Racial origins changed over time

Of the 44 original pobladores [colonists] who founded Los Angeles, only two were white, […] Of the other 42, 26 had some degree of African ancestry and 16 were Indians or mestizos [people of mixed Spanish and Indian blood]. — William M. Mason, 1975^[5]

Alta California, as the province was known then, marked the northern frontier of the Spanish empire in the New World. The story of California's African heritage began in 1781, when the forty-four settlers founded El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles, and more than half of these original pobladores—Antonio Mesa, Manuel Camero, Luis Quintero, José Moreno, their wives, and the wives of José Antonio Navarro and Basilio Rosas—had African ancestors, as was typical in the northern provinces of New Spain.^[6] The descendants of these early settlers eventually developed their own culture and sense of place and became the Californios. Some became owners of large landed estates, granted to them by the Crown, others became government leaders.

Some historians and people in general have emphasized a difference between "Spaniard" and a "Mexican" in terms of race. For example, "colonial Mexicans" are "persons of mixed blood."^[7] As Magnus Mörner has observed, the seven centuries prior to the discovery of the New World in Spain "witnessed extraordinary acculturation and race mixture." Furthermore, at one time in the history of Mexico there were more African slaves held in Mexico than in the colonial United States north of the border. Moreover, "Mestizos" born in wedlock, at least during the sixteenth century, were accepted as "Criollos", that is, as 'American Spaniards'." In short, the definition of "Mexican" often confuses race with nationality in the modern period and with caste in the colonial period. In addition, by this definition of "Mexican," neither an Indian, nor a Criollo, nor a Black would be Mexican because they are, by social definition at least, of "unmixed blood."^[8][9]

Like the original settlers of other parts of California and the American Southwest in general, the Pobladores reflected varied backgrounds: Peninsular (born in Spain), Criollo (born in the Americas of Spanish ancestry), Indian, Black, Mestizo (of mixed Spanish and Indian ancestry), Mulatto (of Spanish and African ancestry), and Zambo (of mixed Indian and African ancestry), among other combinations. Most of the colonists were of mixed racial backgrounds, and the process of mestizaje (racial mixing) continued in California, to include mixing with the various California Indian societies. Many Mestizos and Mulattos strove, sometimes successfully, to become identified as pure-blooded Spaniards, and many Indians and Black became Mestizos and Mulattos, because racial identity affected and reflected socio-economic mobility. At least seven of the 22 original, adult settlers managed to do this in the 1790 census of Los Angeles. In general, this meant that the descendants of the original settlers came to identify themselves as either Mestizo, or among the more socially prominent, as Spaniards.

From settlers to civic leaders, alcaldes and governors

The descendants of the settlers and soldiers naturally played a prominent role in developing the Los Angeles area. As colonial soldiers retired, the government granted them vast "ranchos" as partial or full payment, or in gratitude, for their services. Other settlers also acquired ranches. Compared to the size of the pueblo, these land grants were massive in size and rivaled the land holdings of the missions. They were instrumental in developing a local economy based on cattle ranching and their owners, later referred to as "rancho dons," became the predominant figures in Southern California's society. Among those exercising considerable political and economic power were Andrés Pico, and Alcaldes Francisco Reyes and Tiburcio Tapia. Pío Pico, the last governor of California under Mexican rule and the builder of the Pico House, was a large landowner and businessman. Grandchildren of Luis Quintero included Eugene Biscailuz, who served as sheriff of Los Angeles, and María Rita Valdes Villa, whose 1838 land grant is now Beverly Hills. Throughout the nineteenth century, the "rancho dons" and their families would intermarry with each other and with immigrant, Anglo-American merchants from New England, who arrived to trade in hides, creating strong family alliances.

Historic Walk of Los Pobladores

"Los Pobladores Historic Walk to Los Angeles" occurs each year over the Labor Day Weekend, which coincides with the September 4 anniversary of the city's founding. It is organized by the Los Pobladores 200, an association of the descendants of the original forty-four settlers and soldiers that accompanied them. The cities of San Gabriel and Los Angeles join to celebrate Los Pobladores' last nine-mile trek to the city center. Claremont columnist and administrator T. Willard Hunter and the descendants of the original founders of the city began the tradition of the walk in 1981.

Olvera Street Monument

The original plaque at the El Pueblo de Los Ángeles Historical Monument commemorating Los Pobladores, installed in the 1950s, mentioned their ethnicities but was quickly removed under suspicious circumstances. A second plaque installed in the 1970s omitted any reference to the African heritage of many of its members.^[10] Eventually, scholars from the Los Angeles area, including professors from the University of Southern California and California State University at Dominguez Hills, were part of a subcommittee formed during a citywide effort to commemorate the Los Angeles' 200th anniversary and they helped to erect the current plaque in 1981, which accurately depicts the multiracial makeup of the founders. The City Council refused to fund it, after which librarian and researcher Miriam Matthews paid for it out of her own pocket.

Los Pobladores plaque

Telling the history of the original families, known as Los Pobladores (the settlers), turned out to be "a political hot potato," according to Doyce Nunis, the USC professor of history who asked his former student Hata to chair the subcommittee.

"The descendants of Los Pobladores were very sensitive to the prospect of being revealed as having African roots," Nunis says. "But history is history, you can't change it. And the subcommittee found the evidence."

Also serving with Hata on the subcommittee was Miriam Matthews, the first African American to earn a degree in library science at USC, and who went on to have an illustrious career as a librarian and archivist of African American history in Los Angeles. The group also included David Almada, a Los Angeles Unified School District administrator serving at a time when few Latinos served in such positions, and Leonard Pitt, an emeritus professor of history at California State University, Northridge and author of Decline of the Californios: A Social History of the Spanish-Speaking Californians, 1846–1890. […]

The multiracial ethnicity of Los Pobladores had been rejected as rumors by the scholarly establishment, according to Hata, and never accepted until explicit census information was found in an archive in Seville. Documents confirmed that 11 families recruited by Felipe de Neve, the first Spanish governor of California, arrived from the Mexican provinces of Sinaloa and Sonora.^[11]

Four plaques were stolen in 2023.^[12]

Grand Marian Procession and Mass

2012 Grand Marian Procession through Downtown Los Angeles

Since 2011 the once common but ultimately lapsed custom of conducting a procession and mass in honor of Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles in commemoration of the founding of the City of Los Angeles in 1781 was revived by the Queen of Angels Foundation, with the support and approbation of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles as well as several civic leaders.^[13] The purpose of the procession and Mass is to invoke Our Lady of the Angels, namesake and patroness of the Archdiocese, City, and County of Los Angeles. The recently revived custom is a continuation of the original processions and Masses which commenced on the first anniversary of the founding of Los Angeles in 1782 and continued for nearly a century thereafter.

Escoltas

The four soldiers (escoltas), accompanied by their families, who escorted the Pobladores to El Pueblo de Los Angeles.

1. Corporal José Vicente Feliz, born about 1741, at Álamos, New Navarre, New Spain, where he married Maria Ygnacia Manuela Pinuelas in 1758, and where their six children were born. He came to Alta California with the Anza Expedition in 1775. On the way to California near El Presidio Real de San Ignacio de Túbac, Intendancy of Arizpe, New Spain, on the Anza Trail, their son, Jose Antonio was born, but his wife, Maria Ygnacia died in childbirth. She was buried in November 1775 at La Misión San Xavier del Bac, Intendancy of Arizpe, Mexico. The child, Jose Antonio arrived safely along with his brothers and sisters with the Expedition at the San Gabriel Mission on January 4, 1776, but he died nine months later. Another son, Jose de Jesus Feliz, born about 1764, at Álamos, New Navarre, married Maria Celia Bonifacia de Cota (daughter of Roque Jacinto de Cota and Juana Maria Verdugo), born about 1759, at the Royal Presidio of Loreto, Baja California.

2. Private Roque Jacinto de Cota, born about 1724, at El Fuerte del Marqués de Montesclaros, New Navarre, New Spain, the eldest son of Andres de Cota and Angela de Leon. He married Juana Maria Verdugo, born about 1740, at the Loreto Mission a small fishing port in Baja, Ca. He died on September 29, 1798, in San Fernando, Alta California, she died May 13, 1835, in Los Angeles, California. Roque Jacinto de Cota served as an escort for the Pobladores from the San Gabriel Mission to El Pueblo de La Reina de los Angeles on September 4, 1781. He is the founder of the older Cota family in Alta California.

3. Private Antonio de Cota, brother of Roque and Pablo Antonio Cota. Antonio married Maria Bernarda Chigila (Indian) on August 30, 1778, at Mission San Juan Capistrano. They had two children: Maria Antonia Marcela, born June 1, 1780, Mission San Juan Capistrano, and Matilde. In the 1790 census they are shown as residing in the Presidio of San Diego and later as residents of Los Angeles. Antonio died on June 12, 1815, and was buried at Mission San Gabriel. Maria Bernarda died August 23, 1821, and was buried in the Plaza church.

4. Private Francisco Salvador de Lugo, born about 1740, at San Felipe y Santiago de Sinaloa, New Navarre, New Spain. He married Juana Maria Rita Martinez, born about 1745, at San Felipe y Santiago de Sinaloa. She was the daughter of Jose Maria Martínez and Maria Josefa Vianazul. He died on May 16, 1805, in Santa Barbara, she died on March 23, 1790, in Santa Barbara. His daughter, Rosa Maria de Lugo, born about 1760, at San Felipe y Santiago de Sinaloa, married Pablo Antonio de Cota on November 30, 1776, at the Mission San Luis Obispo, Alta California. He was recruited by Captain Rivera in 1774 and arrived at the San Gabriel Mission in 1775. He was stationed in San Luis Obispo and the Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara until 1781, when he served as an escort from the San Gabriel Mission to El Pueblo de Los Angeles on September 4, 1781.