San Francisco History

San Francisco was founded in 1776, but grew rapidly after the 1849 Gold Rush. It has long been a commercial and cultural pillar of the West Coast.

Chinatown's Sex Slaves - Human Trafficking and San Francisco's History

In the 1800s, the prostitution of Chinese women in San Francisco rested upon a foundation of human trafficking, organized crime, and outright slavery.

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Timeline

  • c.8000 B.C. - Ohlone Indians arrive in the San Francisco bay area.
  • 1776 - Mission Dolores is founded by Spanish missionaries, becoming the first settlement in what is now San Francisco.
  • 1848 - California becomes part of the United States after the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo is signed. It becomes a state in 1850.
  • 1849 - The California Gold Rush increases the population and wealth of San Francisco and northern California in legendary fashion.
  • 1849 - The California Gold Rush attracts thousands of Chinese immigrants to California. Largely excluded from white society, they create the Chinatown enclave in San Francisco over the ensuing decades.
  • 1877 - After years of agitation, an anti-Chinese riot breaks out in San Francisco, but is repulsed from Chinatown by police, state militia, and citizen vigilantes. However, Chinese immigration is outlawed with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
  • 1906 - A large earthquake and ensuing fire nearly destroy San Francisco, killing thousands.
  • 1933 - Mona's 440 Club opens in San Francisco, becoming (most likely) the first lesbian bar in the United States.
  • 1937 - The iconic Golden Gate Bridge is completed a year after the opening of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
  • 1945 - The United Nations is founded in San Francisco on June 26, with the original charter being signed in Veteran's Memorial Hall.
  • 1964 - Ken Kesey and a band of followers begin their LSD-infused tour of the United States aboard his psychedelically painted bus known as "Furthur". By 1967 hippie culture gains national prominence with the "Summer of Love".
  • 1965 - Increased Mexican and Asian immigration is spurred by the US Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, having a particular effect on the demographics of the West Coast.
  • 1977 - Harvey Milk is one of the first openly gay persons to be elected to public office when he wins a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He is assassinated a year later.
  • c.1980 - Widespread cases of the AIDS virus begin to appear in the United States.
  • 2009 - Asians contribute a plurality of immigrants to the United States for the first time.