312 N. Spring St., Los Angeles 90012 (at N. Main St.)
After the U.S. takeover of Alta California in 1848, the decline of the indigenous population accelerated, evidenced by a decrease in population; greater political, economic, and social marginalization; and the practice of Indian slavery.
During the 1850s and 1860s, L.A.’s indigenous people were routinely incarcerated for loitering, drunkenness, and begging. Then, on most Mondays, a local administrator auctioned off Indians who had been imprisoned for one week of servitude. The ironically named California Act for the Government and Protection of Indians of 1850 allowed any white person to post bail for convicted Indians, whom he could then require to pay off the fine by working for him—a new form of slave labor. According to George Harwood Phillips, in 1850 the Los Angeles Common Council declared, “When the city has no work in which to employ the chain gang, the Recorder shall, by means of notices conspicuously posted, notify the public that such a number of prisoners will be auctioned off to the highest bidder for private service.” Most Indians were sold to local ranchers who used them to perform agricultural labor. Indians were sold for anywhere from one to three dollars, one-third of which was to be given to the worker at the end of the week, if he or she had performed satisfactorily. This “wage” was usually paid in the form of liquor, often leading to a repeated cycle of arrest and forced servitude. The rear of the Downey Block served as L.A.’s slave mart and is now a federal courthouse.
Images:
- The northwest corner of Main St. and Temple St., now the site of a federal courthouse, 2010. Photo by Wendy Cheng.
- Drawing of the Downey Block on the northwest corner of Main St. and Temple St., date unknown. Courtesy of Los Angeles Public Library.