Image of ‘Hanging of the Mexican Woman”

Image of ‘Hanging of the Mexican Woman”

Josefa Segovia
Juanita
California
Gold Rush
First Hanging
Racial Stereotypes
Mexicans

William Downie wrote Hunting for Gold which incorporated the image titled “Hanging of the Mexican Woman,” referring to the lynching of Josefa Segovia. She was the only woman to ever be hung in California. Her killing places a large emphasis on the treatment of immigrants and of women. The black and white illustration shows Josefa at her execution before the act takes place. There is a large crowd gathered made up of men only. She holds her arms out in a crucifix manner, demonstrating that she is being sacrificed. The title refers to her as simply the “Mexican woman”. The little knowledge of her identity reflects how her execution was reported, or rather misreported at the time. In newspapers, often her name was not included, she was sexualised and was also referred to as “Juanita”.

William Downie, Hunting for Gold, (San Francisco: The California Publishing Co.) 1893

Online book archive of Robert Downie’s Hunting for Gold

https://archive.org/details/cihm_02753

published 1893

Sarah Smith

Original publication of text is held by the National Library of Canada.

Downie, R. (1893). Hunting for gold [microform]: reminiscences [sic] of personal experience and research in the early days of the Pacific Coast from Alaska to Panama. [eBook] San Francisco: California Pub. Co., p.151.

English

Visual - black and white illustration

19th century California