15 Results
How California’s Dr. Bronner’s Spiritual Messaging Became a Global Brand
Oct 23 2024
Many of us are now familiar with Dr. Bronner’s. Yet behind this now popular brand lays a larger story of California as an important site for reconceptualizing communities of belief and belonging.
Ten Intriguing Facts about Fearless Writer Sanora Babb
Oct 17 2024
Iris Jamahl Dunkle, author of "Riding Like the Wind: The Life of Sanora Babb," shares 10 intriguing facts about intrepid writer Sanora Babb — peerless author of midcentury American literature who was silenced by John Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath."
An Interview with Yvette J. Saavedra, winner of the Antonia I. Castañeda Prize
Jun 12 2024
Every year the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS) awards the Antonia I. Castañeda Prize to recognize historical scholarship that examines the intersections of class, race, gender, and sexuality, as it relates to Chicana/Latina and/or Native/Indigenous women. This year, hist
California History Announces Winners of 2022 Richard J. Orsi Prize
Mar 04 2023
California History is pleased to announce the winner of the Richard J. Orsi prize for the best article published in the journal in 2022. The committee unanimously selected Warren C. Wood's “S. An-Sky’s The Dybbuk and the Process of Jewish American Identity in 1920s San Francisco” (California Histor
How We’re Making California History Public History in Orange County
Oct 06 2022
By Elaine Lewinnek and Thuy Vo Dang, co-authors of A People’s Guide to Orange CountyFormer President of the Western History Association Patricia Nelson Limerick famously wrote of California and the American West, “In a society that rested on a foundation of invasion and conquest, the matter of l
Honoring the Matriarch Behind the Beloved Los Angeles Nayarit Restaurant
May 07 2022
For Mother's Day, author Natalia Molina remembers her grandmother Doña Natalia Barraza, the impressive woman who opened the Nayarit restaurant in Echo Park, Los Angeles in 1951. The restaurant became an urban anchor for the local community of Mexican immigrants, offering a space of belonging in Los
The Ward Valley Nuclear Waste Dump That Never Was
Feb 25 2022
By Tracy Perkins, author of Evolution of a Movement: Four Decades of California Environmental Justice ActivismGroup photo at the annual Ward Valley commemoration ceremony. February 24, 2018. Photo by author.Today, there is no nuclear waste dump in Ward Valley. This beautiful stretch of Calif
Q&A with Adam Romero, author of Economic Poisoning
Feb 24 2022
Adam M. Romero is Assistant Professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences at the University of Washington Bothell.The toxicity of pesticides to the environment and humans is often framed as an unfortunate effect of their benefits to agricultural production. In Economic Poisoning
What NYC Taught Me About Oakland’s Urban Landscape
Feb 23 2022
By Mitchell Schwarzer, author of Hella Town: Oakland's History of Development and DisruptionIt was the spring of 1964 and the sea air caressed my face as my father drove us along the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn. He pulled off to a rest stop. We got out of the car and raced to the shoreline. “You s
Truly Diverse Juries Must Include Citizens with Prior Criminal Convictions
Nov 17 2021
By James Binnall, author of Twenty Million Angry Men: The Case for Including Convicted Felons in Our Jury SystemIn 1999, when I was twenty-three years old, I caused a DUI wreck that claimed the life of my close friend. For that tragic decision, I ultimately spent 4 years, 1 month, and 6 days in