California’s African-American heritage dates to its very beginnings.  This Lucille Lloyd mural in the Senate Budget Committee describes the story in Las Serges de Esplandian which recouts the island California where a nation of black women warriors resided.  It was that story that inspired Hernan de Cortes on his voyage to what is now known as Baja California in the 1530s.

On the voyage with him were 300 Africans among his party of 700 conquistadors, a ratio that remained relatively constant among Spanish colonists through Mexican independence.  Census records reviewed by

UC-Davis historian Dr. Jack Forbes note that the majority of the founders of Los Angeles, San Jose,

 and Santa Barbara were of African ancestry.  As the

Pico brothers indicate, the Spanish-speaking trail of

African-American heritage is quite extensive.