Hurry Freedom: African Americans in Gold Rush California

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Overview

Here for the first time in a book for young readers is the story of the African American forty-niners who went west to seek fortunes and
freedom in the California Gold Rush.

Among the thousands drawn west by the California Gold Rush were many African Americans. Some were free men and women in search of opportunity; others were slaves ...
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Overview

Here for the first time in a book for young readers is the story of the African American forty-niners who went west to seek fortunes and
freedom in the California Gold Rush.

Among the thousands drawn west by the California Gold Rush were many African Americans. Some were free men and women in search of opportunity; others were slaves brought from the slave states of the South. Some found freedom and wealth in the gold fields and growing cities of California, but all faced the deeply entrenched prejudices of the era.

To tell this story Hurry Freedom! focuses on the life of Mifflin Gibbs, who arrived in San Francisco in 1850 and established a successful boot and shoe business. But Gibbs's story is more than one of business and personal success: With other African American San Franciscans, he led a campaign to obtain equal legal and civil rights for Blacks in California.

Recounts the history of African Americans in California during the Gold Rush while focusing on the life and work of Mifflin Gibbs.

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Editorial Reviews

From The Critics
In the heart of Gold Rush, California, African-American entrepreneur Mifflin Gibbs established a successful commercial business. In this biography, we experience through Gibbs' eyes this struggle to succeed in an area known to have been prejudiced against African-Americans, and, along the way, see in vivid detail elements of Gibbs' day-to-day life. We accompany him in his interactions, from employers to fellow merchants to those he helped through his philanthropy and his role in promoting civil rights. Gibbs' story—-he went on to earn a law degree and be elected as a City Judge in Little Rock, Arkansas and serve as a United States Ambassador to Madagascar—-is well-told. With rich narrative and historical photographs and illustrations, the author paints a portrait of the Gold Rush Era, of race and relations during the latter half of the 19th century, and especially of Gibbs, whose frustrations and triumphs will touch all whom read about his life and times. Genre: Biography. 2000, Crown Publishers, 86 pp., $18.95. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Kristen Sternberg; DeLand, Florida
Children's Literature
The plight of African-Americans during the gold rush years is recounted through the personal experiences of Mifflin Gibbs and Peter Lester. Prejudice was rampant and life was not easy. These two men persevered and were able to succeed where many had failed. Their efforts included support for the Underground Railroad and behind the scenes lobbying to make life better for African-Americans in California. Photographs are sprinkled throughout, which further personalizes the experience for readers. It is a moving story of a minority's struggle for equality and is ably told. 2000, Crown, $18.95. Ages 12 up. Reviewer:Marilyn Courtot
School Library Journal
Gr 6-8-More than just a look at life in Gold Rush California, Stanley's brief, fascinating account provides a microcosmic look at the early African-American experience that will most likely have a profound effect on readers. Lured by possible riches and most importantly, opportunity, blacks migrated to California. Unfortunately, the arduous journey across the Oregon and Gila Trails did not affect their position in society. Despite an overwhelmingly racist atmosphere, a few African Americans managed to eke out livings and prevail against injustice. Stanley draws upon the personal experiences of two little-known figures, Mifflin Gibbs and Peter Lester, to exemplify the experience. This narrative choice lends the book a biographical feel rendering it highly readable. Both Gibbs and Lester ultimately succeeded through extremely hard work; as prosperous businessmen they used their shop as a station on the Underground Railroad and furtively lobbied to pass bills that would improve black Californians' lives. Good-quality, archival photos fill the pages. Some of them portray blacks and whites working side by side, others exemplify the time and culture discussed throughout the book. As the title suggests, the focus remains on African Americans, yet Stanley does note that Asian Americans and other minority groups also endured mistreatment at this time. A fine addition.-Laura Glaser, Euless Junior High School, TX Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780517800942
  • Publisher: Crown Books for Young Readers
  • Publication date: 10/24/2000
  • Edition description: 1 ED
  • Pages: 96
  • Age range: 14 - 16 Years
  • Lexile: 1090L (what's this?)
  • Product dimensions: 8.35 (w) x 9.57 (h) x 0.52 (d)

Customer Reviews

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Sort by: Showing all of 2 Customer Reviews
  • Posted May 16, 2011

    Recommended

    The book Hurry Freedom by Jerry Stanley is great for working with 6th to 12 grade students. This book would fall under the Informational Books genre and would be especially interesting for history students that are going over controversial issues such as slavery. This book has received the Orbis Pictus Award for Outstanding Nonfiction. The book speaks about African American forty-niners life and how they were involved during the Gold Rush in California. The author touches deep and well into every detail and characteristic of their life. He speaks volumes about how African Americans were treated, what their expectations were and how they dealt with by their owners. Students can learn that African Americans came to California during the Gold Rush and some became very wealthy after collecting large amounts of gold. It was with this money that most of them would buy their relatives and themselves out of slavery. The book touches on the Underground Railroad, Mifflin Gibbs, Peter Lester, and how a campaign was led to gain equal civil rights for African Americans in California. The book is wonderful it has photographs which allow the reader or students to really go back in time and see what it was like back then.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 16, 2000

    GREAT BOOK! Buy it for yourself.

    If you have a young adult at home, buy this book! Better yet, buy it for yourself, and let the young adult read it when you've finished it. One of only five books nominated for the 2000 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, 'Hurry Freedom' is a great and informative read for everyone, adult or child. The subject is the plight of African Americans in the West¿California in particular¿during and after the 1849 gold rush. Focusing primarily upon the extremely interesting life and experiences of Mifflin Gibbs, in the `40s an acquaintance and sometimes speaking partner of Frederick Douglass, Jerry Stanley tells in some detail of the fate of those few African Americans venturing¿willingly or unwillingly¿into California at the end of that decade. To those of us raised a century and a half after the fact, and especially to us raised in the West, California of the 1840s and 1850s conjures up images of ¿tolerance,¿ ¿freedom,¿ and even ¿abolition.¿ The experiences of Mifflin Gibbs and his contemporaries show what misconceptions these images really are. Instead of ¿tolerance,¿ we read of bigotry as deep as that found in the slave states. ¿Freedom¿ is precarious, even for those born free, such as Gibbs; for others, it is often gained only through a California counterpart to the Underground Railroad. ¿Abolition¿ proves to be more an unattainable concept than a reality, as California¿legally a ¿free¿ state¿again and again refuses to ¿grant¿ any of the fundamental rights of citizenship to its resident, and economically productive, African American population throughout the 1850s. Finally, frustrated by the repeated insults and lack of corrective action on the part of the California legislature, Gibbs and more than two hundred others¿twenty percent of California¿s black population and fifty percent of San Francisco¿s¿emigrated to Canada, where attitudes about tolerance and freedom were a bit more enlightened, and definitely legislated. As a postscript, Stanley notes that Gibbs eventually returned to the United States in 1869, eventually being admitted to the bar, serving as a City Judge and Arkansas Registrar of Lands, and being appointed United States Ambassador to Madegascar. Jerry Stanley is a master writer and storyteller, and ¿Hurry Freedom¿ contains some of his best work to date, told in an appropriate¿but not condescending¿style for young adults. Indeed, as noted above, this book makes interesting adult reading. And the situation of African Americans in antebellum California is Stanley¿s area of expertise (his academic research since his postgraduate days has dealt with this very area), one he covers in this case with well-written prose and an abundance of fascinating photographs. Like ¿Children of the Dust Bowl,¿ ¿Big Annie of Calumet,¿ ¿I Am an American,¿ and ¿Digger¿¿his prior works, frequent book award winners and nominees, and all available on this site¿¿Hurry Freedom¿ is a well constructed expression of Stanley¿s knowledge and love of his topic.

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