Shows
New Books in American StudiesJean Pfaelzer, "California, a Slave State" (Yale UP, 2023)California owes its origins and sunny prosperity to slavery. Spanish invaders captured Indigenous people to build the chain of Catholic missions. Russian otter hunters shipped Alaska Natives--the first slaves transported into California--and launched a Pacific slave triangle to China. Plantation slaves were marched across the plains for the Gold Rush. San Quentin Prison incubated California's carceral state. Kidnapped Chinese girls were sold in caged brothels in early San Francisco. Indian boarding schools supplied new farms and hotels with unfree child workers.By looking west to California, Jean Pfaelzer upends our understanding of slavery as a North-South struggle...
2026-01-0154 min
New Books in Indigenous StudiesJean Pfaelzer, "California, a Slave State" (Yale UP, 2023)California owes its origins and sunny prosperity to slavery. Spanish invaders captured Indigenous people to build the chain of Catholic missions. Russian otter hunters shipped Alaska Natives--the first slaves transported into California--and launched a Pacific slave triangle to China. Plantation slaves were marched across the plains for the Gold Rush. San Quentin Prison incubated California's carceral state. Kidnapped Chinese girls were sold in caged brothels in early San Francisco. Indian boarding schools supplied new farms and hotels with unfree child workers.By looking west to California, Jean Pfaelzer upends our understanding of slavery as a North-South struggle...
2025-12-2954 min
New Books NetworkJean Pfaelzer, "California, a Slave State" (Yale UP, 2023)California owes its origins and sunny prosperity to slavery. Spanish invaders captured Indigenous people to build the chain of Catholic missions. Russian otter hunters shipped Alaska Natives--the first slaves transported into California--and launched a Pacific slave triangle to China. Plantation slaves were marched across the plains for the Gold Rush. San Quentin Prison incubated California's carceral state. Kidnapped Chinese girls were sold in caged brothels in early San Francisco. Indian boarding schools supplied new farms and hotels with unfree child workers.By looking west to California, Jean Pfaelzer upends our understanding of slavery as a North-South struggle...
2025-12-2954 min
New Books in Asian American StudiesJean Pfaelzer, "California, a Slave State" (Yale UP, 2023)California owes its origins and sunny prosperity to slavery. Spanish invaders captured Indigenous people to build the chain of Catholic missions. Russian otter hunters shipped Alaska Natives--the first slaves transported into California--and launched a Pacific slave triangle to China. Plantation slaves were marched across the plains for the Gold Rush. San Quentin Prison incubated California's carceral state. Kidnapped Chinese girls were sold in caged brothels in early San Francisco. Indian boarding schools supplied new farms and hotels with unfree child workers.By looking west to California, Jean Pfaelzer upends our understanding of slavery as a North-South struggle...
2025-12-2954 min
New Books in the American WestJean Pfaelzer, "California, a Slave State" (Yale UP, 2023)California owes its origins and sunny prosperity to slavery. Spanish invaders captured Indigenous people to build the chain of Catholic missions. Russian otter hunters shipped Alaska Natives--the first slaves transported into California--and launched a Pacific slave triangle to China. Plantation slaves were marched across the plains for the Gold Rush. San Quentin Prison incubated California's carceral state. Kidnapped Chinese girls were sold in caged brothels in early San Francisco. Indian boarding schools supplied new farms and hotels with unfree child workers.By looking west to California, Jean Pfaelzer upends our understanding of slavery as a North-South struggle...
2025-12-2954 min
Justice MattersThe Untold History of Slavery and Resistance in CaliforniaOn today’s episode of Justice Matters, co-host Mathias Risse speaks with Jean Pfaelzer, award-winning historian and Professor Emerita of English, Asian Studies, and Women and Gender Studies at the University of Delaware, about her 2023 book, California, A Slave State, which investigates California’s histories of enslavement. Together, they discuss: why California merits the designation as a slave state; the history of the 18th century Spanish missions and their brutal treatment of Indigenous people; the “slave rectangle” of Alaska, California, China, and Russia; the “California Genocide” of Indigenous peoples during the gold rush; the historical treatment of Chinese women in Californi...
2025-02-0339 min
C19: America in the 19th CenturyS08 E04 | California, a Slave State: Birth of a StateIn this episode, Jean Pfaelzer (Prof. Emerita, University of Delaware) describes the untold history of slavery, slave revolts, and resistance in California, based on her award-winning book California, A Slave State. Interviewed by Karen Clopton, JD, Chair of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and Harvard University Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow, Pfaelzer looks West to upend the notion of slavery in the United States as only a North-South struggle. Pfaelzer establishes that freedom from slavery is a struggle, not a status. Slavery endures even to the present day in the sex trade, field work, sweat shops, and marijuana industry. This...
2024-11-1539 min
Ben Franklin's World387 California and SlaveryWhen we think of California, we might think about sunny weather, Hollywood, beaches, wine country, and perhaps the Gold Rush.
What we don’t usually think about when we think about California is the state’s long history of slavery.
Jean Pfaelzer, a Californian and a Professor Emerita of English, Asian Studies, and Women and Gender Studies at the University of Delaware, joins us to lead us through some of California’s long 250-year history of slavery with details from her book, California: A Slave State.
S...
2024-06-251h 03
KPFA - Letters and PoliticsThe Story of T’tc-Tsa and California Slavery
Guest: Jean Pfaelzer is a public historian, commentator, and professor of American studies at the University of Delaware. Her books include Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans; Rebecca Harding Davis: Origins of Social Realism; The Utopian Novel in America; and her latest, California, a Slave State.
The post The Story of T’tc-Tsa and California Slavery appeared first on KPFA.
2024-04-0159 min
KPFA - Letters and PoliticsThe Story of T’tc-Tsa and California Slavery
Guest: Jean Pfaelzer is a public historian, commentator, and professor of American studies at the University of Delaware. Her books include Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans; Rebecca Harding Davis: Origins of Social Realism; The Utopian Novel in America; and her latest, California, a Slave State.
The post The Story of T’tc-Tsa and California Slavery appeared first on KPFA.
2023-11-2259 min
Get Lost In The Transformative Full Audiobook Now, Curious Minds!California, a Slave State by Jean PfaelzerPlease visithttps://thebookvoice.com/podcasts/2/audible/269414to listen full audiobooks.
Title: California, a Slave State
Author: Jean Pfaelzer
Narrator: Ewan Chung
Format: mp3
Length: 16 hrs and 27 mins
Release date: 10-31-23
Ratings: 4.8 out of 5 stars, 6 ratings
Genres: State & Local
Publisher's Summary:
California owes its origins and sunny prosperity to slavery. Spanish invaders captured Indigenous people to build the chain of Catholic missions. Russian otter hunters shipped Alaska Natives—the first slaves transported into California—and launched a Pacific slave triangle to China. Plantation slaves were marched across the plains for the Gold Rush. San Quentin Prison incubated California's carceral state. Kidn...
2023-10-314h 27
Race to Social JusticeGuest: Jean Pfaelzer, "California, Slave State"Jean Pfaelzer, PhD, a public historian, commentator and University of Delaware professor, describes how “progressive” California has, unbeknownst to many, hosted practices which have enslaved indigenous people, Alaska natives, plantation Blacks, Chinese and the incarcerated throughout its history.
2023-09-0555 min
HistoryExtra podcastCalifornia’s hidden history of slaveryToday California is renowned worldwide as a heartland of sun-drenched luxury. But, according to Jean Pfaelzer, the state’s prosperity is in large part built on the proceeds of human bondage. Jean speaks to Ellie Cawthorne about the various forms slavery has taken in the state down the centuries – from Native Americans forced into indentured labour to Chinese girls trafficked into caged brothels.(Ad) Jean Pfaelzer is the author of California: A Slave State (Yale, 2023). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/California-Slave-State-Pfaelzer/dp/0300211643/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty
2023-08-2233 min
Commonwealth Club of California PodcastCalifornia, A Slave StateBy looking west to California, Jean Pfaelzer shifts our understanding of slavery as a North-South struggle and focuses on how those who were enslaved in California fought, fled, and resisted human bondage. In unyielding research and vivid interviews, Pfaelzer exposes how California's appetite for slavery persists today in the trafficking in human beings who are lured by promises of jobs but who instead are imprisoned in sweatshops or remote marijuana fields, or are sold as nannies or sex workers.Pfaelzer relates the history of slavery in California across its entire spectrum, from indentured Native American ranch hands...
2023-08-201h 17
The Rob Burgess ShowEp. 234 - Jean PfaelzerHello and welcome to The Rob Burgess Show. I am, of course, your host, Rob Burgess.
On this our 234th episode, our guest is Jean Pfaelzer.
Jean Pfaelzer is a public historian, commentator, and professor of American studies at the University of Delaware. Her books include, “Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans,” “Rebecca Harding Davis: Origins of Social Realism” and “The Utopian Novel in America.” She lives in Washington, DC. Her latest book, “California, a Slave State” was published June 27, 2023 by Yale University Press.
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2023-08-1135 min
Facepalm AmericaSlavery In California - Part 3Professor Jean Pfaelzer, author of California, a Slave State joins us to discuss California's long and complicated history as a slave state. This is part three of a three part episode with Jean diving into the history of California natives.Facepalm America: facepalmamerica.comTwitter: @FacepalmUSAFind Beowulf: @BeowulfRochlenBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/facepalm-america--5189985/support.
2023-08-051h 02
Explaining HistorySlavery in California - In conversation with Jean Pfaelzern this eye-opening episode, we journey into the often-overlooked history of slavery in California, guided by the insights of Professor Jean Pfaelzer, author of the seminal book, "California: A Slave State."Pfaelzer's groundbreaking research uncovers a hidden chapter of California's past, where the institution of slavery played a significant, if clandestine, role. Through an engaging conversation, we explore the legal, political, and social mechanisms that allowed slavery to exist in a state that, ostensibly, had outlawed the practice.We discuss the complex and contradictory laws, such as the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, that...
2023-08-0331 minExplaining HistorySlavery in California - In conversation with Jean Pfaelzern this eye-opening episode, we journey into the often-overlooked history of slavery in California, guided by the insights of Professor Jean Pfaelzer, author of the seminal book, "California: A Slave State."Pfaelzer's groundbreaking research uncovers a hidden chapter of California's past, where the institution of slavery played a significant, if clandestine, role. Through an engaging conversation, we explore the legal, political, and social mechanisms that allowed slavery to exist in a state that, ostensibly, had outlawed the practice.We discuss the complex and contradictory laws, such as the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, that...
2023-08-0331 minFacepalm AmericaSlavery In California - Part 2Professor Jean Pfaelzer, author of California, a Slave State joins us to discuss California's long and complicated history as a slave state. This is part two of a three part episode with Jean diving into the history of California natives.Facepalm America: facepalmamerica.comTwitter: @FacepalmUSAFind Beowulf: @BeowulfRochlenBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/facepalm-america--5189985/support.
2023-08-0141 minFacepalm AmericaSlavery In CaliforniaProfessor Jean Pfaelzer, author of California, a Slave State joins us to discuss California's long and complicated history as a slave state. This is part one of a three part episode with Jean diving into the history of California natives.Facepalm America: facepalmamerica.comTwitter: @FacepalmUSAFind Beowulf: @BeowulfRochlenBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/facepalm-america--5189985/support.
2023-07-2943 min
KPFA - Letters and PoliticsKPFA Special – The Story of T’tc-Tsa and California Slavery
Guest: Jean Pfaelzer is a public historian, commentator, and professor of American studies at the University of Delaware. Her books include Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans; Rebecca Harding Davis: Origins of Social Realism; The Utopian Novel in America; and her latest, California, a Slave State.
The post KPFA Special – The Story of T’tc-Tsa and California Slavery appeared first on KPFA.
2023-07-2559 minFacepalm AmericaThe Intense History of California as a Slave State (Part 3): With Guest Jean Pfaelzer"The untold history of slavery and resistance in California, from the Spanish missions, indentured Native American ranch hands, Indian boarding schools, Black miners, kidnapped Chinese prostitutes, and convict laborers to victims of modern trafficking".Jean Pfaelzer, author of California, a Slave State joins us to unpack California's long and complicated history as a slave state. This is part ehree of an incredible three part episode with Jean diving into the history of California natives.Listen to part one here: https://pod.fo/e/1877b3Facepalm America: facepalmamerica.comTwitter: @FacepalmUSAFind Beowulf...
2023-07-071h 02Facepalm AmericaThe Intense History of California as a Slave State (Part 2): With Guest Jean Pfaelzer"The untold history of slavery and resistance in California, from the Spanish missions, indentured Native American ranch hands, Indian boarding schools, Black miners, kidnapped Chinese prostitutes, and convict laborers to victims of modern trafficking".Jean Pfaelzer, author of California, a Slave State joins us to unpack California's long and complicated history as a slave state. This is part two of an incredible three part episode with Jean diving into the history of California natives.Listen to part one here: https://pod.fo/e/1877b3Facepalm America: facepalmamerica.comTwitter: @FacepalmUSAFind Beowulf...
2023-07-0141 min
KPFA - Letters and PoliticsThe Story of T’tc-Tsa and California SlaveryGuest: Jean Pfaelzer is a public historian, commentator, and professor of American studies at the University of Delaware. Her books include Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans; Rebecca Harding Davis: Origins of Social Realism; The Utopian Novel in America; and her latest, California, a Slave State.
The post The Story of T’tc-Tsa and California Slavery appeared first on KPFA.
2023-06-2830 minFacepalm AmericaThe Intense History of California as a Slave State (Part 1): With Guest Jean Pfaelzer"The untold history of slavery and resistance in California, from the Spanish missions, indentured Native American ranch hands, Indian boarding schools, Black miners, kidnapped Chinese prostitutes, and convict laborers to victims of modern trafficking".Jean Pfaelzer, author of California, a Slave State joins us to unpack California's long and complicated history as a slave state. This is part one of an incredible three part episode with Jean diving into the history of California natives.Facepalm America: facepalmamerica.comTwitter: @FacepalmUSAFind Beowulf: @BeowulfRochlenBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker...
2023-06-2743 min
YaleUniversityCalifornia's History of Slavery and Slave RevoltsIn this episode of the Yale University Press Podcast, we talk with Jean Pfaelzer, author of California, a Slave State. California, a Slave State is a survey of the untold history of slavery and resistance in California, from the Spanish missions, indentured Native American ranch hands, Indian boarding schools, Black miners, kidnapped Chinese prostitutes, and convict laborers to victims of modern trafficking.
2023-06-2743 min
Yale University Press PodcastCalifornia’s History of Slavery and Slave RevoltsIn this episode of the Yale University Press Podcast, we talk with Jean Pfaelzer, author of California, a Slave State. California, a Slave State is a survey of the untold history of slavery and resistance in California, from the Spanish missions, indentured Native American ranch hands, Indian boarding schools, Black miners, kidnapped Chinese prostitutes, and convict laborers to victims of modern trafficking.
2023-06-2743 min
Axelbank Reports History and Today#128: Jean Pfaelzer - "California: A Slave State"In 1850, in exchange for allowing the potential of slavery in New Mexico and Utah, California was admitted to the Union as its 31st state. A free state. The land of beaches, beautiful scenery, bridges and Hollywood. But even to today, Dr. Pfaelzer argues California has not been fully free. While we may not imagine plantation slavery there the way we do in US southern states, Dr. Pfaelzer says there were still Black Americans forced to work in bondage. Slaves of other races and nationalities have also existed there. The indigenous, the Inuit, the Chinese, and even people from India...
2023-06-2654 min
New Books in Early Modern HistoryJean Pfaelzer, "California, a Slave State" (Yale UP, 2023)California owes its origins and sunny prosperity to slavery. Spanish invaders captured Indigenous people to build the chain of Catholic missions. Russian otter hunters shipped Alaska Natives--the first slaves transported into California--and launched a Pacific slave triangle to China. Plantation slaves were marched across the plains for the Gold Rush. San Quentin Prison incubated California's carceral state. Kidnapped Chinese girls were sold in caged brothels in early San Francisco. Indian boarding schools supplied new farms and hotels with unfree child workers.By looking west to California, Jean Pfaelzer upends our understanding of slavery as a North-South struggle...
2023-06-2354 minNew Books in Asian American StudiesJean Pfaelzer, "California, a Slave State" (Yale UP, 2023)California owes its origins and sunny prosperity to slavery. Spanish invaders captured Indigenous people to build the chain of Catholic missions. Russian otter hunters shipped Alaska Natives--the first slaves transported into California--and launched a Pacific slave triangle to China. Plantation slaves were marched across the plains for the Gold Rush. San Quentin Prison incubated California's carceral state. Kidnapped Chinese girls were sold in caged brothels in early San Francisco. Indian boarding schools supplied new farms and hotels with unfree child workers.By looking west to California, Jean Pfaelzer upends our understanding of slavery as a North-South struggle...
2023-06-2354 minNew Books in Indigenous StudiesJean Pfaelzer, "California, a Slave State" (Yale UP, 2023)California owes its origins and sunny prosperity to slavery. Spanish invaders captured Indigenous people to build the chain of Catholic missions. Russian otter hunters shipped Alaska Natives--the first slaves transported into California--and launched a Pacific slave triangle to China. Plantation slaves were marched across the plains for the Gold Rush. San Quentin Prison incubated California's carceral state. Kidnapped Chinese girls were sold in caged brothels in early San Francisco. Indian boarding schools supplied new farms and hotels with unfree child workers.By looking west to California, Jean Pfaelzer upends our understanding of slavery as a North-South struggle...
2023-06-2354 min
New Books in Economic and Business HistoryJean Pfaelzer, "California, a Slave State" (Yale UP, 2023)California owes its origins and sunny prosperity to slavery. Spanish invaders captured Indigenous people to build the chain of Catholic missions. Russian otter hunters shipped Alaska Natives--the first slaves transported into California--and launched a Pacific slave triangle to China. Plantation slaves were marched across the plains for the Gold Rush. San Quentin Prison incubated California's carceral state. Kidnapped Chinese girls were sold in caged brothels in early San Francisco. Indian boarding schools supplied new farms and hotels with unfree child workers.By looking west to California, Jean Pfaelzer upends our understanding of slavery as a North-South struggle...
2023-06-2354 min
Malik & JamalStop Violence & Hatred Against the AAPI CommunitySeason 3, Episode 5 of Malik and JamalThe last year of increased hatred and violence against the AAPI Community is unacceptable. The murders committed in Atlanta are continued proof that this Community needs protection and advocacy. In this week's episode we address these horrible crimes. Although we recognize that we can only know and understand so much about what other communities are going through, we wanted to try our best to be allies to the AAPI Community and do our part to fight expressions of white supremacy wherever they may appear. Our hearts go out to e...
2021-03-2235 min
ChrononautsThe Feminist Utopia and the Anti-feminist Dystopia | Chrononauts Episode 10Containing matters Conserning those deliberate Constructions of vars. Societies which are most frequently (though not altogether Always we may discover) considered Utopias, in partickular chuzing to focus on Those relating to the Subject of Women's Rights, in which many delightful Dreams, Adventures, Philosophies, and the Reactions hitherto are explored.
Timestamps:
introduction, Margaret Cavendish - "The Description of a New World, Called The Blazing-World" (1666) (0:00)
Mary Griffith - "Three Hundred Years Hence" (1836) (46:06)
Annie Denton Cridge - "Man's Rights; Or, How Would You Like It?" (1870) (1:19:40)
Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain - "...
2021-02-123h 53
Forgotten History of Pacific Asia WarEpisode 45: The Theory of Immigration for Asian, Latino, and AfricanWhen speaking on immigration it is important to differentiate the experiences of all peoples. American Social Studies curriculum for example, only presents the topic of immigration as a ‘unified or monolithic experience.’ These different spectrums of experiences are not taught in schools and therefore some believe in the idea of, “Freedom For All”. Yes, this experience may have been the case for many European immigrants, however, Asian, Latino, African immigrants, and even Native Americans experience were anything but the “American Dream”.
References
1. Ciardiello A. Vincent. "Is Angel Island the Ellis Island of the West? Teachi...
2020-09-1108 min
Better Lives, Bitter LiesA Sickness Upon These Shores
At the turn of the 20th century, San Francisco faced a plague that devastated Europe in centuries past. As sickness began spreading through Chinatown, its most densely populated neighborhood, the city had to confront the deadliness of this disease and its own societal ills.
---TRANSCRIPT:---
Episode 5: A Sickness Upon These Shores
AM: Sabrina…
SO: Anne…
AM: We’ve already talked about a lot of things on this podcast. But . Remember when we started this project, there was a very special and very specific topic we agreed to discuss? Today is the da...
2020-09-1148 min
Working HistoriansFilibustering History Soundbite - Rob Denning Presents the Lemm Ranch MurdersThis started out as a correction to an error in a previous episode. It grew into something much larger. There is no interview here. Instead, Rob tells the story of the massacre of Chinese workers near Chico, California, in 1877.
Secondary sources used in this episode:
Sucheng Chan, This Bittersweet Soil: The Chinese in California Agriculture, 1860-1910 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986).
Andrew Gyory, Closing the Gate: Race, Politics, and the Chinese Exclusion Act (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1998).
Jean Pfaelzer, Driven Out: The Forgotten War against Chinese Americans (Berkeley...
2017-03-1422 min