The Gold Rush era as designed by Ulysses Jenkins provides a Black‑American perspective on this period. It begins with the discovery of gold at Sutters' Mill and the migration of Blacks, Mexicans and Indians as well as Whites by ship to California. Above the bay are portraits of Mifflin W. Gibbs, publisher of the first Black newspaper and Mary Ellen Pleasant, a civil rights activist who helped defend Blacks arraigned under the fugitive slave laws. The globe represents the world's desire for the riches of the 49ers. Beside it stands William A. Leidesdorf, pilot of the first steamboat to arrive in San Francisco Bay, who later became a vice consul to Mexico.

Meanwhile, in the state capital at Monterey, ex‑Southerners passed laws-WHITES ONLY‑which did not allow people of Mexican, Black or Chinese descent to make claims. Biddy Mason, an ex‑slave from Georgia who fought extradition under the fugitive slave laws and who became wealthy, was known for her charity and was a founder of the African Methodist Church in Los Angeles. Joaquin Murieta, a legendary Mexican Robin Hood, fights for the oppressed: The landless who "squat" on the state; the "hanging tree" victims of prejudice; and the Indians who are slaughtered with the coming of the "Iron Horse."