In January 1848, California experienced considerable social, economical, and cultural changes. In the course of time, this land has become the dream of each person that gives a chance to make a fortune out of nothing. People belonging to different ethnic groups arrived at this land in the hope to become full-fledged members of society and preserve their cultural identity. The popularity of this land was also economically and historically predetermined thus alluring more and human resources and economical stability. The above shows that California is equal to reinventing oneself because it opens the door to opportunities and ways to get connected to diversities of cultures.
One can firmly state that California was reborn during the Gold Rush, as this event activated economical, natural, and cultural resources of the land. It also fostered the penetration of other national groups and communities. Together with appearance of newcomers, there emerged new roads, schools and a powerful government (Wiegand 1998). Hence, California was reinvented as a state of unlimited possibilities and endless natural resources.
Pursuing the time from the Gold Rush up the present time, California has been still described as the land of palm trees and beautiful beaches. In the essay California: A Place, a People, a Dream, James Rawls (2004) states that success and prosperity were the heart of California. In the second half of the twentieth century, people started their trip to the Promising Land in the search of “quick and easy wealth” so that “ …the more and more hopeful miners arrived, the more prospects for the promise being fulfilled dimmed accordingly” (Rawls, 2004, p. 27). Those historical events have firmly perpetuated to the image of the contemporary California.
Historians have stated that the Gold Rush changed this California from little-known center, to a global destination of tens of thousands of people who were hunting for material values and a better life. This time was also marked by an active cross-cultural confrontation between different people, basically, between indigenous Indian population and the white people. Indeed, the first man who discovered gold was James Marshall who was taken by an Indian scout to the Maidu village of Koloma. In this respect, the Indian people were doomed to be failure when they agreed to work for white people. That was the time “California was changed forever”, as there appeared immediate changes that reinvented the land status within 10 years (Magagnini 1998).
It should be also stressed that immigrant movement taking place in the Gold Rush considerably the current ethnical and national inheritance of California State. In the article Coming to California: Chasing the Dream, the authors reveals a contemporary variety of ethnic cultures where “…Los Angeles reflects a distinctive Latino culture, San Francisco owes its predominant international flavor to Asia” (Gibbs et al, 2001, p 14). Hence, the lure of the Golden State has lead to the creation of “a place where [people’s] lives could be different, where they would be free their individuality as openly or privately could be wished” (Spooner 2004 p. 42). This fact also allows to admit the California will never cease reinventing oneself.
It should be finally stressed that California is the state of contrasts. It can promise happiness and success to all people; at the same time, it can frustrate the fates and ambitions of numerous nations. Therefore, the California Dream is still existing thus granting freedom and success to one person and failure and disappointment to another. California is still reinventing oneself and open greater opportunities fro those who sacrifice their lives to achieve it.
Reference List
Gibbs, J. T., Bankhead, T., (2001). “Coming to California: Chasing the Dream”. Preserving privilege: California politics, propositions, and people of color. US: Greenwood Publishing Group.
Magagnini, S. (1998). Indians’ misfortunes was stamped in gold. The Sacramento Bee. Web.
Rawls, J. (2004). “California: A Place, A People, A Dream”. California Dreams and Realities: Readings for Crucial Thinkers and Writers. US: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Spooner, D. (2004). “A New Perspective on the Dream” California Dreams and Realities: Readings for Crucial Thinkers and Writers. US: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Wiegand, S. (1998). A zigzag path led to statehood. The Sacramento Bee. Web.