| Book Review | The Western Historical Quarterly, 33.3

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| Book Review | The Western Historical Quarterly, 33.3 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Seeking El Dorado: African Americans in California. Edited by Lawrence B. de Graaf, Kevin Mulroy, and Quintard Taylor. (Los Angeles: Autry Museum of Western Heritage; Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2001. xiii + 537 pp. Maps, tables, notes, bibliography, index. $45, cloth; $ 22.95, paper.)

In the search for regional texts that survey the evolution of the African American experience from U. S. expansionism to the present, Seeking El Dorado: African Americans in California breaks new ground with a thematic analysis that provides a practical application to this type of study. Its editors amassed a collection of essays divided into four parts, which carefully chronicle black life in California. Lawrence B. de Graaf's and Quintard Taylor's introduction appropriately encapsulates the different themes with chronology and segues. In part one, "Forming the Community," the story of African Americans in California unfolds through Jack Forbes's essay, "The Early African Heritage of California." Forbes focused on the African American rise in status as public officials during the pre-1848 period and their self-determining efforts during the post-1850 period (gold-rush era). In logical progression, Willi Coleman's "African American Women and Community Development in California, 1848-1900," initiated a revisionist discussion on the role of black women as leaders, civil rights activists, community organizers, entrepreneurs, founders of schools and uplift organizations, and major participants in California's workforce. Their efforts provided a "golden promise" for the black community in California. . . .

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