California Native American History

1. California Native American History

2. Origins- Native Point of View • Tribal Creation Stories • We have been here since time immemorial • The first people on this land were the animal people • Our people were created from the earth • All stories give us a connection to the land we are from

3. Origins- Anthro Point of View • Anthropological View • People came across the Bering Land Bridge and settled across the Americas • People have only settled here for the past 15,000 yrs • Creation stories are myths and legend

4. Pre European Contact • Population up to 1,000,000 people • Over 500 bands/tribes • People occupied every corner of the state • Cultures and languages as different as English and Chinese

5. European Contact

6. Missions • 21 Catholic Missions from San Diego to Sonoma • Constructed with the forced labor of California Indians • Were unable to practice their traditions and ceremonies. • Average lifespan of an Indian taken to a mission was less than 10 years. • By the late 1820’s over 100,000 Indians died as a direct result of the missions.

7. Gold Rush • Gold “discovered” at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma – 1848 • California’s non-Indian population grew by over 100,000 by 1850. • Settlers began stealing women and children for laborers.

8. 1849- Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo • 1850- California admitted as a State • 1850- Act for the Government and Protection of Indians • 1850- 1852: 18 Treaties reserving 8,619,000 acres as Indian land (unratified) • State funded militias and bounties against Indians • Disease

9. Reservations may not be in a tribe’s aboriginal territory. Southern CA tribes receive Reservations in late 1800’s. Not all tribes received Reservations Dispossession of tribal lands Rancherias were created for “homeless” tribes Not all landless tribes received Rancherias Tribes that did not receive land may not be recognized by the federal government as a “Tribe” Reservations and Rancherias

10. Dawes Act- 1887 • Objective was to assimilate tribes • Allotted tribal members with individual parcels of reservation land • Remaining parcels were sold to non-Indians • Resulted in the loss of thousands of acres of reservation land • Eroded traditional cultural values and life ways

11. Termination • Rancheria Termination Act of 1958 terminated 39 Rancherias • Government effort to assimilate Indians • Much of the lands were sold • 26 Rancherias have been restored since the early 1980s (not an easy battle).

12. Contemporary California Indians • Tribes are proud of their cultural and ethnic identity • Tribes are protecting their cultural places • Tribes still have their ceremonies, their songs, and their traditions • Tribes are re-telling history

14. American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978 • After over 300 years of religious persecution tribes are able to practice their traditional religions without fear. • U.S. federal laws interfered with the traditional religious practices of many American Indians • The purpose is to preserve and protect Native American religions

16. Tribal Governance

17. Passage of the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) Many contemporary tribes adopted IRA Constitutions Worked to reduce the privatization of tribes’ common holdings Eroded many forms of traditional tribal governance Some tribes that were not previously recognized organized under the IRA Tribal Government- 1934

18. 109 Federally Recognized and about 50 Unrecognized or Unacknowledged tribes Reservations and Rancherias may not be in a Tribe’s ancestral territory. Business Enterprises Government entities Cultural entities Today’s Tribes

19. Tribal Council • Sovereign government (Federally recognized tribes) • Jurisdiction over reservation land • Elected officials • May follow more traditional forms of government, ie: hereditary leadership, or specific customs, rules, and laws • Tribal Council members may have fulltime jobs

20. Questions?