California Historical Landmark Program - Negro Hill Cemetery, 13th Amendment Proclamation

California 175 - Early California Pioneers of Pan African Ancestry, both enslaved and free, were apart of the transition from Mexican Territory to California Statehood, September 1850.

1,918 US Colored Troops enlisted from California to help preserve the Union and end chattel slavery throughout America. The 13th Amendment to our US Constitution officially ended slavery yet official recognition for Pan African (hidden figures) who paid the price for us to be recognized as African Americans remains unfinished business..

Historical Landmarks are sites, buildings, features, or events that are of statewide significance and have anthropological, cultural, military, political, architectural, economic, scientific or technical, religious, experimental, or other value. Historical Landmarks are eligible for registration if they meet at least one of the following criteria:

1) Is the first, last, only, or most significant of its type in the state or within a large geographic region

2) Is associated with an individual or group having a profound influence on the history of California

3) Is a prototype of, or an outstanding example of, a period, style, architectural movement or construction or is one of the more notable works or the best surviving work in a region of a pioneer architect, designer or master builder

California’s Landmark Program began in the late 1800’s with the formation of the Landmarks Club and the California Historical Landmarks League. In 1931, the program became official when legislation charged the Department of Natural Resources—and later the California State Chamber of Commerce—with registering and marking buildings of historical interest or landmarks. The Chamber of Commerce then created a committee of prestigious historians, including DeWitt Hutchings and Lawrence Hill, to evaluate potential landmark sites.

In 1948, Governor Earl Warren created the California Historical Landmarks Advisory Committee to increase the integrity and credibility of the program. Finally, this committee was changed to the California Historical Resources Commission in 1974. Information about registered landmarks numbered 770 onward is kept in the California Register of Historical Resources authoritative guide. Landmarks numbered 669 and below were registered prior to establishing specific standards, and may be added to the California Register when criteria for evaluating the properties are adopted.

From Sutter’s Fort to Coloma along Historic Coloma Road people of Pan African Ancestry thrived (1840-1875) - Reclaiming the Past: Pan Africans along the American River Parkway is poised to come alive America 250 - Folsom Juneteenth.

Today, American Flags mark 36 grave markers at Negro Hill Cemetery for the Proclamation of the 13th Amendment to the Us Constitution by US Secretary of State William Henry Seward. The State of California ratified the 13th Amendment, December 19, 1865.

Reprinted - From Unknown Source
A California State Parks Multi-Million dollar research grant soon may share a more accurate story utilizing primary sources and modern government researcher standards.

The area of Negro Hill was first thought to be mined by Mormons in 1848 and was a thriving mining camp across the South Fork of the American River above Mormon Island.

In 1849, an African American man named Kelsey from Massachusetts and a Methodist minister, along with other African American miners, rediscovered the diggings.

Together, these men established a community African-American, European, Chinese, Spanish, Mexican, and Portuguese miners. Spaniards and Mexicans occupied the ground on the south side of the hill at the mouth of Spanish Ravine in 1849, while African Americans established the camps known as Little Negro Hill and Big Negro Hill.

As white miners flocked to the area, the town of Negro Hill developed, reaching a population of 1,200 by 1853. For a time, Negro Hill was one of the most culturally and ethnically diverse towns in California, nearly as diverse as San Francisco was.

In 1849 three white men from New England came to Negro Hill and established a store and boarding house called the Civil Usage House.

Charles Crocker and Dewitt Stanford joined the Negro Hill business community competing directly with the African American-established trade and businesses.

As state laws were passed in the 1850s limiting the rights of African Americans, the town began to lose its diversity as violence against African Americans began to increase.

Those buried from the Negro Hill region were reinterred at a site in the present-day Folsom Lake State Recreation Area at the Mormon Island Memorial Cemetery.

In 2014, 36 old grave markers were replaced with new, granite markers reflecting the authentic name for the Gold Rush Era Community.

California 175 - Reclaiming the Past: Early California Pan African Pioneers along the American River Parkway continues…