Where you can learn more about black history in California

A cemetery on a country road near Sacramento features three rows of granite headstones with the same inscription: “Unknown, moved from Negro Hill Cemetery by US Government – ​​1954.”

The graves contain the remains of 36 settlers from Negro Hill, one of the largest communities of black miners that emerged during the Gold Rush. In 1853, the settlement, along the American River about 25 miles northeast of downtown Sacramento, had a population of 1,200 people and had a boarding house and several stores, according to El Dorado County. supervises the cemetery.

But much more about the community’s history has been forgotten. That’s because the site where Negro Hill once stood is now deep beneath Folsom Lake, flooded and destroyed when the reservoir was built in the 1950s, and because black history has not been reflected in state parks and other historic sites in California, said Susan. D. Anderson, the history curator of the California African American Museum in Los Angeles.

“The entire black history that is woven through all of these sites has never been expressed or interpreted,” Anderson told me. “We’re going to tell all those stories.”

Anderson is working with the state on a $15 million initiative that will improve research and public education about Black history at more than two dozen California state parks. The project will delve into Negro Hill and other nearby Black Gold Rush settlements, including the Black Miners Bar (which the parks department recently renamed) that lie within the Folsom Lake State Recreation Area and the Marshall Gold Discovery State Historical Park in Coloma, where shiny spots were first found in 1848. The Gold Rush brought 10,000 black miners to the Sierra foothills, according to the state parks department.

While many of these sites will soon be upgraded, there is still much to learn about important sites for Black history in California. Here are some recommendations:

Visit California’s first planned black community

Allensworth, in the southern San Joaquin Valley, was founded in 1908 as a city to be financed and governed entirely by African Americans. The man it is named after, Allen Allensworth, was born into slavery in Kentucky in 1842 and retired to Los Angeles after fighting in the Civil War. He earned a doctorate in theology and became the first African American to reach the rank of lieutenant colonel in the US. Army. Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park preserves its dream and visitors can see restored and reconstructed buildings from the city.

See a tribute to the ‘Godmother of Black Los Angeles’

There is a mini park in downtown Los Angeles that honors Biddy Mason, a black woman born into slavery who became one of the city’s first prominent citizens and landowners beginning in the 1850s. The Los Angeles Times said they had a “living legend” at the time, who helped found the first black church in Los Angeles and the first elementary school for black children.

Learn about some of San Diego’s first black residents

In the 1840s, in what is now San Diego – then part of Mexico – two black men were prominent members of the community and ran a saloon and dry goods store. Visitors from Historic State Park of Old Town San Diego can see a modern reconstruction of the house that Richard Freeman and Allen Light shared. Read more from the San Diego Historical Society about how their remarkable stories were rediscovered decades after their deaths.

For more:

• Read my Q&A with Anderson, the history curator at the California African American Museum, about Black history in California.

Tell us

What are the best movies from California? “Chinatown”? “Fear of heights”? “La La Land”?

Tell us which movie you would put on a California movie list and why. Email us at CAtoday@nytimes.com. Please include your full name and the city where you live.

And before you go: good news

Throughout the month of February, and especially on Valentine’s Day, a lot of attention is paid to grand romantic gestures. But smaller, subtler acts of love and attention – like doing the dishes and remembering to say “I love you” – can be just as essential to maintaining strong relationships.

We recently asked Times readers to tell us about the small ways they express their love every day. From the 1,300 submissions we received, we collected our favorite 100, including a handful from our California readers, and captured them in an interactive article about love.

Readers described acts of service, such as picking up a loved one from the airport, and sacrifices large and small. “For over 21 years, my husband has always given me the last bite of his dessert,” writes Jennifer Grissom of Los Angeles.

As the article suggests, there are many ways to show love. But all 100 will definitely warm your heart. Read the full article here.

Thank you for reading. I’ll come back tomorrow. — Soumya

Correction: A note for Friday’s readers newsletter incorrectly referred to Joan Didion’s novel ‘Play It as It Lays’. It is her second novel, not her first.

PS Here it is today’s mini crossword.

Maia Coleman and Briana Scalia contributed to California Today. You can reach the team via CAtoday@nytimes.com.

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