Edmond Edward Wysinger (1816–1891) was an
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
pioneer in
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, arriving around October 1849 at the beginning of the
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...
.
California Supreme Court case
On January 29, 1890, in the
Visalia, California
Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-largest city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 42nd most populous in California, and 192nd in ...
court case ''Wysinger v. Crookshank'', 82 Cal 588, 720, (1890), the
California Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacra ...
ruled that
public school
Public school may refer to:
* State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government
* Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...
districts in California may not establish separate schools for children of African descent.
In 1862, Visalia was a community deeply divided by the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
(1861–1865) and many sided with the South. Despite the turmoil, Wysinger stayed in the community. Wysinger, a self-educated man, worked as a laborer and part-time preacher. He stressed the importance of education for his children. He tried to admit his son Arthur to a regular public school but was refused, resulting in him entering a suit against the county school board of education in the Supreme Court of the State California in October 1888. On March 1, 1890, the California Supreme Court, in ''Wysinger vs. Crookshank'' reversed a lower court decision and ordered that 12-year-old Arthur Wysinger be admitted to Visalia's regular school system.
If the people of the state desired
separate but equal
Separate but equal was a legal doctrine in United States constitutional law, according to which racial segregation did not necessarily violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which nominally guaranteed "equal protecti ...
schools for citizens of African descent, and Indians, their wish may be accomplished by laws enacted by the law-making department of the government in accordance with existing constitutional provisions. But this course had not been pursued, as the law stood in 1890, and the powers given to boards of education and school trustees, under section 1617 of the Political Code, did not include the right claimed by the board of education of Visalia. The laws segregating Chinese children, (see ''
United States v. Wong Kim Ark
''United States v. Wong Kim Ark'', 169 U.S. 649 (1898), was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court which held that "a child born in the United States, of parents of Chinese descent, who, at the time of his birth, are subjects of the Empe ...
''), remained on the books probably because it was the general impression that only discriminatory laws aimed at African Americans and Indians were forbidden by the
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourteenth Amendment (Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868, as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. Often considered as one of the most consequential amendments, it addresses citizenship rights and ...
.
Biography
Wysinger was one of the first African Americans to migrate to California from the American South. He was born in 1816, the offspring of a
Cherokee
The Cherokee (; chr, ᎠᏂᏴᏫᏯᎢ, translit=Aniyvwiyaʔi or Anigiduwagi, or chr, ᏣᎳᎩ, links=no, translit=Tsalagi) are one of the indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands of the United States. Prior to the 18th century, t ...
woman and a black man.
Wysinger came to California by way of the Isthmus of Panama with his enslavers Madison, Sr. & Elizabeth Frances (Burfoot) Walthall, arriving around October 1849 — the height of the
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California fro ...
. Wysinger took on the last name of one of his enslavers; his original Indian name was Bush. Madison Walthall was a California legislator before it became a State in 1850.
After arriving in the northern mine area of California's Mother Lode Gold Belt, Wysinger with a group of 100 or more African American miners, were surface mining in and around Morman,
Mokelumne Hill
Mokelumne Hill (''Mokelumne'', Miwok for "People of the Fish Net") is a census-designated place (CDP) in Calaveras County, California, United States. The population was 646 at the 2010 census, down from 774 at the 2000 census. It is commonly referr ...
, at Placerville and Grass Valley. Mokelumne Hill was called "Moke Hill". This region was first inhabited by a tribe of
Miwok
The Miwok (also spelled Miwuk, Mi-Wuk, or Me-Wuk) are members of four linguistically related Native American groups indigenous to what is now Northern California, who traditionally spoke one of the Miwok languages in the Utian family. The word ' ...
Native Americans who were called "Mokelumne", which means people of Mokel. "Moke Hill" began to grow after gold was discovered in 1848. Place names like Negro Hill, Negro Bar (a large sand bar located on the south bank of the lower
American River
, name_etymology =
, image = American River CA.jpg
, image_size = 300
, image_caption = The American River at Folsom
, map = Americanrivermap.png
, map_size = 300
, map_caption ...
) and Negro Flat attest to the presence of blacks in California. Wysinger mined at Mokelumne, Murphy's Camp, Diamond and Mud Springs, Grass Valley, Negro Bar and elsewhere in the mining districts of California. It took him about a year to buy his freedom for $1,000.
Fortune smiled on many black miners
/ref>
In 1853, Alfred and Susan Hines Wilson, arrived in Miles Creek in Mariposa County, California
Mariposa County () is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 17,131. The county seat is Mariposa. It is located in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, north of Fresno, east of ...
, from Wayne County in Missouri
Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...
, going first to Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
then to California by way of ox-team. There were more than a 100 wagons in the ox-driven team lasting from March to December 1853. In Merced, Edmond Wysinger met and married his wife, Penecia.
Around 1862, the family moved to Visalia, California
Visalia ( ) is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-largest city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 42nd most populous in California, and 192nd in ...
, where eight children were born: six boys Jesse, Arthur, James, Reuben, Hervey, Marion, and two girls Martha and Bertha.
Footnotes
References
* California Reporter aw 1890;
*
*
*
*
*
* Mervyn G. Shippey, "A Short History of the Visalia Colored School in Two Parts", 1970, San Francisco: R and E Research Associates, Library of Congress catalog card number 72-123076;
* Gilbert Thomas Stephenson, ''Race Distinctions in American Law'', D. Appleton and company, 1910;
*
*
External links
Channel 47 Fresno - Hidden History Edmond Wysinger
Seeking the Origins of a Pioneering Desegregationist
by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and NEHGS Researcher Meaghan Siekma
A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum
A. Philip Randolph / Sleeping Car Porters
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wysinger, Edmond Edward
American pioneers
People of the California Gold Rush
1816 births
1891 deaths
History of slavery in California