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Legacy of Racial Hatred - Historic Gold Mining Town Negro Bar
The 1849 Gold Mining Townsite of Negro Bar is being told utilizing the racial hatred values and beliefs still alive and well. 2020 the California State Governor and Executive Officers are requested to weigh in and provide staff direction.
14th Dec 2011
David Mastry, I have lived in the Folsom, Calif area since 1977 steadily since Dec. 1985.
My father was a docent at the Folsom Historical Museum on Sutter Street, Folsom, Calif. from 1979 to 1997.
I noticed in an online article that you were the contributing source that claims the, now abandoned and submerged town of 'Nigger Bar' is under Folsom Lake.
In actuality it is under Lake Natoma, a few miles downstream.
The present day town of Folsom was partially within the geographical/political boundary of "Nigger Bar" and is in fact cited as being formerly known as 'Nigger Bar" in many historical accounts.
The Calif. State Park that is on the river banks opposite the present town of Folsoms' historical district and which was entirely within the political boundary of unincorporated Orangevale until most recently is know today as 'Negro Bar State Park' and has been since 1972, prior to that, i.e. from 1849-50 to 1972 the abandoned and mostly underwater ruins of the the original town site and the Calif.
State Park were known as 'Nigger Bar' and locals of the area that are for the most part 50 years of age and older still call it 'Nigger Bar'.
But, out of only a sense of matter of historical fact and for the fact it was nor had ever been called anything other than that.
David Mastry, I have lived in the Folsom, Calif area since 1977 steadily since Dec. 1985.
My father was a docent at the Folsom Historical Museum on Sutter Street, Folsom, Calif. from 1979 to 1997.
I noticed in an online article that you were the contributing source that claims the, now abandoned and submerged town of 'Nigger Bar' is under Folsom Lake.
In actuality it is under Lake Natoma, a few miles downstream.
The present day town of Folsom was partially within the geographical/political boundary of "Nigger Bar" and is in fact cited as being formerly known as 'Nigger Bar" in many historical accounts.
The Calif. State Park that is on the river banks opposite the present town of Folsoms' historical district and which was entirely within the political boundary of unincorporated Orangevale until most recently is know today as 'Negro Bar State Park' and has been since 1972, prior to that, i.e. from 1849-50 to 1972 the abandoned and mostly underwater ruins of the the original town site and the Calif.
State Park were known as 'Nigger Bar' and locals of the area that are for the most part 50 years of age and older still call it 'Nigger Bar'.
But, out of only a sense of matter of historical fact and for the fact it was nor had ever been called anything other than that.
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I’m in my late 60s, and I grew up in the area. I’ve always called it Negro Bar, because that’s what my parents told me it was. I’ve also wondered why they don’t change the name as I’ve felt that name feels racist.
Not every white person who’s over a certain age is a racist. I was raised by parents who believed in treating everyone with respect. Just saying.
I moved to Folsom from Costa Mesa in 1990 and I was shocked when I first saw the sign off of Greenback that said "Negro Bar." When I mentioned it to a Local, they told me I was lucky because the sign used to read "Nigger Bar." Needless to say, I started to question the wisdom of my moving here. It was disturbing to realize how different the area was from Southern California.
I have lived in Folsom since 1995, so twenty-five years now.
I'm 63, I know dozens of friends who are well over 50, and are natives or have lived in Folsom most of their lives.
Until I read your article, I had never, not ever, not even one time heard or read of Negro Bar being called anything other than Negro Bar.
I'm sure of course that in the 1800s, especially prior to the Civil War, the Negroes here, like anywhere in the US, were probably most commonly called Niggers.
And, so what if they were? That was over 170 years ago. People with depression were called crazy and given electric shocks and lobotomized. Bankrupt people were locked away in prisons. Women could not vote, or much of anything else then. If your horse broke it's leg on Main Street, you shot it in the head and it was hauled away for you.
None of these things are going on now, just the same as nobody in current day Folsom says "Nigger Bar". If they did, I would have heard it in the past 25 years in clubs, bars, social circles, neighborhoods or somewhere.
Not sure what bee got under your bonnet, but I don't see the relevance of your story. Yes, everyone knows the language that was used for black people back in the past. But it isn't alive now except when brought up in a historical context as a fact of the past. And apparently in your circle of acquaintances too.
Well, life goes on and forward. Set your eyes ahead not behind, and let history live in the past.
I'm 63, I know dozens of friends who are well over 50, and are natives or have lived in Folsom most of their lives.
Until I read your article, I had never, not ever, not even one time heard or read of Negro Bar being called anything other than Negro Bar.
I'm sure of course that in the 1800s, especially prior to the Civil War, the Negroes here, like anywhere in the US, were probably most commonly called Niggers.
And, so what if they were? That was over 170 years ago. People with depression were called crazy and given electric shocks and lobotomized. Bankrupt people were locked away in prisons. Women could not vote, or much of anything else then. If your horse broke it's leg on Main Street, you shot it in the head and it was hauled away for you.
None of these things are going on now, just the same as nobody in current day Folsom says "Nigger Bar". If they did, I would have heard it in the past 25 years in clubs, bars, social circles, neighborhoods or somewhere.
Not sure what bee got under your bonnet, but I don't see the relevance of your story. Yes, everyone knows the language that was used for black people back in the past. But it isn't alive now except when brought up in a historical context as a fact of the past. And apparently in your circle of acquaintances too.
Well, life goes on and forward. Set your eyes ahead not behind, and let history live in the past.
I searched the online newspaper archive (CDNC.ucr.edu) and only found references to the offensive name in papers between 1880 and 1913. That was a time of particularly vicious racism in our country. But while Gold Rush / pre-Civil War California was as dangerous and unwelcoming for people of color as anywhere else in the country, the townsite was named Negro Bar and universally referred to as such (in print). This name should be no more shocking than say the UNCF. It's a legacy of a place and a time, and reminds us of who founded a community that, through a couple three transformations, became Folsom.
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