Category: Law and Politics

Stories about government and power in California

Sylvia Mendez Helps End Separate Schools for “Mexicans”

photo of Sylvia Mendez, smiling in white jacket wearing medal around neck.

Sylvia Mendez Helps End Separate Schools for “Mexicans”

Segregation is prohibited in California schools when a federal judge agrees with Gonzalo and Felicita Mendez that their daughter, Sylvia, was unfairly denied enrollment at…

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15 Million Peanuts and a Moralizing Elephant

Three miners near a stream, outside a small wood cabin, with two donkeys and a large elephant that no one is looking at.

15 Million Peanuts and a Moralizing Elephant

Published by George Deukmejian

When President James K. Polk receives news that his emissary has signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2, 1848, it’s doubtful he imagines…

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Laura de Force Gordon Speaks

Laura De Force Gordon as a young woman with long hair pulled back, and a serious, searching look.

Laura de Force Gordon Speaks

Published by Greg Lucas

Laura de Force Gordon gives the first speech on suffrage in California at San Francisco’s Platt Hall on February 19, 1868. Her topic is “The…

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First Semiautomatic Weapons Ban OK’d After the Death of Five Stockton School Children

First Semiautomatic Weapons Ban OK’d After the Death of Five Stockton School Children

Published by Greg Lucas

Using a Chinese-made Type 56 semi-automatic rifle, 24-year-old Patrick Edward Purdy kills five children and wounds 29 other students and a teacher when he opens…

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Marin County Gets a National Monument

dirt road shaded by tall redwood trees on both sides

Marin County Gets a National Monument

Published by Greg Lucas

President Teddy Roosevelt issues the proclamation creating 295-acre Muir Woods National Monument, 12 miles north of San Francisco in Marin County. Muir Woods is the…

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Wyatt Earp Dies in Los Angeles

Photo portrait of Wyatt Earp as a young man with small mustache and slight beard. Serious look on his face.

Wyatt Earp Dies in Los Angeles

Published by Greg Lucas

Nearly 50 years after the 30-second “O.K. Corral” gunfight on October 26, 1881, Tombstone Arizona’s most famous lawman cashes in. He’s 80. One year after…

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The First Transcontinental Railroad Breaks Ground

Portrait of Leland Stanford in middle age. Bearded with bow tie and three piece suit.

The First Transcontinental Railroad Breaks Ground

Published by Greg Lucas

On a chilly, wet January 8, 1863, invited dignitaries and passers-by gather at K and Front Streets in what’s now Old Sacramento to watch the…

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Adios, Yerba Buena

People and modest houses on the edge of the bay, with sail boats in the background.

Adios, Yerba Buena

Published by Greg Lucas

After 11 years, seven months and five days, the town of Yerba Buena on the northeastern corner of the San Francisco Peninsula is no more.…

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Public Land Commission Begins Deliberations

Old, yellowed map with curly lines marking off land grants. Text says" Sierra del Toro, Arroyo del Toro. Other words have faded. Hand drawn compass indicating directions in Spanish.

Public Land Commission Begins Deliberations

Published by Greg Lucas

The three-person federal Public Land Commission is charged with determining the validity of Spanish and Mexican land grants in California. The 1851 legislation creating the…

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An Arrest Seen Around the World

The first page of the Los Angeles Police Department report on the preliminary investigation of the Rodney King arrest. Source [FBI - https://vault.fbi.gov/rodney-king/rodney-king-part-24-of-24/view]

An Arrest Seen Around the World

Published by Greg Lucas

Rodney Glen King spends the evening of March 2, 1991, watching a basketball game and drinking 40-ounce bottles of Olde English 800 at a friend’s…

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