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Rending The Social Fabric: Vigilante Strikebreaking In 1930s California, Abigail Ivie Claybrook

Cal Poly Humboldt Capstone Honor Roll

During the 1930s, employers across the United States organized against the National Labor Relations Board and the renewed labor movement. These employers utilized several different strikebreaking techniques, including vigilante violence. California, an economic powerhouse with an established history of vigilantism, produced a particularly robust antilabor network. A cluster of corporations and employer associations formed connections with local vigilante organizations, and mobilized them against workers during periods of labor unrest.

Secondary sources on vigilantism in 1930s California tend to focus on antilabor violence in Central and Southern California. However, the strikebreaking techniques and vigilantism typically associated with these regions carried over …

Pulling Back The Redwood Curtain: The Chinese Experience In Humboldt In The Nineteenth And Twentieth Centuries, Christopher J. Chu

Cal Poly Humboldt Capstone Honor Roll

Chinese immigrants were integral to many industries of early California. In Humboldt, they worked in industries such as logging, fishing, and railroads, and provided essential services, such as farming, gathering, or laundry, to the local economy. Chinese immigrants in Humboldt County during the late 19th and early 20th centuries faced systemic discrimination that became a defining feature of the region's identity. State legislation, including the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, along with national economic instability, particularly the Long Depression (1873–1896) and xenophobic policies in California influenced legislation and attitudes in Humboldt County. These forces combined with long-held local prejudices and …