Category: San Jose

“By 1790 Afro-Latinos made up nearly 20 percent of California’s population. That means that one out of every five residents in California was known to be of African background!” (1)

Unlike the laws of British colonies, slaves in Spain’s Mexico could earn freedom and more easily be given or win freedom by slave owners or through court lawsuits. The result is that Mexico in time contained many Afro-Latinos who were free and had risen to be land owners, hold political positions, become soldiers, and skilled business owners. “Thus, long before the first successful English settlement in Jamestown, Virginia, Afro-Latinos had not only explored but resided in what is now the United States of America.” (1)

Afro-Latinos were a significant number among the settlers who came with the Anza expedition to settle California, including the father and grandparents of the future Mexican Governor of California, Pío Pico. (1) Five of the fourteen original families (San José founded by fourteen families plus one single man) who founded San José in 1777 were black or of black ancestry. (3)

Today, approximately 8% of the California population and 3% of San José’s population is black. (2, 4)

Sources:
1) Discovering early California Afro-Latino presence, book by Damany M. Fisher, 2010, pages 3, 6, 9, 13.
2) https://blackdemographics.com/states/california/, 2020.
3) https://www.paloaltoonline.com/news/2019/02/22/book-sheds-light-on-santa-clara-countys-black-pioneers, 2020.
4) https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/sanjosecitycalifornia/PST045218, 2020.

The Ohlone people were the Native Americans here before the colonizers. They consisted of approximately 40 groups of people, each with their own territory and chief, speaking approximately 12 different languages. They did not refer to themselves as one group or as the Ohlone. That name was given to them later to describe this group of tribes that had similar cultural and linguistic roots inhabiting the land encircling the San Francisco Bay, south through San José, and continuing to Point Sur, south of Monterey.

There were approximately 10,000 Ohlone people when the Spaniards arrived. The Ohlone group in what is now San Jose were the Thamien (sometimes known as Tamien or Tamyen).

Source: The Ohlone Way, book by Malcom Margolin, 1978, pages 1 to 3.

San Jose is tied for the second oldest incorporated city in what is now the state of California. Soon after becoming an independent territory from Mexico and while applying for statehood, Sacramento incorporated first on 2/27/1850 as a city of California. Second to incorporate were three cities: San Jose, San Diego, and Benicia on 3/27/1850. California officially became the 31st state of the United States of America soon afterwards on 9/9/1850.

Sources:
1) Clyde Arbuckle’s history of San José, book by Clyde Arbuckle, 1986, page 26.
2) https://localwiki.org/sac/History , 2019.
3) https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=23856 , 2019.