Native Sons of the Golden West
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The Native Sons of the Golden West is a charitable and fraternal organization founded in 1875 to promote the history and lore of the early days of the state of California.
Organized locally into "Parlors," the group is perhaps best-known for the large number of commemorative markers it has placed throughout the state.
One of the many "markers" of the Native Sons is featured in the movie "The Karate Kid" on the side of Daniel LaRusso's new school in California.
They have a sister organization, the Native Daughters of the Golden West. The term Golden West is a common colloquialism for California, popularly known as the Golden State.
It should also be noted that the Native Sons was basically a "nativist" organization that began as an "order embracing only the sons of those sturdy pioneers who arrived on this coast prior to the admission of California as a state" (New York Times, July 11, 1884). The Native Sons openly opposed Chinese, Mexican, and Japanese immigration and battled in the United States Supreme Court for Japanese-Americans to be disenfranchised during World War II (New York Times, July 27, 1942). Some have claimed this to be racist.
It is to be noted that the organization does have Asian American and African-American members, and some of these members have served in the order's highest offices.1 Women are also eligible to be members of the Native Sons as well as the Native Daughters of the Golden West.
Native Sons of the Golden West also said: “California was given by God to a white people, and with God’s strength we want to keep it as He gave it to us” (Cultural Mediations in Chinese American Literature, Fall 2002)[2]
[edit] Sources and Further Reading
2. Cultural Mediations in Chinese American Literature
[edit] External links
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