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Alyssa Chavez

Mrs. Cheek

DBQ #3

5/12/17

Pat Brown

Governor Brown was a progressive thinker. His thoughts and ideas shaped California into

what it is today. Pat Brown had three major accomplishments throughout his time as governor.

Governor Brown’s three major accomplishments to improve California were his Master Plan for

Education, the Rumford Fair Housing Act and the McCone Commission.

Pat Brown never attended college but he understood how important it was (Pat). He

believed a college education lead to better jobs, better living, and better communities (Pat).

Brown could not afford to go to college growing up because it was too expensive (Pat). When he

became governor that was the first thing he wanted to change (Pat). That is when he came up

with his Master Plan for Higher Education (Pat). Brown’s plan consisted of creating many junior

colleges, eight state colleges, and three universities all across California (Pat). The junior

colleges were two years schools that allowed students to receive their AAs. State colleges were

four-year universities that allowed students to receive their BAs or BSs. The three universities

were created for the highest education, which allowed students to receive PhDs. He also planned

to do this all while keeping tuition low enough for working students to attend (Pat). Brown stated

that this would put California 25 years ahead of all the other states and he was absolutely correct

(Pat).

In 1946, California housing is segregated by race only it is hidden under housing

covenants (Postwar). This meant that real-estate agents would not sell African Americans homes
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under these covenants, which were owned by white people (Postwar). There are many housing

shortages across California due to wartime production and migration to the state for factory work

(Postwar). “When Anna and Henry Law, a Los Angeles-based African American couple, were

found guilty of violating a restrictive covenant in the deed of their home, they joined their case

with others in a class-action suit that traveled all the way to the Supreme Court” (Postwar). The

Supreme Court in 1948 decided that the strict covenants were in violation of the 14th amendment

(Postwar). “That same year, an alliance of union activists, white liberals, and African American

residents elected pharmacist William Byron Rumsford as state Assemblyman serving the

Oakland/Berkeley district.” (Postwar). After his victory, Rumsford became Northern California's

first African American to serve in the California legislature (Postwar). William continued to be a

civil rights activist and came up with the Rumford Fair Housing Act of 1963 (Postwar).

Governor Brown was a firm believer in equality for all and risked everything by supporting the

Rumford Fair Housing Act (Pat). Pat Brown faced losing his job for this bill but continued to

push it anyways (Pat). Brown’s hard work and dedication paid off when the bill barely passed in

1963 (Pat). When asked later on why he did it, he simply said it was the right thing to do (Pat).

Governor Brown’s last great accomplishment was the McCone Commission, which he

started to investigate the cause of the Watts Riots. He had them investigate because he couldn’t

believe at this point in time there were still riots going on for inequality. The riots went on for

three day and ended when Brown lifted curfew (McCone). The Commission found that the

reason the riots started was because a man was arrested for drunk and reckless driving

(McCone). After further investigation, they found that this was not a race riot but a riot of

disadvantaged people who were frustrated with their circumstances (McCone). The commission

also found that it was not just African Americans but other disadvantaged group who were at risk
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of doing this and they must find a solution to stop it (McCone). They came up with three

solutions to improve the disadvantaged communities the first was having steady work for these

people so that unemployment may drop, the second is improving their education system so that

the children may have a different life than their parents and the last is the law enforcement place

greater emphasis on crime prevention so the people know there is another way (McCone).

Pat Brown is known as the Godfather of modern California and for a good reason.

Governor Brown accomplished things that people of the state today could only dream of. He

gave us our modern higher education system. He fought for what was right no matter how much

it jeopardized him. California is the leading state in new and progressive ideas, which is all

thanks to Pat Brown who made it that way.

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Works Cited

McCone Commission Analyses the Watts Riots. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2017.

<http://www.irwinator.com/126/wdoc208.htm>.

Pat Brown. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 May 2017.

Postwar Activism -- The Rumford Fair Housing Act. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 May 2017.

<http://www.irwinator.com/126/wdoc183.htm>.