Author Archives: nancyleek

A pledge was drawn up in which every signer agreed to purchase a suitable outfit, and to rendezvous at Sapling Grove in what is now the state of Kansas, on the 9th of the following May, armed and equipped to … Continue reading →

On May 9, 1914, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation establishing the second Sunday in May as a day for honoring mothers and calling on government officials to display the flag to show “love and reverence for the mothers of … Continue reading →

If you are a history buff, if you’ve wondered what it would be like to be a pioneer, if you want to trace the trail that brought your great-grandpa to California, then you will enjoy the videos produced by the … Continue reading →

California was admitted to the Union in 1850 as a free state. Nevertheless, slaves were brought to California by slave-owning southerners both before and after statehood, and the slave owners usually got away with it. Slaves made the effort to … Continue reading →

I’ve been reading Delilah Beasley’s classic work on African-Americans in California, The Negro Trail Blazers of California, published in 1919. Ms. Beasley spent years researching the stories of blacks in California. I got the book from the public library, but … Continue reading →

In his autobiography written for the Society of California Pioneers, Titus Hale has one more good story to tell: I passed through the so-called trying times without any great amount of trouble or anxiety, and it was not till 1899 … Continue reading →