2. Water Projects- ch. 7
The mega- state of California started with water.
California is a lot of desert and mot much rain so it
needs an amazing water system.
William Hammond Hall can be called one of the
founders of the state for the series of studies he did that
laid out a program for the development of California
through water projects.
The Wright Act and resolution of Lux v. Haggin
transformed Central Valley and portions of southern
California into an agricultural empire.
Hall claimed this water would come from the Colorado
River and in 1901 he and George Chaffey finished a
canal that linked the Colorado River to the Salton Sink,
now Imperial Valley
Irrigation was a problem, but the technology developed
in the Gold Rush helped to fix it and stabilize cities like
San Francisco and Los Angeles
3. San Francisco- ch. 7
At the same time the water projects were
growing, architecture was too.
San Francisco between 1906 and 1909 was
rebuilding the whole city with architects
from Paris, with the style of the
Mediterranean Revival
Also in San Francisco Colleges and
Universities were being upgraded. Stanford
University opened its doors in 1891 and the
University of California at Berkeley was
developing into a Beaux Arts city of
learning
California's population was steadily
growing and in 1910 2.3 million lived in
the state, half of them living in the Bay
Area.
4. Los Angeles- ch. 7
First 3 decades of the 1900's showed a big population
growth to southern California, mostly in Los Angeles.
At first majority of the new comers were from the
Midwest and were of European descent.
Between 1920 and 1930 Los Angeles saw a huge
increase in the population of Mexican Americans and
now had the leading Mexican American community in
the U.S.
The African American population was small until 1926
when it started growing. However, with its growth
came hardening of racial attitudes and more explicit
color line characteristics
The white majority of Los Angeles could be split into 3
categories
- The Oligarchs- older southern California families
- The Babbitts- newly arrived middle class of bankers,
lawyers, doctors, etc.
- The Folks- white Anglo- Saxon protestants from the
midwest
5. Immigration- ch. 12
California has always been ethnically diverse which
began with Native American era and continued
through the Spanish and Mexican eras
During the Gold Rush diversity increased intensely
because every country sent its people to California
Early 1900s San Francisco had higher proportion of
foreign- born residents than those born in the U.S.
San Francisco had the first Korean immigrants to
California
1920s had a second influx of mexicans into
California to work on the fields
1930s half a million Anglo- Americans flocked
California
Second World War brought thousands of African
Americans
6. Race- ch. 12
1965- U.S. Wanted a program to reform its
immigration laws
This allowed Asians to come in on an
equal basis and granted quotas to
compensate for past restrictions
California saw lots of refugees from
various places that were from troubled
parts of the world where America was
involved
Los Angeles was still a city of much racial
tension especially when it came to blacks
and whites. With white cops abusing their
power to black citizens
7. Illegal Immigration- ch. 12
The issues between blacks and whites seemed to
be set aside when it came to illegal immigration
in the 1990s
3 issues brought up
-public aid to illegal immigrants, affirmative action,
and bilingual education
Los Angeles stood as the 3 largest Mexican city
in the world and a quarter of all of California's
population was Mexican and they are active in
every phase and level of California life
Many saw the anti- illegal crusade an
opportunity to give vent to a more persuasive
dislike of the direction California was taking
1994- Republicans tried to cut off all public
support to illegal immigrants but nothing was
passed
8. Sources
Starr, Kevin. California: A History. Modern library
edition, 2005.
