Californians and others: marginalised children and the Golden State during the Great Depression.

Hodgson, Jack David (2021) Californians and others: marginalised children and the Golden State during the Great Depression. Doctoral thesis, Northumbria University.

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Abstract

This thesis addresses the marginalisation of children in the state of California during the Great Depression. It argues that there was a culture of ‘Californians and others’ prevalent across the state and its institutions which stemmed from ideas of white Californian superiority. Children who were not white, Protestant, and possessing Californian state residency were perceived to be culturally, intellectually, and at times biologically inferior and this fundamentally shaped their experiences, resulting in their citizenship being actively contested by people and the state. The experiences of Mexican American and white migratory children in California are examined with regard to education, law enforcement, state custody and institutions, legal rights, and access to healthcare and emergency relief. Not only is this a contribution to the historical understanding of the experiences of domestic migrants and Mexican-origin children in California, but it also provides a state-level portrait of the limited impact of the New Deal on working-class children. Additionally, this thesis employs a synthesised approach to researching historical children where source material may be limited. By combining a traditional ‘history of childhood’ approach with aspects of ‘children’s history’ where possible, it is hoped it may provide a framework for others going forward to enable the incorporation of historical children’s ‘voices’ into a discipline that remains dominated by distinctly adult perspectives.

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