Saturday, January 27, 2007 (SF Chronicle)
SAN FRANCISCO/Slavery in Gold Rush days/New discoveries prompt exhibition,
re-examination of state's involvement
Jason B. Johnson, Chronicle Staff Writer
Adam Willis was brought to California as a slave in 1846, gained his
freedom nine years later, then searched the country using newspaper ads to
find his family and build a home for them in Solano County.
The recent discovery of Willis' 152-year-old manumission record in the
Solano County Archive has, along with other records from that era,
stimulated a new examination of California's past that's been left out of
the Gold Rush history books.
The existence of slavery in early California and the debate over whether
it would enter the union as a free or slave state had momentous import.
That past is featured in a special program this afternoon at San
Francisco's Museum of the African Diaspora, known as MoAD, as well as in a
new exhibit that opened Wednesday.
"As you know, slavery just tore apart so many families," said Vallejo
resident Sharon McGriff-Payne, who found Willis' document in August while
doing research for a book about the history of African Americans in Solano
County.
Like many former slaves, Willis ran newspaper ads searching for his
family, said McGriff-Payne, one of three speakers at today's 2 p.m.
presentation, "Slavery in 19th Century California." Such ads ran in
newspapers with black readership throughout the country as late as the
early 1900s.
The museum has incorporated material about California slavery, some of it
never shown to the public before, into an exhibit called "Slavery: Inhuman
History," which also features a traveling exhibit on slavery in New York,
thus giving visitors a perspective on African American life on both coasts
from the colonial period through the 1800s.
The documents regarding Willis and another former Bay Area slave, Plim
Jackson, will have their first public viewing.
"We're often taught that California was a 'free state,' and so what we
want to do is understand what that means, because there were slaves in
California," said Eduardo Pineda, director of education at MoAD.
In addition to portraying the institution of slavery, the display also
strives to treat these people as individuals, Pinedan said.
Adam Willis was born in Missouri and came to California with his master's
family in 1846, before California became a state in 1850. He was freed in
Benicia in 1855, according to his manumission record, the first
documentation found in Solano County of a freed person.
Solano County's 1850 census shows 21 African Americans living in the
county, 14 of them slaves brought from Missouri, under a contract
promising to free them in two years, to work in Vacaville at the Vaca
family ranch. All 14 workers were men ranging in age from 18 to 40.
Willis' manumission document, on display at the museum, is written in a
slanted cursive style by Willis' owner, Singleton Vaughn, who once served
as Solano County assessor. He refers to Willis as "my negro man named
Adam." While the document starts in cold terms -- referring to Willis as
property -- it ends powerfully with Vaughn declaring Willis free from all
claims of service by Vaughn and his descendants.
Once freed, Willis, who stood 5 feet 2 inches tall, became a well-known
cook and one of the county's most prominent black residents. County
records show he voted in the 1890s in local elections. But most compelling
was his effort to reunite his family.
"He was looking for his sister, Mary Ann. The last he had heard from her,
she was in Ray County, Missouri," McGriff-Payne said. "By 1880 she was
living with Mr. Willis. She also brought two of her adult sons with her."
"He found his family," McGriff-Payne said. "In the case of so many, they
never found their families."
McGriff-Payne said finding Willis' public documents and learning about his
life was like finding her own family. "I don't know my own
great-grandfather, but it was for me as if I looked into my own
background," she said. He was an African American born in the South, but
she is not sure if he was a slave.
Pineda compared the post-slavery newspaper ads run by African Americans to
printed and televised pleas on national television by separated families
from the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
"It's an eerie parallel how these kinds of catastrophic events can tear
apart families," Pineda said.
Jackson was released from slavery in Santa Clara County in 1854. His
freedom record also was stored in county property files, like that of
Willis, and was found more than three years ago. Jackson turned out to be
one of two former slaves belonging to the same owner who were freed on the
same day, said Jim Reed, curator at History San Jose, a nonprofit
organization that provided Jackson's manumission document.
The document reads in part "Plim Jackson is to be forever free."
The museum exhibit contains also an 1873 autobiographical booklet, "Life
and Adventures of James Williams: A Fugitive Slave," which includes a
description of another oppressed group, Chinese workers in the gold mines:
"As cheap as they work, they pay more for rent and are taxed more than any
race of people."
Organizers hope the New York exhibit will enhance the California
presentation. The traveling exhibit features nine illustrated panels
highlighting the history of slavery in New York and the story of the fight
for freedom.
Street scenes depict African Americans, likenesses of little-known
pioneers of the abolition movement, and historic manuscripts documenting
New York's involvement in the slave trade.
"I was really fascinated to find out that Wall Street was actually named
after a wall that was there that was built by slaves," Pineda said.
Those wishing to attend today's "Slavery in 19th Century California"
program, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. at the Museum of the African Diaspora, are
requested to RSVP online at www.moadsf.org/visit/calendar.html. They can
call the admissions department after 10 a.m. at (415) 318-7144 to see if
seats are still available.
The exhibition, "Slavery: Inhuman History," runs through April 30. The
museum is at 685 Mission Street. Further information is available at
www.moadsf.org and (415) 358-7200.
E-mail Jason B. Johnson at [log in to unmask]
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