[forthcoming]
In 1897, Edward W. Anderson, a Black business owner, filed a lawsuit against John C. Fisher, manager of the Fisher Opera House in downtown San Diego. Anderson claimed that he and his wife, Mary Anderson, were denied their seats in the theater despite having presented their tickets. The Andersons won in the Justice Court of San Diego, and Fisher promptly appealed in the Superior Court of the County of San Diego. As with many cases, the documents from the case show changing strategies, claims, and statements. Fisher once claimed that a white man bought the tickets for the Andersons, but later on, he admitted that it was Edward Anderson who bought them. Moreover, though the theater was clearly a public amusement establishment, Fisher claimed that it was a “private enterprise.”
PRIMARY SOURCES:
Non-Digitized:
Anderson v. Fisher, Case No. 10661, San Diego County, Superior Court Case Files, San Diego History Center, Box 159, File 15.
Online:
“Theater Owners Sued,” Sacramento Daily Union, 25 July 1897.
Racial Violence and the West 