In re Marriage Cases, California Supreme declares state's ban on same-sex
marriages
2008 – Proposition 8 – voters overturn California Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex
marriages, precipitating U.S. federal court challenges
2008-11 – Mortgage and Financial crisis leads to worst economic downturn in U.S.
(and California) since the Great Depression, causing a long-term state budget crisis
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Learning Outcomes and Objectives
Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to:
* identify, explain, and evaluate the major social, political, economic, and cultural developments in
California history;
* distinguish the difference between primary and secondary sources, demonstrate how each is used to
make historical claims, and critically analyze and assess historical evidence upon which different
explanations and interpretations of historical phenomena are founded;
* design, organize, and construct, orally and/or in writing, analytical historical compositions that
recognize and explain the complexity of historical phenomena;
* analyze California history and society in a comparative context and understand the historical
construction of differences and similarities among groups and regions (e.g. race, class, gender,
nationality, and ethnicity);
* demonstrate an understanding of the influence of synergistic global forces in California history and
evaluate their connections to local and international developments (e.g., European settlement, the US
conquest, industrialization, commercialization of agriculture, technological change, civil and human
rights struggles, environmental movements, ideological clashes over capitalism and state power, the
rise of multinational corporations, etc.);
* assess how contemporary California has been shaped by its historical development.
* appraise the role of California's diverse geography in its history;
* examine the origins of the California constitution, the constitutional revision in 1878, and Progressive
Era reforms, especially the nonpartisan ballot, as well as the initiative, referendum, and recall;
* identify the historical origins of California’s multicultural society and appraise the contributions of
different cultural groups to California's historical evolution.
WEEKLY SCHEDULE – READING, ASSIGNMENTS, EXAMINATIONS:
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Week 1 – August 27-31
Reading: California, chp. 1-2
Week 9 – October 22-26
Reading: California, chp. 19-20,
Week 2 – September 4-7
Reading: California, chp. 3-4
Week 10 – October 29-November 2
Reading: California, chp. 21-22
Week 3 – September 10-14
Reading: California, chp. 5-7
Week 11 – November 5-9
Reading: California, chp. 23-24
THURSDAY NOVEMBER 8
SECOND MIDTERM EXAM
Bring a green book!
Week 4 – September 17-21
Reading: California, chp. 8-10
Week 12 – November 12-16
Reading: California, chp. 25-26, 29
Week 5 – September 24-28
Reading: California, chp. 11-12
Week 13 – November 19-21
Reading: California, chp. 27-28, 30
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 27
FIRST MIDTERM EXAM
Bring a green book!
TUESDAY NOVEMBER 20
DOCUMENTARY PROBLEM DUE
November 22-23 Thanksgiving!
Week 6 – October 1-5
Reading: California, chp. 13-14
Week 14 – November 26-30
Reading: California, chp. 31-32
Week 7 – October 8-12
Reading: California, chp. 15-16
Week 15 – December 3-7
Reading: California, chp. 17-18
Week 8 – October 15-19
Reading: California, chp. 33-34
Week 16 – December 10-13
Reading: California, chp. 35-36
THURSDAY DECEMBER 20
FINAL EXAM 12:45-2:45 pm
Bring a green book!
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