upper waypoint

What's in a Name? Sometimes, a Contentious History

Save ArticleSave Article
Failed to save article

Please try again

A cement California State Park sign that reads: Black Miners Bar, Lake Natoma Unit, Folsom Lake state recreation area.
The Black Miners Bar sign, freshly painted in summer of 2022. (Dorean Raye)

Read a transcript of this episode

On a stretch of shoreline near Folsom, where the northern end of Lake Natoma meets the American River, is a park called Black Miners Bar. Its name is a nod to a group of Black miners who discovered gold just south of Folsom back in 1848, just before the wider California gold rush.

But the park has only been called Black Miners Bar since June 2022. Before that, it was called by a different name for decades: Negro Bar.

This week on Bay Curious, we’re featuring an episode of fellow KQED podcast, Rightnowish, from their series on land in Northern California, ‘From the Soil.’

You can read the original story here. 

Sponsored

lower waypoint
next waypoint
Impact of California Fast Food Worker Wage Increase Still Too Early to GaugeMap: What You Need to Earn to Afford a Median-Priced Home in Your County in CaliforniaBerkeley Passes Legal Protections for Polyamory, Joining OaklandNewsom Eyes Cuts to California’s $500M Anti-Foreclosure Fund for RentersEarly Bay Area Heat Wave Brings Hottest Temperatures of the Year So FarNeighbors to Rally in Support of Black SF Man Who Received Racist ThreatsBerkeley Schools Chief Rejects Allegations of 'Pervasive' Antisemitism in Capitol Hill TestimonyUC Berkeley Opens Civil Rights Investigation Into Confrontation at Dean’s HomeInside Sutro Baths, San Francisco's Once Grand Bathing PalaceIs Hollywood’s New ‘Magical, Colorblind Past’ a Good Thing?