Mrs. Wong Mee Shee

“Everyone had to be patient and tell themselves, ‘I’m just being delayed; it doesn’t matter,’… I kept thinking each day that I would be called to leave and as each day went by, I just waited. I didn’t eat much, nor move around much, so I never perspired… Even if I did, I couldn’t do it. There was no place to hang out to dry.”

-Excerpt about her experiences from Angel Island from Interview #3 by Genny Lim and Judy Yung, August 15, 1976, San Francisco, CA, Angel Island Oral History Project, Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation.

Lucy Thompson

“The Indians who had always live the life of integrity on earth when they die their souls or spirit travels a narrow and winding trail which takes the soul north, to a land far away from their native haunts… As the spirit climbs the ladder to Heaven it reaches God on that infinite shore where it dwells forever in flowery fields of light.”

-Excerpt from To The American Indian by Mrs. Lucy Thompson

Charlotta Bass

“I shall tell you how I come to stand here. I am a Negro woman.  My people came before the Mayflower. I am more concerned with what is happening to my people in my country than in pouring out money to rebuild a decadent Europe for a new war… And that war was barely over when a Negro soldier, returning to his home in Georgia, was lynched almost before he could take off his uniform… The guns were hardly silenced before a reign of terror was unloosed against every minority that fought for a better life.”

-Excerpt from her “Acceptance Speech for Vice Presidential Candidate of the Progressive Party”

Ina Coolbrith

“Was in the wind, or the soft sigh of leaves, Or sound of singing waters?  Lo, I looked, And saw the silvery ripples of the brook, The fruit upon the hills, the waving trees, And mellow fields of harvest; saw the Gate Burn in the sunset; the thin thread of mist Creep white across the Saucelito hills Til the day darkened down the ocean rim, The sunset purple slipped from the Tamalpais, And the bay and sky were bright with sudden stars.”

-Excerpt from her poem, “California”

Eulalia Pérez de Guillén Mariné

“The llavera had various responsibilities. First, she would distribute the daily rations for the pozolera… Besides that, she had to give daily rations to the people who were married… She was in charge of the key to the clothing storehouse, from where material would be taken to make dresses for single and married women, as well as children.”

-Her explanation of her role at the mission from Testimonios: Early California Through the Eyes of Women, 1815-1848 by Rose Marie Beebe and Robert Senkewicz

Pío Pico

“The North American nation can never be our friend… the most unjust aggression of late centuries without the slightest mark of shame… Already have the wagons of that perfidious people scaled the almost inaccessible summits of the Sierra Nevadas, crossed the entire continent and penetrated the fruitful valley of Sacramento.”

-Some observations about American migration to California highlighted by KCET (see link)

Jim Beckwourth

“It was necessary to keep a constant guard on the plantations, and while one portion of the men were at work, the others, with their arms, were on the alert watching the wile Indian.  Those days are still fresh in my memory, and it was then that I received, young as I was, the rudiments of my knowledge of the Indian character, which has been of such inestimable value to me in my subsequent adventures among them.”

-Excerpt from The Life and Adventure of James P. Beckwourth edited by T.D. Bonner

Mifflin Wistar Gibbs

“I wrote with a fervor as cool as the circumstances would permit, and published a card from a disenfranchised oath-denied standpoint, closing with the avowal that the great State of California might annually confiscate our goods, but we would never pay the voters tax.”

-Excerpt from his autobiography, Shadow and Light: An Autobiography

Philip A. Bell

“Mr. Editor-It was my intention never again to write on political subjects, but the spirit moveth and I must speak… In the late rebellion the colored men proved their valor, their patriotism and devotion to a country which has never protected them, and care nothing for them, except in a state of servitude… It is useless to expect people with thinking minds to look upon these wrongs unmoved; and it is impossible to bear all things in silence.”

-Excerpt from a “Letter to the Editor” in his newspapers, The Elevator

Anna May Wong

“I’m Chinese by race and I love Chinese people and things.  I love our traditions and even our ancient religions.  I think there is poetry in our plural gods of the North Wind and the like.  They are beautiful like the American Indian gods.  My only regret is the limitation upon my work, as I can only play oriental roles, or sometimes Indian parts.”

-Her thoughts on race in film highlighted by Women's Republic (see link)

Yick Wo

“There is nothing in the ordinances which points to such regulation of the business of keeping and conducting laundries.  They seem intended to confer, and actually do confer, not a discretion to be exercised upon a consideration of circumstances of each case, but a naked and arbitrary power to give or without consent, not only as to place, but as to persons.”

-Excerpt from the Majority Opinion in Yick Wo v. Hopkins

Chae Chan Ping

“The power of the government to exclude foreigners from the country whenever, in its judgment, the public interests require such exclusion, has been asserted in repeated instances, and never denied by the executive or legislative departments… The power is constantly exercised; its existence is involved in the right of self-preservation.”

-Excerpt from Chae Chan Ping v. United States

Wong Kim Ark

“The effect of the enactments conferring citizenship on foreign-born children of American parents has been defined, and the fundamental rule of citizenship by birth within the dominion of the United States, notwithstanding alienage of parents, has been affirmed… Since the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution… Within the sovereignty and jurisdiction of this nation, they are undoubtedly entitled to all the privileges of citizens.”

-Excerpt from court ruling in United States v. Wong Kim Ark

Yee Bing Quai

“Q. When did your alleged father come to the United States?

A. I do not know. He came before I was born.

Q. Has your alleged father made any trips to China since he came to the U.S.?

A. I have never seen my father—my mother told me he returned to the U.S. in CR 14.

Q. If you have never seen your alleged father, how do you recognize the photograph attached to the affidavit you present, as being that of your alleged father?

A. YEE MON TOY of the JEW THIN NGIN store, Bonham Strand, Hong Kong, gave me the affidavit when I went to Hong Kong on my way to the U.S.; and he told me that that was a picture of my father.”

-Excerpt from Interrogation at Angel Island highlighted by Asian American Writers' Workshop (see link)

Ferdinand von Wrangell

“Remembering this establishment from 1818, when the missions flourished under the administration of the Spanish padres, I was dumbfounded by the sight of destructions, poverty, and unconcern which struck us at every step and on all sides.”

-Excerpt from his observations in California from “Russian Travel Notes and Journals as Sources for the History of California” by Leonid A. Shur and James R. Gibson

Ilya Voznesensky

“I went to the rancho owned by San Antonio, 3 verstas from the spot where our longboat had landed. This estate’s buildings are much better than those of San Pablo Ranch and its location is more picturesque… Several casas dot an even site, and in the center is the proprietor’s house, which in comparison with the others is quite good, being in excellent domestic order both outside and inside.”

-Excerpt from his observations in California from “Russian Travel Notes and Journals as Sources for the History of California” by Leonid A. Shur and James R. Gibson

Narcisa Higuera

Once considered the last speaker of the Tongva language, the language is presently being revived by new generations. Read this Los Angeles Times about how the language is being learned today and also learn a few words and phrases.

Julian A. Chavez

The namesake for Chavez Ravine in Los Angeles, home of the Los Angeles Dodgers. See this Google Map

Francisco Xavier Sepulveda

The namesake for one of the most well know thoroughfares in Los Angeles. See this Google Map

Juan Jose Dominguez

The namesake for one of the few surviving ranchos of the old Spanish era in California. See this Google Map