(ThyBlackMan.com) California is named after Queen Califia who battled Hernan Cortes in the Spanish quest for the riches of this amazing land, in in 1535, her story on the mural in the largest room in the California State Capitol, the historic California Room.
During the Age of Sail, the Gold Rush brought people of African descent to the wealthiest part of the Gold Mining District, high above the confluence of the North and South Fork of the American River Basin to establish a Black 
Agriculture economy, many had excellent experience farming, just escaping “previous condition of servitude” in the deep south.
Agriculture economy, many had excellent experience farming, just escaping “previous condition of servitude” in the deep south.William Alexander Leidesdorff, Jr., “the African Founding Father of California” owned 35,500 acres along the American River that included the town of Negro Bar and as the first U.S. Diplomat of African descent, financed economic expansion up steam from his property.
Downstream, 25 miles away near the California State Capitol in Sacramento, in the basement of the home of Daniel and Henrietta Blue, the first Black Church west of the Mississippi River today’s St. Andrews AME Church was followed the early Methodist tradition of Negro Hill.
The first California Governor Peter Burnett, in his inaugural speech proposed to export all people of African descent out of the State of California, “they will forever be a scourge upon our society.”
The values and beliefs of “white supremacy” remains an essential component of the California story and the reason 36 grave markers continue to read, Unknown, moved from Nigger Hill Cemetery, by U.S. Government in 1954.
The golden legacy of the financial hub of the Gold Mining District of Negro Hill, California 1848 – 1863 surpassed the size and scope of any town in the region is success story to share this United Nations International Year for People of African Descent.
During the U.S. Civil War, Negro Hill was redistricted into the boundaries of El Dorado County, or the Gold County in the Spanish language, something to consider in the coming U.S. redistricting effort of 2012.
For over 300 year’s California was part of the Spanish colony, apart of the vast Alta California, including legal slavery under religious and military authority of the Spain authority in Cuba.
The gold from Negro Hill, CA supplied vast amounts of ventue capital that helped finance the Underground Railroad throughout the United States of America and the African diaspora.
California Black pioneers created a new generation of Black Abolitionist in the tradition of David Walker, Fredrick Douglass and most importantly Mammy Pleasant, “the Mother of Civil Rights in California” who personally travelled back to the deep south in 1857 to 1859 before returning back to California during the U.S. Civil War.
Today, the golden legacy of Black in Gold Rush California is an open secret best understood by 36 grave markers, Unknown, moved from Nigger Hill Cemetery, by U.S. Government in 1954.
A new generation of Black Agriculturalists will restore the tradition of New Farmers in America, in region of Historic Negro Hill, California near the confluence of the North and South Fork of the American River Basin.
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Michael Harris, Project Director