1.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
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Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher
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Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher is an American politician currently serving in the California State Assembly. A Democrat, she represents the 80th Assembly District, which encompasses southern San Diego and is the southernmost Assembly district in the state. Gonzalez was first elected to the Assembly in a 2013 special election to replace then-Assemblymember Ben Hueso, prior to being elected to the Assembly, Gonzalez served as secretary-treasurer and CEO of the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council, AFL-CIO. The current Vice-Chair of the California Latino Legislative Caucus, Gonzalez Fletcher became the first Latina to ever serve as the Chair of the powerful Assembly Appropriations Committee in 2016, Gonzalez Fletcher is the daughter of an immigrant farmworker and a nurse. She attended public schools in San Diego County before earning a degree from Stanford University, a masters degree from Georgetown University. A community organizer and activist, Gonzalez was elected in 2008 as CEO and Secretary-Treasurer of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council and she is the first woman and person of color to be elected to head the Labor Council since the organization was founded in 1891. Gonzalez Fletcher lives in San Diego with her two children, Tierra and Antonio, on January 1,2017 she married former assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, the two had been dating since 2015. Gonzalez ran for San Diego City Council during a 2005 special election, however, Gonzalez ultimately lost the race to Faulconer by a margin of 724 votes out of 29,448 cast. Gonzalez was elected to Californias 80th State Assembly district in an election held May 21,2013. She defeated former Chula Vista Councilmember Steve Castaneda with 70. 75% of the vote and she is also the first Chair of the Select Committee on Women in the Workplace. Several pieces of Gonzalez Fletchers legislation have been among the bills to secure passage. In January 2014, Gonzalez introduced AB1522, which requires employers grant sick days to part-time employees, the legislation was signed by Governor Jerry Brown in September 2014, granting paid sick leave to about 6.5 million Californians. In 2015, Gonzalez introduced a measure that would require double pay when a company makes workers come in on the Christmas or Thanksgiving holidays
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California Democratic Party
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The California Democratic Party is the state branch of the United States Democratic Party in the state of California. Headquartered in Sacramento, it is chaired by veteran Democratic politician and former United States Representative John L. Burton and it is the majority party in both chambers of the California State Legislature, i. e. the State Assembly and the Senate. In regards to businesses and economics, the California Democratic party takes a stance that protects consumers, small businesses, unions, the platform also makes a point to champion the economic reforms of President Barack Obama. The 2012 platform addresses the issues of family in several sections, the platform promises to protect seniors, children and all types of families with fair economic and social policies. These policies range from continuing Medicare for the elderly and keeping playgrounds safe for children, the platform also highlights the right of a woman to make choices for her own body and claims that healthcare is a natural right of all people. The California democrats further promise to protect the dignity of disabled citizens, the platform is dedicated to advocating for the rights of women through equal pay and affirmative action. The party prioritizes the creation of a sustainable and earth-friendly state, focus is placed on the development of alternative forms of energy and how energy is consumed. In addition, the stresses that green jobs are a solution to economic. Finally, the platform takes stances on open internet use, immigration, the Democrats of California support the right of the people to express their thoughts and ideas through any media, and their right to assemble. The party believes that laws should be fair and that immigrants should not be discriminated against. The party wishes to bring education to the forefront, aiming to turn California into a state for academic achievement. A Detailed description of the California Democratic Partys position on all of the issues can be found in their 2012 Platform document. The California Democratic Party passes multiple resolutions every year as a way of expressing their opinion to lawmakers statewide, while the partys resolutions have no legal force themselves, they are official documents that elected representatives should take into account when making decisions. A few recent resolutions are summarised below,2012 Buy American This resolution, written 18 November 2012, encourages all arms of government to favor American suppliers of goods and services. The above are three of a long list of Resolutions passed by the California Democratic Party in 2012 and in preceding years. The history of the Democratic Party of California is complex and long, the State has traded hands every few cycles since its admission into the union in 1850. At that time, the state was firmly in the hands of the Democratic Party, until the early 1880s after the Republican Party abolished slavery, the Republicans held the state through the power and influence of railroad men. The Democratic Party responded by taking an anti-corporate, anti freedom of attainment position, in 1894, Democrat James Budd was elected to the governorship, and the Democratic Party attempted to make good on their promises to reform the booming railroad industry
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San Diego
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San Diego is a major city in California, United States. It is in San Diego County, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, approximately 120 miles south of Los Angeles and immediately adjacent to the border with Mexico. With an estimated population of 1,394,928 as of July 1,2015, San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest in California. It is part of the San Diego–Tijuana conurbation, the second-largest transborder agglomeration between the US and a country after Detroit–Windsor, with a population of 4,922,723 people. San Diego has been called the birthplace of California, historically home to the Kumeyaay people, San Diego was the first site visited by Europeans on what is now the West Coast of the United States. Upon landing in San Diego Bay in 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claimed the area for Spain, the Presidio and Mission San Diego de Alcalá, founded in 1769, formed the first European settlement in what is now California. In 1821, San Diego became part of the newly independent Mexico, in 1850, California became part of the United States following the Mexican–American War and the admission of California to the union. The city is the seat of San Diego County and is the center of the region as well as the San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area. San Diegos main economic engines are military and defense-related activities, tourism, international trade, the presence of the University of California, San Diego, with the affiliated UCSD Medical Center, has helped make the area a center of research in biotechnology. The original inhabitants of the region are now known as the San Dieguito, the area of San Diego has been inhabited by the Kumeyaay people. The first European to visit the region was Portuguese-born explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo sailing under the flag of Castile, sailing his flagship San Salvador from Navidad, New Spain, Cabrillo claimed the bay for the Spanish Empire in 1542, and named the site San Miguel. In November 1602, Sebastián Vizcaíno was sent to map the California coast, in May 1769, Gaspar de Portolà established the Fort Presidio of San Diego on a hill near the San Diego River. It was the first settlement by Europeans in what is now the state of California, in July of the same year, Mission San Diego de Alcalá was founded by Franciscan friars under Junípero Serra. By 1797, the mission boasted the largest native population in Alta California, with over 1,400 neophytes living in, Mission San Diego was the southern anchor in California of the historic mission trail El Camino Real. Both the Presidio and the Mission are National Historic Landmarks, in 1821, Mexico won its independence from Spain, and San Diego became part of the Mexican territory of Alta California. In 1822, Mexico began attempting to extend its authority over the territory of Alta California. The fort on Presidio Hill was gradually abandoned, while the town of San Diego grew up on the land below Presidio Hill. The Mission was secularized by the Mexican government in 1833, the 432 residents of the town petitioned the governor to form a pueblo, and Juan María Osuna was elected the first alcalde, defeating Pío Pico in the vote
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White Americans
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White Americans are Americans who are considered or reported as White. The United States Census Bureau defines White people as those having origins in any of the peoples of Europe. Like all official U. S. racial categories, White has a not Hispanic or Latino and a Hispanic or Latino component, the term Caucasian is often used interchangeably with White, although the terms are not synonymous. Whites constitute the majority, with a total of about 246,660,710, non-Hispanic Whites totaled about 197,870,516, or 62. 06% of the U. S. population. Definitions of who is White have changed throughout the history of the United States, the term White American can encompass many different ethnic groups. Although the United States Census purports to reflect a social definition of race, the 2000 U. S. census states that racial categories generally reflect a social definition of race recognized in this country. They do not conform to any biological, anthropological or genetic criteria, the Census Bureau defines White people as follows, White refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East or North Africa. It includes people who indicated their race as White or reported entries such as Irish, German, Italian, Lebanese, Arab, Moroccan or Caucasian. In U. S. Hispanic and Latino Americans as a make up a racially diverse group. In cases where individuals do not self-identify, the U. S. census parameters for race give each national origin a racial value. Additionally, people who reported Muslim, Jewish, Zoroastrian, or Caucasian as their race in the Some other race section, the US Census considers the write-in response of Caucasian or Aryan to be a synonym for White in their ancestry code listing. In the contemporary United States, essentially anyone of European descent is considered White, the definition of White has changed significantly over the course of American history. Among Europeans those not considered White at some point in American history include Italians, Greeks, Spaniards, Irish, Swedes, Germans, Finns, Russians, early on in the United States, white generally referred to those of British ancestry or northern and northwestern European descent. David R. Roediger argues that the construction of the race in the United States was an effort to mentally distance slave owners from slaves. The process of officially being defined as white by law came about in court disputes over pursuit of citizenship. Scholars such as David Roediger, Paul Gilroy, and others have based some of their work on this notion, moreover, Whites tend to be disproportionately represented in powerful positions, controlling almost all political, economic, and cultural institutions. Whites made up 79. 8% or 75% of the American population in 2008 and this latter number is sometimes recorded as 77. 1% when it includes about 2% of the population who are identified as white in combination with one or more other races. The largest ethnic groups among White Americans were Germans, followed by Irish and English, White Americans are projected to remain the majority, though with their percentage decreasing to 72% of the total population by 2050
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Hispanics and Latinos in California
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Hispanic and Latino Californians are residents of the state of California who are of Hispanic or Latino ancestry. As of the 2010 U. S. Census, Hispanics, cabrillo was commissioned by the Viceroy of New Spain and in 1542 he sailed into what is now San Diego, California. He continued north as far as Pt. Reyes, California, California became part of the Spanish trading route, but was not well explored due to its remoteness from Europe and challenging terrain. In the 1700s, it was claimed by Spain which divided California into two parts, Baja California and Alta California, as provinces of New Spain, Baja or lower California consisted of the Baja Peninsula and terminated roughly at San Diego, California where Alta California started. The Mexican government was unstable, leading to the annexation of California by the United States in 1846, during Mexican rule, California was sparsely populated, with only a few thousand Mexican residents, compared to tens of thousands of Native Americans, and a handful of Yankee entrepreneurs. At the time of the annexation, foreigners already outnumbered Californians of Spanish ancestry 9,000 to 7,500. The advent of the California Gold Rush in 1848 led to an influx of settlers - including thousands of Mexican miners. Other substantial immigrant groups included Chileans, and Chinese people, Spanish is the states second most spoken language. Areas with especially large Spanish speaking populations include the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the California-Mexico border counties of San Diego and Imperial, by ethnicity,38. 1% of the total population is Hispanic. New Mexico and Texas have higher percentages of Hispanics, but California has the highest total number of Hispanics of any U. S. state, as of July 1,2013, it is estimated that Californias Hispanic population has equaled the population of non-Hispanic whites. Hispanics, mainly Mexican Americans, form major portions of the population of Southern California, especially in Los Angeles, the city of Los Angeles is often said to be the largest Mexican community in the United States. Census records kept track of the growth since 1850, but Mexican and Mexican Americans have lived in California since the Spanish period, however, the number and percentage population of Hispanics living in California increased rapidly in the late 20th century. The result is that, today, Hispanics are the largest ethnic group in Los Angeles County, at over 40 percent of the countys population. They also comprise sizable communities in Bakersfield, El Monte, Fresno, La Puente, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San José, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, Stockton, in Santa Ana in Orange County, Hispanics comprise 75 percent of the population. Nearby Anaheim is over half Hispanic, and Orange Countys population is 30-35 percent Hispanic. The Imperial Valley on the U. S. -Mexican border is about 70–75% Hispanic, communities with many Hispanics can also be found in Riverside County, especially at its end. The Central Valley has many Mexican American migrant farm workers, Hispanics are the majority in Colusa, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, San Benito, Santa Cruz, Tulare and Yolo counties. Hispanics make up at least 20% of the San Francisco Bay Area, many live in San Mateo, Alameda and Santa Clara counties, as well in San Francisco
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Asian Americans in California
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Asian Californians are residents of the state of California who are of Asian ancestry. California has the largest Asian American population in the U. S. and second highest proportion of Asian American residents, as of the 2010 U. S. Census, Asian-Americans were 13. 6% of the states population. The largest Asian American ethnic subgroups in California are Filipino Americans, Chinese Americans, Vietnamese Americans, Asian Americans are concentrated in the San Francisco Bay Area and Greater Los Angeles area. There are many Cambodians in Long Beach, Stockton, and Fresno, San Francisco is 21. 4% Chinese, and the San Francisco Bay Area is 8% Chinese. Many of the Chinese Americans are Cantonese-speaking immigrants or descendants from Guangdong province, there are also many Taiwanese and mainland Chinese immigrants in the Silicon Valley area. Los Angeles is 1. 8% Chinese, and Los Angeles County is 4% Chinese, a large portion of the Chinese population resides in the San Gabriel Valley, many of whom are Taiwanese immigrants. San Jose is 10% Vietnamese, and the San Francisco Bay Area has a sizable Vietnamese population, orange County has a large Vietnamese population, with much of the population in Garden Grove. Hispanics, Californias Next Majority, The New York Times
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Native Americans in the United States
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In the United States, Native Americans are people descended from the Pre-Columbian indigenous population of the land within the countrys modern boundaries. These peoples were composed of distinct tribes, bands, and ethnic groups. Most Native American groups had historically preserved their histories by oral traditions and artwork, at the time of first contact, the indigenous cultures were quite different from those of the proto-industrial and mostly Christian immigrants. Some of the Northeastern and Southwestern cultures in particular were matrilineal, the majority of Indigenous American tribes maintained their hunting grounds and agricultural lands for use of the entire tribe. Europeans at that time had patriarchal cultures and had developed concepts of property rights with respect to land that were extremely different. Assimilation became a consistent policy through American administrations, during the 19th century, the ideology of manifest destiny became integral to the American nationalist movement. Expansion of European-American populations to the west after the American Revolution resulted in increasing pressure on Native American lands and this resulted in the ethnic cleansing of many tribes, with the brutal, forced marches coming to be known as The Trail of Tears. As American expansion reached into the West, settler and miner migrants came into increasing conflict with the Great Basin, Great Plains and these were complex nomadic cultures based on horse culture and seasonal bison hunting. Over time, the United States forced a series of treaties and land cessions by the tribes, in 1924, Native Americans who were not already U. S. citizens were granted citizenship by Congress. Contemporary Native Americans have a relationship with the United States because they may be members of nations, tribes. The terms used to refer to Native Americans have at times been controversial, by comparison, the indigenous peoples of Canada are generally known as First Nations. It is not definitively known how or when the Native Americans first settled the Americas and these early inhabitants, called Paleoamericans, soon diversified into many hundreds of culturally distinct nations and tribes. The archaeological periods used are the classifications of archaeological periods and cultures established in Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips 1958 book Method and they divided the archaeological record in the Americas into five phases, see Archaeology of the Americas. The Clovis culture, a hunting culture, is primarily identified by use of fluted spear points. Artifacts from this culture were first excavated in 1932 near Clovis, the Clovis culture ranged over much of North America and also appeared in South America. The culture is identified by the distinctive Clovis point, a flaked flint spear-point with a notched flute, dating of Clovis materials has been by association with animal bones and by the use of carbon dating methods. Recent reexaminations of Clovis materials using improved carbon-dating methods produced results of 11,050 and 10,800 radiocarbon years B. P, other tribes have stories that recount migrations across long tracts of land and a great river, believed to be the Mississippi River. Genetic and linguistic data connect the people of this continent with ancient northeast Asians
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