“There’s only the American Dream and the California dream.”
—Gov. Gavin Newsom
This year marks the 175th anniversary of California’s admission to the U.S. as the 31st state. But statehood wasn’t the beginning of the story. Celebrating California is a collection of 175 stories that highlight California’s unique history and role in the world. The goal is to offer examples of California’s unique character and that of its residents, past and present. That means among the good there will be some bad. For every success story, there’s a failure, a tragedy, an injustice. It’s from these mistakes that we learn and grow stronger together. Share a story with us that helps define what California means to you.
Miriam Matthews. Photographed by Judith Sedwick. Courtesy of Schlesinger Library, Radcliffe Institute, Harvard University Miriam Matthews, often referred to as…
The fortune cookie, that ubiquitous ending to a meal at Chinese restaurant, has traveled a long way from its origins…
Annie Montague Alexander is the privileged daughter of Samuel Thomas Alexander founder of what becomes the California & Hawaiian Sugar…
Che-na-wah Weitch-ah-wah is born in 1856 in Pecwan Village, on the Klamath River near the mouth of Pecwan Creek, in…
In late 1848, when gold seekers flock to California from around the world, some European miners bring with them a…
Between January and April of 1858, Northern California is rocked by the “case of the decade” – a determination of…
Dr. Theodore H. Maiman with laser. Associated Press On May 16, 1960, a newly constructed scientific laboratory on a hillside…
On June 30, 1864, in the midst of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill entitled "An Act…
Robert Kennedy appearing before Platform Committee. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division [Reproduction…