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Collection: Directories and Documents > Pamphlets
The Negro in California Before 1890 (PH 10-1)(1945) (55 pages)
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Page: of 55
large number of Negroes and ordered the official responsible to
take better care of them.
Hittell, writing on slavery in the California of 1825, bemoans
the fact that California “suffered from the curse of being treated as
a sort of colony for convicts,” but suggests that, “it was
comparatively free from the curse of African slavery.” Explaining
the reason for this, he further states, “This was not because the
people were opposed to slavery; but because there was no use for
African slaves. There being no market for them, very few were
brought to this country.”'° Thus without hazarding a number, he
concedes that there were some Negro slaves in the region.
When the Spaniards first instituted their colonies in the New
World in the early 16th century, they used the labor resources at
hand to help them gather the fat of the land. Sir Arthur Helps in
his Slavery In The Spanish Colonies, quoting Herrera, tells of the
wish of the Spanish King, for the liberation of the Indians. “—the
colonist had told him [the King] that if license were given to
import a dozen Negro slaves each, they [the colonists] would then
set free the Indians—.”'! This plan was carried out and it would
seem that there must have been a considerable number of Negro
slaves in California under the Spanish regime.
The attitude of the King of Spain toward Negro slaves was
humane, making laws to insure humane treatment; providing steps
by which they could gain their freedom by purchase; or be
transferred to another master if their own were cruel to them. A
law was passed to protect the children born of Spaniards and
Negro slave women; and it is interesting to note that Spanish
masters married the slave mothers of their children.
By the 18th century, due to the practice of the Spaniards to be
lax in their hold on their slaves and their recognition of them as
men and women, though black, the Negroes had become an
integral part of the established Spanish communities. They had in
other instances availed themselves of freedom by running away
and migrating to those regions beyond the sphere of Spanish
authority—evidently being the first alien groups to set foot in
many regions as Estevanico had done in Arizona and New Mexico,
as we shall see later.
Father Junipero Serra and twenty-three friars landed at
Monterey, May 21, 1771, and founded the Mission of San Carlos
and celebrated the feast of Corpus Christi. “The first burial,” says
Bancroft, “was on the day of the founding, June 3, when Alezo
Nuno, one of the San Antonio’s crew, the ship which brought
Father Serra, was buried at the foot of the cross.“'* Quoting from
Palou’s Noticias on the occasion, Bancroft continues, “The first
324.