The Northern California town where lynchings were a point of pride, until they weren t
Dylan Svoboda
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Lizzie DuBose, 27, poses for a photo in a wooded area near a friend s home.Jungho Kim/Jungho Kim/Special to SFGATE
On a Tuesday evening in April, Lizzie Dubose, a 27-year-old African American college student from Placerville, California, tuned into the small Gold Rush town’s City Council meeting via Zoom, as she had every two weeks since last June, and patiently waited her turn to speak. DuBose listened as City Council members approved a pavement project, considered sending a letter opposing a state bill and confirmed appointees to its economic advisory committee. By 6 p.m., what she and hundreds of others on the virtual call had been waiting for finally came before the council: the future of Placerville’s controversial rough-and-tumble identity. Up first: its city logo.
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Two weeks after Placerville opted to nix a noose depicted on its city logo, officials affirmed that the area’s Gold Rush-era name, “Hangtown,” won’t be going anywhere.
City Council members voted unanimously to recognize that “Old Hangtown” and “Old Dry Diggins,” another moniker tied to the majority-white town’s mining past, are historically significant.
The decision arrives amid continuing acrimony over how to present the area’s Wild West origins. Three nooses were recently found hanging in the city, including two that weren’t removed because they were on private property and did not rise to the level of a crime, according to Placerville police.
Two weeks after Placerville, California, opted to nix a noose depicted on its city logo, officials affirmed that the areaâs Gold Rush-era name, âHangtown,â wonât be going anywhere.
City Council members voted unanimously to recognize that âOld Hangtownâ and âOld Dry Diggins,â another moniker tied to the majority-white townâs mining past, are historically significant.
The decision arrives amid continuing acrimony over how to present the areaâs Wild West origins. Three nooses were recently found hanging in the city, including two that werenât removed because they were on private property and did not rise to the level of a crime, according to Placerville police.
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