A shellmound is a graveyard, a mortuary complex, an ancient structure. It’s a place where the first peoples who live along the coasts and rivers of California, used to bury their dead. This article briefly explores why that is.
Spanish Influence on Indigenous Use of Shellmounds
This missionization of local indigenous people can be characterized by the abduction, forced baptism, and slavery of Indigenous people by Spanish Priests and Conquistadors. And, the outright theft of natural resources (like food) which indigenous people had helped cultivate and depended upon for all of their food, medicine, building materials, etc.
In spite of the homefield advantage, and larger numbers, indigenous people could not defeat the colonizing Spanish force.
When Spanish colonizers had ruined the ecosystem by grazing, logging, razing, and waste, indigenous people found themselves with little choice but to join the missions or flee to places outside of the reach of the mission system. (In reality, no Indigenous Californians were safe from the missions, except those in the far North of California, where Missions did not exist.)
Because the Missions were located in Central Areas; and because of the Area of Influence Spanish Invaders were able to exert dominance over was so vast (due to horses); indigenous people of the area known as the Bay Area were forced to abandon their burial practices because they had to abandon the land their graveyard was situated upon.
This meant that indigenous people had to figure out how to bury their dead using the resources found away from the coasts and rivers they were used to.
It also meant that, indigenous people were being buried in graveyards at Catholic Missions all around the Bay Area.
American Influence on Indigenous Use of Shellmounds
Soon, American aggressors would begin to appear in what they though was their frontier land; an “Indian Frontier”. This was during the time of the “Wild West”, when Indian Wars were being actively fought.
The Indian Wars would be romanticized for years to come in newspaper stories, and on the screen especially during the 1950’s with such films/shows as:
Winchester ’73
Gunsmoke
The Lone Ranger
Davey Crockett
They Died with Their Boots On
But there was nothing romantic about the real story of the California Genocide.
Americans would purposely destroy or vandalize sacred sites for entertainment or out of spite. One famous shellmound, in Alameda, California, was used to pave Bay Farm Road in 1908. The bodies of ancestors were routinely ground up and used as aggregate for cement, or even calcium enrichment for roses and other flowers (instead of eggshells.)
Militias were paid by the United States Government, and (later) the State of California, to hunt and kill all indigenous people. The United States Army “expeditions”, especially what they liked to call “punitive expeditions”, were marked by the execution of indigenous men, and the rape, torture, and mass-murder of indigenous women and children.
In 1848, the area now known as California was ceded by Mexico, at the end of the Mexican-American war. Two years later, California would officially earn statehood, and its first governor, Peter Hardeman Burnett, during his first State of the State address mentioned the California genocide explicitly.
“A war of extermination will continue … until the Indian race becomes extinct,” Peter Hardeman Burnett, the First Governor of California continued, “the inevitable destiny of the race is beyond the power or wisdom of man to avert.”
Now, all Indigenous people were actively under threat by all white people, who were paid for each “Indian” they killed, baby they stole, or person forced into slavery via “prisoner debt” to white business and property owners. Prison debt was money owed to a person or business for a crime committed against it. These were often times for extraordinary amounts of money which the debtor was only able to pay through involuntary labor or servitude. The prison debt system was created to control Indigenous People, and People of Color, and prevent them from gaining any foothold or capital in a society and world which white people viewed themselves as being solely entitled to because of their religious or racial beliefs.
Once Native Californians were being displaced, forced onto reservations, into indebted servitude, boarding schools, orphanages; and their burial places forced abandoned, and desecrated by American invaders. Many indigenous people began the practice of cremation. One of the most common reason for why someone is cremated was because they wouldn’t be able to be buried with their ancestors, next to their loved ones, or with their family or tribe. It was better to live the afterlife free of their body than to have it defiled.
Both are fronted by Corrina Gould, an Ohlone woman, who has managed to command the attention and monies from thousands of people in the San Francisco Bay Area, and beyond.
Corrina Gould has been lauded for her fundraising to establish urban gardens; create ad-hoc Ohlone language programs; and even negotiate for a cultural easement at a well-known park, in the City of Oakland, California.
But Corrina Gould’s work has been done without the inclusion, consultation, or participation of her own tribe.
And the victories that Gould has managed to score, however shallow—and in the name of “all Ohlone people”—do not actually benefit all Ohlone people. In fact, Corrina Gould is actively diverting money and support away from her own tribe.
Shuumi Land Tax, (fundraising donations) collected by the Sogorea Te Land Trust, does not go to all Ohlone People.
“Shuumi” stays within the Sogorea Te Land Trust, and is only disbursed to Corrina Gould’s personal corporation: the Confederated Villages of the Lisjan Nation, INC.–which, in turn, only benefits Gould’s immediate family.
[For reference, Corrina Gould’s immediate family are:
(1) herself, (2) Cheyenne Gould, (3) Deja Gould, and (4) Chatah Gould.
For all intents and purposes, these are the only members of what Corrina Gould alleges is a “confederation of villages”.]
And…. While Corrina Gould claims that her non-profit corporation is a Tribal Government, it is not. And, despite Corrina Gould’s claims that she is a Tribal Chairwoman, she is not.
Tribal Chairpersons are voted for by the enrolled members of a tribe, in a democratic process which all legitimate Native American tribes are required to employ, per the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Not only do enrolled tribal members vote for the Tribal Chairpersons; they vote for Tribal Council Members; and vote for or against the laws, regulations and actions taken by their Tribe.
At most, Gould was “elected” as CEO by the Board of Directors of her corporation.
But, in reality, Corrina Gould is the self-appointed Chief Executive Officer of a corporation she formed to affect the illusion of legitimacy; a shell corporation she could use not just for her own personal monetary gain, but also satisfy her narcissistic need to be the only indian in the room—the end-all, be-all expert on Ohlone “indianness”.
Gabriel Duncan
The fact that the three officers of the Confederated Villages of the Lisjan Nation, INC.are:Corrina Gould, Deja Gouldand “Chayenne Zepeda” (AKA, “Cheyenne Gould”), should be a red flag regarding the legitimacy of the corporation as a “tribal government”, and “confederation of villages”.
The name of Gould’s corporation itself; a so-called “confederation of villages” forming a “nation” would imply the Confederated Villages of the Lisjan Nation, INC. is a large group of people—presumably, Ohlone people—who represent a number of different Ohlone villages in the San Francisco Bay Area.
If this were true: one would expect to see a roll or roster of villages; articles of confederationsigned by representatives of all the villages in the confederation.
The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe is composed of all surviving lineages of Missions San Jose, Delores, and Santa Clara.
Muwekma boasts over 700 enrolled tribal members; and a proven, documentedcontiguous history of living in the San Francisco Bay Area for over 10,000 years.
Muwekma is a Chochenyo word which means la gente (“the people”.) This is a commonality, for tribes’ names to literally mean “us”, or “the people”. The reason why is mostly philosophical, and only a teensy bit linguistic; but this is true for the majority of groups of people when asked “what do you call yourselves?” [Indigenous People have the right to name themselves, and be referred to by the name they choose. UN Resolution 61/295; adopted Sept-13-2007.]
Alisal was the Land Grant Rancheria Muwekma people lived and worked on after the secularization of the missions, as vaqueros.
Much of this land was later bought by the Bernal family (which became Pleasanton), and a southern portion was purchased by Randolph Hearst.
Muwekma people have called themselves by a few names: Lisjannes, Muwekma, the Mission San Jose Band of Indians, and Ohlone.
However, Ohlone people have never called themselves “Chochenyo”, or “The Chochenyo”, because Chochenyo is an Ohlone Language, not a tribal group.
And Muwekma people have never referred to themselves as the “Verona Band of Alameda County”; this was a name used to identify Muwekma people by the U.S. Government, used in their own internal BIA/Department of Interior documents.
Aside from the fact that:
“Lisjan” is a Chochenyo and Nisenan name for Pleasanton, California; that,
Corrina Gould’s corporation is not a confederation of Ohlone villages, or a Tribal Government; and that,
Shuumi Land Tax doesn’t actually go to the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area…
There is the very real and (largely) unreported pattern of hostility and contempt that Corrina Gould harbors for any person who tries to advocate for, or even dares to mention the name “Muwekma”.
In the four years the Alameda Native History Project has been operating, I have come into contact with countless indigenous people who have (tried to) work with Corrina Gould in various professional and academic capacities. These credible people, experts in their fields, sought me out, to tell me about their experiences with Corrina Gould, after I publicly withdrew my support, and admitted my own mistake in ever co-signing the narrative that Gould had appropriated (almost word-for-word) from the history of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area.
This project completely, and uncompromisingly protects, and will continue to protectthe anonymity of our sources; because, some of these sources are afraid of being subjected to even more harassment and possibly violence from Corrina Gould’s supporters than they have already experienced. [However, we are not afraid. And, this topic–and the subjects within this essay–need to be discussed and brought to the general public; because they are newsworthy and important.]
This public mis-understanding is especially problematic because it means that Corrina Gould is diverting money and support away from the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Franciso Bay Area; the tribe from which Corrina Gould is a recognized descendant. [Alameda City Council, “Listening Session and Partnership Opportunities with Local Indigenous People and Ohlone Tribes“, Dec-6-2022]
So, while people generously donate to a corporation, which they believe will help all Ohlone people….
While the Sogorea Te Land Trust, and Corrina Gould, continue to profit from the public’s belief their donations fund programs which benefit a much larger group of Ohlone people than they actually do….
Ohlone people will continue to suffer harms from colonization and political erasure–not just from the United States, and Spanish Governments’ policies of eradication and assimilation–but also, from misinformation and diversion by someone who would rather exploit their own indigenous identity (, and the public’s genuine good will and support for Ohlone people) for personal gain.
These are the top two priorities of the indigenous people of the San Francisco Bay Area. Once known as “Costanoans” because they, Muwekma Ohlone people, are among the First Peoples of the California Coast.
Let them know that the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area has been in the Bay Area for over 10,000 years; and they deserve a land base on their own tribal homeland.
Muwekma deserves reaffirmation of their status as a Federally Recognized Tribe. Muwekma has the right to have a land base on their ancestral homeland, in a region where they are in danger of being gentrified and priced out of.
Save Shellmounds Not Parking Lots campaign image of archaeologists sifting through soil in a cemetery. Title reads: “You wouldn’t let them dig up your grandma. Why would you let them dig up ours?”
The San Francisco Bay Area had well over 425 shellmounds.
Gabriel Duncan, from the Alameda Native History Project, estimates the true number of shellmounds around the S.F. Bay Area’s shoreline is closer to seven or eight-hundred shellmounds, which existed before European invasion and colonization.
Shellmounds are ancient burial grounds used by the First People of the San Francisco Bay Area for over 10,000 years. Shellmounds form ancient mortuary complexes created by Ohlone, Miwok, and Karkin people. Shellmounds were not village sites; but they were places where ceremonies dedicated to indigenous ancestors were performed; and large seasonal gatherings were held nearby to celebrate the unity, harmony, and balance indigenous people share with the earth, each other, our ancestors, and all creation.
Grave robbing by universities and treasure hunters; as well as desecration by railroad companies, oil refineries, and quarry operators, has made the remaining San Francisco Bay Area Shellmounds one of the most endangered cultural resources in the world.
One of the chief defilers of shellmounds are quarry companies. These companies are still operating today, at places like the San Rafael Rock Quarry–which is home to no less than five shellmounds; and Dutra Materials Quarry, in Richmond, California–an area dotted with the highest concentration of shellmounds in the East Bay.
But not much is being said about the historical and ongoing desecration and defiling of indigenous bodies to build the infrastructure and institutions all around us.
This is surprising, considering the amount of time, effort, and fundraising which has gone into “preserving” a parking lot in West Berkeley, and protesting a thriving and established shopping mall in Emeryville, California.
While other cities and corporations used shellmounds to level their train tracks, and pack for roadways: the Angel Island Immigration Station is one of the best surviving answers to the question of “What Happened to the Shellmounds?”
Angel Island was home to about four shellmounds. All of which were quarried and used as a base for the concrete to construct the immigration buildings now standing as Angel Island State Park. However, there is no mention of this fact in the park brochure, or uttered by any tour guide on the island.
The historical and continuing desecration goes unspoken, and right before our very eyes; all over the San Francisco Bay Area.
Instead of directly addressing and challenging the corporations and cities responsible for the desecration of Ohlone, Miwok, and Karkin burial grounds, and sacred sites: advocates and allies are being fooled into believing these parking lots (in West Berkeley), and post-industrial waste sites (in East Oakland) are the priority for the fight against desecration of indigenous land. This is not true.
“Saving” parking lots is not an indigenous priority over stopping the desecration of indigenous sacred sites today.
Optic-driven, PR events, like urban gardens, and cultural easements to use our own land for free, do not address the fact that shellmounds are being quarried into extinction. That these ancient structures are being erased by shoreline development, and urbanization of the San Francisco Bay Area waterfront.
This situation will not change; the desecration will not stop, until our supporters and allies start to critically assess the information being given to them by non-profit corporations trying to fundraise for their money, and compare that with information provided by scholars, experts, and bona fide tribes like the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area.
It’s hard to say exactly what this plaque meant to me, growing up, adopted, in Alameda. This was a tangible symbol of my Native American heritage; something connected to my identity. Proof that my people actually existed somewhere. Even though I couldn’t see them, or be with them. It was also a source of horrors; knowing that I was living on an Indian Burial Mound.
This was supposed to be an art project; with some ghost stories, hand made beading, and hand-made historic reproductions of traditional Native American garments and adornments.
All I wanted to do was find out if my grandfather’s house really was built on an Indian Burial Mound. I thought I was asking a simple question, that local historians would be able to answer in the same way they could erudiate on Victorian Houses, and Electric Railways.
Instead–when I went to the Alameda Museum–the subject was dismissed.
“Somebody already did that,” I was told.
An unnamed docent from the Alameda Museum asked me, “Wasn’t it just a trash heap?”
Searching For Answers
It soon became obvious that Non-Native Historians were neither interested, nor knowledgeable about the Alameda Shellmounds, or the First Alamedans; I realized I would have to perform the work.
Not just to find out for myself; but to counter non-native apathy, and gate-keeping; and hold this knowledge in trust for other native people who search for their own heritage, too.
But how do I find out more about the Alameda Shellmounds, and their history, when the Alameda Museum doesn’t even care?
I would have to find, search, index, and analyze several volumes of information; across several sources, and locales.
This is the progression of sources I consulted, regarding this topic. Research is still ongoing. Check the ANHP Wiki for specifics, excerpts, transcriptions, and more.
Existing, Aggregated Information RE: Shellmounds in Alameda
Books:
Alameda: A Geological History, Imelda Merlin, 1977
Shellmounds of the San Francisco Bay Area, N.C. Nelson, 1914
Alameda Historic Records
Learned:
Where the “Sathers Mound” actually was;
There was more than one shellmound in Alameda;
People used shellmounds to pave sidewalks and roads.
Newspapers
Search expanded to regional and state newspapers; like the Oakland Tribune, and the Alta Daily California.
Learned:
First excavation of the Alameda Shellmound was 1892, sponsored by the San Francisco Call newspaper;
California Academy of Science was involved in 1892 excavation;
Several artifacts reportedly gifted to U.C. Berkeley Anthropology Museum.
University/Research Institutions
Relevant material found in the holdings of:
University of California, Berkeley;
San Francisco State University;
California Academy of Science.
Museums
Phoebe A Hearst Museum, Berkeley, California
California Academy of Science, San Francisco, California
Coyote Hills Regional Park, Fremont, California
California Indian Museum and Cultural Center, Santa Rosa, California
California State Indian Museum, Sacramento, California
Alameda Museum, Alameda, California (Errantly attributed Ohlone artifacts to “a branch of the Miwok tribe” for decades.)
“Somebody already did that.”
Imelda Merlin
Imelda Merlin is a famous Alamedan. Her Master’s Thesis for the University of California, Berkeley, was published in 1977 as Alameda: A Geological History. This book contains a Map of Live Oaks, which features several shellmounds.
Imelda Merlin’s book is considered the “Alameda bible” as far as local historians are concerned. It contains excerpts from, and references to, some of the core historic records of the City of Alameda. However, the map is of Live Oaks, and does not appear to be a serious attempt to show the accurate locations of shellmounds which existed in Alameda around 1850; and the sections concerning indigenous occupation of Alameda and extremely light on verifiable citations.
N.C. [Nels Christian] Nelson
Was an anthropology student at the University of California, Berkeley. Worked for John C. Merriam. Merriam and Nelson both went on an exploratory expedition of the San Francisco Bay Region, where Nelson surveyed and analyzed shellmounds.
In 1914, N.C. Nelson published his findings in “Shellmounds of the San Francisco Bay Region”, which featured the “Map of the San Francisco Bay Region, Showing the Distribution of Shell Heaps”.
This is the most thorough survey of the Bay Area Shellmounds ever made; and Nelson’s work is heavily cited by historians, newspapers, and researchers, alike. Nelson’s map represents the positions of shellmounds he and his team personally observed, which makes his work a primary source.
Confronting the Current Record
Reconciling local “common knowledge” with Public Records and Official Studies
Issues presented by Imelda Merlin’s Map
Citations are missing, incorrect, and/or do not substantively match or explain the locations of shellmounds in content, or context. For instance, the 1850 “Whitcher’s Survey” map of the Alameda area has been lost to time, even though it was referenced as being on prominent display in Alameda’s City Hall. This survey appears several times in Merlin’s work, all with hand-drawn additions by Imelda Merlin, herself.
Multiple Versions of N.C. Nelson’s Map
Aside from the official U.C. Berkeley, University Press printing of Nelson’s Map; there are versions with more Shellmounds, and different numbers. However no addendum or update by Nelson has been recovered; drawing into question the accuracy of these other, unofficial, maps purportedly attributed to Nelson.
Complete Reliance by Non-Native Historians on Unvetted Sources
Hometown pride may have blinded local historians. But even credible witnesses can give unreliable testimony. There is an argument for considering Merlin’s map as a Tertiary Source.
Non-Native Attitudes that the Burial Mound Issue is “Settled”
Resulting in a fundamental lack of knowledge and comprehension of local historical events by local historians and curators–who are supposed to be the experts on this subject, among other Alameda History. The assumption that there is nothing more to find, and no more to learn about the Alameda shellmounds, meant that no research was performed regarding the History of the First Alamedans–until now.
As this project continued, I learned that there was a lot left unsaid, and even more Alameda History to be uncovered beyond answering the question: “What happened to the shellmounds?”
The following is an email sent to John Keenan, volunteer at the Museum of the San Ramon Valley, in reply to his request for topics for Zoom Lectures at the museum:
Land Acknowledgement is an important step in naming and acknowledging the people who actually belong to this land. It’s a proclamation that has no legal implications, as far as I can tell. But it is the first step in naming the people whose land you are on, and acknowledging the circumstances which forced them off of it, and into obscurity. It is an attempt to undo the continuing erasure (or omission) of the history of our people, and one way to begin the process of inviting Native American people to be a part of the planning process; as well as to make space for the representation of the actual lived experiences of Native American people.
By acknowledging this land is Ohlone territory, you are honoring Ohlone people by referring to them by the name that they chose for themselves. And you are helping to correct the inaccurate representations of who has been here (“since time immemorial”–but at least for [7,000] years.)
Many times, historical societies, and museums refuse to acknowledge, or take seriously the factual (historical) background of this place. But it only takes the introduction and study of archeological, ethnographic, and direct statements by Native People, in the last 50 years for one to realize, and determine that this is indeed Ohlone Territory.
For instance, the last recorded tribal group in your area was the Verona Band of Indians, they appeared in at least two Indian Censuses, J.P. Harrington’s Research, and most recently in Randall Milliken’s detailed and thorough analysis of Mission Records. The Verona Band of Indians was recognized as a tribe by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and is known today as the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area, which claims the entire San Ramon Valley area as their homeland. Furthermore, overtures made to the existence of groups in places like “Lisjan”, are direct references to places where Ohlone people lived and worked on ranches in the post-Mission Period–as “Lisjan” is a Maidu place name for Pleasanton, California.
Inline attachment: image showing Muwekma Tribal Territory, “Some of the Direct Muwekma Ohlone Lineal Descendant Tribal Districts and Villages”
In spite of this, museums and historical societies, such as the Museum of the San Ramon Valley, continue to insist that the tribal groups of your area were Miwok; when, in fact, they were Miwok-speaking Ohlone People. And the only reason Ohlone people were misidentified was because of the blind reliance on the languages spoken by the Native People here as the sole identifying indicator of a tribe’s identity. This, of course, is a result of the fact Miwok was the primary language spoken in California Missions. (However, Jose Guzman, pictured below, spoke Chochenyo, which is an Ohlone language.)
By continuing to misidentify Ohlone people–who are alive and well today–and refusing to acknowledge their lives, and contributions to this area, is continuing to omit large portions of a rich and interesting history, some of which can only be presented by Ohlone People, themselves. This is aside from the reliance upon, and repetition of, what’s widely seen as explicitly racist, antiquated, and offensive language and references to Native American People, often still seen in museums, and historical societies, today.
[Inline attachments: 1. picture of Ohlone ancestor, Jose (“Joe”) Guzman, seated in a chair, holding a cane, on a ranch in Niles, California–unidentified woman standing behind him, perhaps one of his daughters;(2.) Jose Guzman’s son, and grand-children, also in Niles, California. Both pictures were taken in 1934.]
It is for these reasons, among many others, that Land Acknowledgement is an important facet to honoring the people of this area. But it is also a step forward in presenting accurate historical information, and respectful representation, of the people whose land you are on, and benefit from.
It is also for these reasons (among many others) I would be unable to present information about Native People in the San Ramon Valley area under the guise that they are “Miwok”. Because I know this is a false representation of the facts.
Please find the attached “Muwekma Greeting”, an official document published by the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is extremely thorough and detailed; the most pertinent facts have been verified and augmented by the Bureau of Indian Affair’s own Research and Acknowledgement Division.
I hope this will help you as you consider which topics and information the Museum of the San Ramon Valley chooses to present to the public. I am copying this email to the museum’s main email address, as well.
Introduced by Senator Cortese (Coauthor: Senator Wieckowski) (Coauthors: Assembly Members Kalra, Lee, and Low)
March 07, 2022
Relative to the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST
SJR 13, as amended, Cortese. Muwekma Ohlone Tribe: federal recognition.
This measure would urge the United States Congress and the Department of the Interior and its Bureau of Indian Affairs to reaffirm and restore the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe as a federally recognized Indian tribe and include the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe in the Federal Register as a recognized tribe.
Fiscal Committee: NO
WHEREAS, The United States Federal District Court of the District of Columbia recognized in Muwekma Tribe v. Babbitt (2000) 133 F.Supp.2d 30 that “The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe is a tribe of Ohlone Indians indigenous to the present-day San Francisco Bay Area. In the early part of the Twentieth Century, the Department of the Interior recognized the Muwekma Tribe as an Indian tribe under the jurisdiction of the United States. In more recent times, however, and despite its steadfast efforts, the Muwekma Tribe has been unable to obtain federal recognition, a status vital for the Tribe and its members.”; and
WHEREAS, The United States Federal District Court of the District of Columbia recognized in Muwekma Ohlone Tribe v. Kempthorne (D.D.C. 2006) 452 F.Supp.2d 105 that “The following facts are not in dispute. Muwekma is a group of American Indians indigenous to the San Francisco Bay area, the members of which are direct descendants of the historical Mission San Jose Tribe, also known as the Pleasanton or Verona Band of Alameda County (the “Verona Band”). From 1914 to 1927, the Verona Band was recognized by the federal government as an Indian tribe. Neither the United States Congress nor any executive agency ever formally withdrew federal recognition of the Verona Band.”; and
WHEREAS, The Muwekma Ohlone people, who never left their aboriginal land and were once pronounced extinct by anthropologists, have retained their culture and social identity for the past 230 years; and
WHEREAS, The Muwekma Ohlone people have left a record of approximately 13,000 years of human history; and
WHEREAS, The United States government maintained a “trust” relationship with three Costanoan tribal groups, including the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, historically identified as the Verona Band, by the Bureau of Indian Affairs from 1906 to 1927; and
WHEREAS, The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe was wrongly removed from the Federal Register in 1927 despite its “trust” relationship and its previous efforts to foster and secure federal recognition as an Indian tribe; and
WHEREAS, The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe enrolled with and was approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs during the years between 1928 and 1933, inclusive, 1948 and 1957, inclusive, and 1968 and 1971, inclusive, under the 1928 California Jurisdictional Act, attended Indian boarding schools between 1930 and 1950, inclusive, and have since organized according to the Bureau’s directives, but still have no right to be legally considered an Indian tribe without first obtaining reaffirmation and formal acknowledgment by the Secretary of the Interior; and
WHEREAS, There are over 600 individual descendants of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe in the San Francisco Bay Area who have been identified by the Bureau of Indian Affairs; and
WHEREAS, European migration led to the near decimation of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe and the lack of formal recognition after 1927 by the Department of the Interior suggests a disregard for the cultural diversity and historical presence that the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe has offered to our state, including service in the United States Armed Services in previous wars and military conflicts spanning from World War I through the present day; and
WHEREAS, Several California counties and elected officials have officially supported the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe in its efforts for recognition through legislation commending their efforts and historical and social accomplishments, supporting requests for historical claim by the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, and urging the federal government to reaffirm and restore the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe as a federally recognized tribe; and
WHEREAS, It is imperative that the Department of the Interior and the federal government officially recognize the historical and social history of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe through its efforts to attain federal recognition; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature does hereby urge the United States Congress and the Department of the Interior and its Bureau of Indian Affairs to reaffirm and restore the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe as a federally recognized tribe and include the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe in the Federal Register as a recognized tribe; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, to the Secretary of the Interior, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the Majority Leader of the Senate, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the United States Congress.
This text of the Senate Joint Resolution Number 13 was taken directly from the California Legislative Information website. You can find more information about the Senate Joint Resolution for Federal Recognition of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe–as well as read the current text of the resolution–on the official CA Legislative Information website, at:
This past week, we remembered the children who were forced into Boarding Schools, and never left. As we wore orange shirts, and declared “never again”; “never forgotten”; and “bring them home”… there’s an even larger group of contemporary Native Americans who asked for all of these things in the name of Jesus Christ.
But, is it appropriate?
Praying to the god of the people who buried our ancestors in mass graves at boarding schools, while hand-in-hand with the descendants of the very same people responsible for the massacre[s], enslavement, and forced conversion of millions of Native Californians?
Indigenous Family Visiting a Mass Grave, in Canada, where Indigenous Children were buried in unmarked graves at an Indian Boarding School
This might seem like a big kumbaya moment for people who want to “Kill the Indian”, and “Save the Man”. This might seem like reconciliation for the horrors of Manifest Destiny, and the colonization of California, and the rest of the “New World”.
it’s not the truth.
Indigenous people should not be proud of their white-washed conversion to the Judeo-Christian faith; nor should they uplift the racist, violent, two-faced ethics that come with a set of beliefs that are (arguably) wholly responsible for the ills of modern Native American society.
Ills like colorism, homophobia, anti-blackness, syphilis, tuberculosis, and blood quantum. Just to name a few.
In a time when there is so much emphasis on Indigenous people “reconnecting” to their roots, and cultures; on learning our Native Tongues–I beg the question:
Why is the opening prayer at Powwows in English, and to the very God used as an excuse to kill and displace millions of the very same people gathered to dance and celebrate Native American/Indigenous culture?
Land Back ProtestDecapitated statue of Junipero Serra. (CC BY-SA 4.0 Tzerrer)Land Back Protest Black HillsProtesters against the Dakota Access Pipeline, in solidarity with Standing Rock [GNU Free Documentation License 1.2 (S L O W K I N G.)]
In a time when the effigies of people like Junipero Serra are being torn down; when we oppose oil & gas pipelines, and lithium mines en masse; and we shout slogans like “Land Back”, and “Decolonize”…
Why are powwows a safe space for Colonization?
Probably because Pow-wow, and powwowing seem to have been created in New England, in the 17th Century, by the Pennsylvania Dutch, and German-speaking colonizers, as rituals and practices meant to heal people and livestock, using the Bible as their primary source of reference and power. The word powwow actually referred to the Priest performing these Catholic/Christian rituals–and not to any gathering, or specific ritual, itself.
“The Long Lost Friend”, German Powwow Book, published in 1819. Full Text Here
Whether the word powwow was created by the Narragansett tribe in Rhode Island–to refer to a priest [which is the same meaning of the German word]–or whether the people simply re-appropriated the New English word to refer to their own medicine men (because that was something which white people could understand more easily than the true indigenous concept of a priest or holy person,) we will probably never know.
It is also possible that, when Roger Williams wrote “A Key into the Language of America”, in 1643, that he was unable to distinguish between a hybridized language–which had already been influenced by the Dutch and German speaking colonizers–and the actual, canonical, language used pre-contact by Narragansett people.
But the European roots of the word and practice of “powwow” cannot be ignored.
What’s more interesting, is the that opening prayer at many powwows are Christian prayers, in English, which closely match the prayers set forth in German powwow books, published three hundred years ago.
At first, I viewed powwows as sad, desperate dances that Native Americans were forced to perform in front of U.S. military officers, and their families–like how Spaniards forced Mission Indians to dance for their entertainment–but now it looks like the term, and concept, of “healing through dancing” is directly drawn from the Germanic roots of a European culture and practice of “powwow”.
And the reverence, and deference given to the Native American Powwow Master of Ceremonies–who speaks the opening prayer–bears no recognizable difference from the treatment given the German folk magic “powwow” priest.
This will obviously be upsetting to people who have based their entire identities around the Native American Powwow, and Powwow Dancing, but this could be the exact reason why powwows were able to exist throughout all decades of colonization–because powwows either are, or were seen as, direct analogs to something which exists within the German and European traditions of folk magic.
The erasure of indigenous culture hinges on Europeanizing indigenous beliefs and cultural & spiritual practices. Whether through Spanish Catholic, or Germanic/Dutch Christianity, religious analogs, and false equivocations were always used by white people for their own selfish aims: namely land and resources.
By re-writing the fundamental identity of, and Christianizing core indigenous beliefs, white people can more easily tell us who we are, and what we believe, to further their goal of the destruction of indigenous culture, and assimilation of indigenous people. Thereby completing the conversion of people they considered as “dirty heathens”, and achieving their stated goal of “Killing the Indian, and Saving The Man”.
Because, once you are under the jurisdiction of the White God, any white priest holds (or with-holds) the power of eternal salvation (or damnation) over you. This was the ultimate aim of Catholic Missions in California: the subjugation of indigenous people to the power of The Church.
But it appears that German and Dutch colonizers were able to re-write indigenous history and culture, while simultaneously “studying”, and attempting to “preserve it.”
This practice is most apparent during the “Salvage Archaeology” period. But it is also so insidious as to have been introduced to us by white people as our own culture and beliefs, after the colonizers’ very purposeful destruction of the same.
Image of Mormon Prophet, Joseph Smith, “Preaching to the Indians”
Without our records, our stories, and our histories, it is nearly impossible to fight the misinformation fed to us by white scholars and academia.
Indigenizing colonized spaces begins inside of you.
One way to fight indigenous erasure is to stop praying to our oppressors’ God; and to reject the concepts and trappings of a religion that was used as an excuse to kill millions of our ancestors in His name.
A Note To The Reader:
It is entirely speculation as to the true roots of what we call Powwows today. This subject has not been examined very closely by scholars, or researchers, as far as the author can tell. Any information and/or references that you have on this topic would be greatly appreciated. Please think critically about everything you are told regarding our past and history, and always take what you hear with a grain salt. But do your own research, and check the citations.
It was only supposed to be a visit. But I could not refuse the opportunity to stay, and answer questions about Native American stuff and History from a bunch of school children.
The lecturing part is kind of difficult, but Q & A is lit. The Alameda Native History Project supports alternative forms & modes of education, such as active, inquiry-based learning. As such, it is more natural to do something like introduce the exhibit and facilitate learning through the learner’s inquiry about specific objects, observations, scenarios, and problems.
In fact, the Alameda Native History Project is an example of the effectiveness of inquiry-based learning; and what a dedicated, resourceful learner can do on no budget, independently of any other organization or institution.
Overall, the aims and goals of this organization is to create a new, more accurate, and nuanced, narrative regarding the Indigenous History of the San Francisco Bay Area. And to do this by using science, and imagination, to re-capture something that is often referred to as “lost”, and “immemorial”.
To which I say: we haven’t even begun to interpret the artifacts left behind by our ancestors, and held in Universities, Museums, and private collections. Indigenous people are now, and have always been, the most well-qualified, and best suited to interpret our own history, and artifacts.
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I recently spoke with someone from the Martinez Historical Society over the phone, and they invited me to come and see their museum, and talk about their collection, and what might be available and relevant to Native American History in the San Francisco Bay Area. Our conversation was nice; and it sounded like they had an archive which was well put together. So I decided to drop by sometime.
On a recent Tuesday (14 June 2022,) I found myself in the City of Martinez, with my contract work finished, and the Borland House (aka “Martinez Museum) about to open. This was fortuitous, because the museum is only open on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, from 11:00 am, to 3:00 pm–except holidays.
When I reached the door steps of the Borland House, I called out, and introduced myself, to Mary, (I think,) who was just entering the front door. I found out Mary works for the museum when we introduced ourselves, inside. Mary set me up with an explanation of the self guided tour; and I signed the guest book, then entered the first room.
The first room was dedicated to the “The Native Americans of Martinez”; and to the Ranching Period, right after the Rancheria Period. With a really interesting focus on the history of Alhambra, and Fernandez Valleys.
The room was well-lit, and had a lot of space, even though there were: three large exhibit cases; an old cash register; a side-saddle, on a big mount; a complete and bonafide cowboy get-up; two flags (50-star and California bear); branding irons; a hitching post; a flat-iron stove, with the english flat iron… and something else in the corner by the window between the case and the get-up I can’t recall….
Now that I think about it, there’s a Cowboys and Indians Theme here.
There’s an implication of us, and them; before and after.
“Native Americans used to be here; but then we came; they left; and we built ranches (agriculture), infrastructure, and industry.”
I think it’s really important for you to know, that–from an Indigenous Perspective: The Mexican Rancheria and California Ranch Periods can be seen as one long Ranch Period, punctuated by violent foreigners with cows, horses, guns, and hats.
In fact, one of the primary areas of conflict were cows on tribal territory, without permission or payment, eating the primary food stock of not just one tribal group, but the primary cereal stock of all of the tribal groups in the region. Nuances include: the plants weren’t even ready to eat yet; and–when we complained–the conquistadors would raid our villages.
The Spanish and Mexican Era in California History is often miss-understood, and poorly interpreted, when it comes to the Indigenous experience during this time. And questions like “Where did all the ‘Indians’ go?” are a by-product of this lack of knowledge, and perspective. Real Indigenous California History can explain what happened, and fill in the gaps of the vague generalizations found in most textbooks, and taught by most universities and institutions today.
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The longer I stayed at the museum, and engaged in the exchange of knowledge and experience, the more I came to understand the nature of the misunderstanding and, therefore, misrepresentation of Native American History outside of institutions like Universities, and specialized Research Projects, like the Alameda Native History Project.
After all, local historical societies and museums are run by community members. The Borland House/Martinez Museum is an example of a local historical society which has very personal, and direct ties, to the living history of the community it serves. This is evidenced by Sandy’s family heirlooms, from the family ranch, in Fernandez Valley appearing in the Ranch Life Exhibit.
But these histories are not as dichotomous as one would assume.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, many Ohlone, Karkin, and Saclanes people became ranchers during what was largely considered the Ranch Period, inclusively. Because white people and white history–which is what is taught in schools, and most museums and other institutions–are unable to distinguish between different shades of brown: the movement of Indigenous people, through (and into) the Spanish and Mexican population went largely unnoticed. In the eyes of white history, we simply disappeared, ceased to be seen within the sea of brown faces laboring in fields, and breaking horses on ranches all throughout California. My great-grandpa was a Numu Cowboy.
As someone who was born and raised in America; who was adopted out of my tribe, and raised by white people; I understand the concept of, and experience multiple forms of otherness, in a very unique way. And I can recognize we have all been indoctrinated into believing the white excellence narrative of the founding of America at some time or another. And the belief that success only comes from dominance, and exploitation. This is the class structure that was created by these foreigners. People who aren’t even from here. These old, dead, christian, white supremacist, terrorist, European war criminals–on boats. Who are called heroes, pioneers, and innovators, today.
In reality, these people were riding the high of a religious fervor, following the heretical concept that God promised white people heaven on earth; a Zion in wait–in the form of “The Americas”–and that it was God’s will to purge this land of anyone but white christian fundamentalists (aka “God’s children”.)
The concept is called “Manifest Destiny”, and it was first heard in 1845. But these were just words used to name a belief that made it possible to justify so much harm, so quickly, to so many people; and to relieve white people of their individual guilt, and responsibility. After all, their God told them to massacre women, and children; spread disease through contaminated blankets; and destroy the Buffalo, and every other living creature on Earth. Why should they be responsible for their actions, when it was God’s Will to kill every heathen who couldn’t be saved, and every savage who couldn’t be tamed?
The true cost, and horrors of the Indian Wars have been largely unaccounted for; and such barbaric concerns were certainly not spoken of in a civilised Victorian society. The newspaper articles concerning “Injun”, “Indian”, “Red Man”, “Savage” are just as offending as you think they would be. Except, the articles about military engagements and victories never mention the war crimes. Which is strange, considering how much shit they were talking about everything else.
But this is still a narrative that centers colonization, and the colonizer. Any time you de-center the colonizer from Indigenous History, you only have Indigenous History.
The problem with white history is that it’s narcissistic. White history only wants to see itself reflected in the story of other people. White history does not want to learn the story of those people. Because the story of those people ended when white people conquered them.
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In the first room, Mary was talking with another woman, who I would find out is named Sandy. Sandy is a volunteer docent. She also has some pretty cool family heirlooms in the ranch displays. However, she is not very familiar with the Native American Exhibit. So, Mary and Sandy were going over the names on the maps, and the artifacts.
Unbeknownst to me, Mary, Sandy–and Maris, who I will meet in a minute–are all getting ready to host 40 school children for guided tours through the Borland House.
So, instead of trying to crowd around the Native American exhibit, I shunt off to the kitchenware, and the (very nice) bobcat fur. I look at the pictures of the men on the wall, and the wine press and grapes, and nice under-stairwell niche, that’s been turned into an exhibit about the “First Lady of Martinez”.
But I can still hear someone trying to work out the names on the maps. “Car-kwee-in? Yeah….” The not-so-sure voice said from behind.
“It’s Car-ken, like K-A-R-K-I-N.” I said, “That’s the name of the people who lived here.”
They apologized; and switched to the proper pronunciation. Which was cool. And then they started working identifying the objects in the case.
Most of the items were found in the hills behind the John Muir House. Beautiful arrowheads of all forms, shell necklace jewelry I’ve only seen in archaeological texts, in very good condition, right in front of me. Close enough to wonder at the adhesives developed to construct complex objects that require durability, like rattles, fans, and regalia.
There were strands of heishi beads in clamshells, and abalone pendants that look like they’re straight out of the book.
Someone asked if these beads and shells were treated as cash. And I just saw the opportunity to shift the paradigm a little. I know, I totally butt in, and man-splained. But, I was actually there specifically for the purpose of visiting local Bay Area Historical Societies, and seeing how they chose to curate Native American History, to find new sources of information, and creative methods and examples of curation and exhibit design.
And I thought what a shame it would be to have such a nice exhibit without the proper interpretation.
Plus, despite having the visual aids and information provided by the East Bay Regional Park District’s Ohlone Curriculum, these people were still having problems putting it all together. And I realized, maybe for the first time: that this isn’t their fault. That these people actually wanted to know more, and had taken the time, and done the work to find the best information available today.
It was clear the amount of care and reverence that was paid to Native History; and the importance these docents placed on actually learning about all of the exhibits in the local museum they helped curate. They were humble, honest, and willing to learn. And, despite none of us having planned any of this, we found ourselves sharing our mutual understanding of California’s history.
It started with an explanation of the economics of trade in the San Francisco Bay Area; and our (California Natives’) connection to each other all over the state. I outlined some of the more valuable things people traded with, and mentioned that scarcity and distance also played a role in something’s value. We didn’t simply trade shellbeads as money. We traded dug-out canoes, marriage regalia, houses, ceremonial items … and the components to make those items. Sometimes the components were equally as valuable as the finished item itself. I introduced the nuance that not everyone made regalia, or canoes, or arrows, or grew food; that these were specialized objects, created by artisans, and so trade with these artisans was different than trade for subsistence, or goods.
I mentioned the difference between the Tule Canoes, and the Dug-Out Miwok Canoes. We talked about the different language regions, and I helped compare and contrast the information provided by all of the East Bay Regional Park District’s Ohlone Curriculum Maps, providing annotation on the changes in research, and narrative, visualized in each one.
I told them that Miwok was the primary language spoken in Missions, so that’s why everyone thought all the Natives here were Miwok. That, when the Spanish came, we had a difficult choice to make, that we could have either stayed, and capitulated; or we could leave, and try and live our lives in the ways we knew how.
I told them how the people who stayed formed their own groups, and that the struggle became more politicized than a simple struggle of resistance. Because there were indigenous people who had converted and joined the missions, or worked for the conquistadors, or the white “Californios”, who were beginning to trickle in later on. And then there were the indigenous people who still chose to fight, and stay in the valleys and on the shorelines of their ancestors. These people were not united. And all of these groups became locked in a struggle against each other, and against the colonizing population. They were all struggling for power, and influence, and survival, ultimately.
In between there was the Spanish-Mexican War, and then the Mexican-American War; and during all of this, indigenous people slipped through the cracks. No one was really worried about the what Native Americans were doing, until California had been firmly placed in American control; because Indigenous people had effectively been removed from the crusade for land and gold. Colonization. Conquest.
Once the Americans had wrested California from Mexico, any indigenous people who could pass for Mexican or Spanish did; to avoid being rounded up and put into concentration camps called “reservations”. And we continued to live and labor here, virtually unnoticed, dormant, for the next seven or eight generations. Surviving numerous attempts at erasure, genocide, family separations, and government neglect.
I said we are becoming more visible. Like the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area. But it’s not a “comeback”, because we never left.
Then we talked about the fact that there’s not a lot of information on what happened to Native Americans after. But I explained that there is. That the only reason we don’t fully understand these items and their significance is because of a lack of imagination and grasp of metaphor on the part of early archaeologists who thought they were the expert in someone else’s culture.
I told them that people assume Native Americans weren’t engineers, or scientists because they don’t have the ecological background to (a) recognize, or (b) appreciate the fact that Native American civil engineering projects were academic exercises in recreating natural systems with such expertise that white people can’t tell the difference between rivers and creeks, and indigenous designed and constructed regional irrigation systems. That our systems were designed, essentially, to dissolve into the natural world without much as an oil slick on the surface. Because we are not colonizers and we do not attempt to conquer the natural world because we realize we are an integral part of it.
That Native Americans can tell you what happened to us; it’s just that no one listened to us ever, and we honestly still feel some type of way about what happened. [Is happening.] So that’s why we just don’t want to talk about our history so much.
But, if Native Americans were consulted, we would be able to fill in the holes, and be able to identify all of the items in their collections, as well as explain their uses and significance. Just as Mary, Sandy, Marvis, and I did.
And that was when Mary asked if I would mind staying to talk to some school children about everything I just said about the objects in the case, and the fact that Native American People are still here, and alive today.
Honestly, I was really interested in learning what the kids thought about these objects, and what they wanted to know about. This would be a great opportunity to create a kid-friendly narrative for some of my work that other educators can use or build on. Or… at the very least, help me figure out what kinds of labs, workshops or demos would be the most entertaining and the best for generating an organic, student-led discussion, guided by their inquiry.
I was this many years old when I found that’s called “de-centering” the teacher.
Anyway, it was hella fun. And It was really awesome to see these kids get excited to learn about these objects. And I was really happy that someone said something like “we have one have of those at home”, when I was showing them the mortar and pestle, because I got say, “That’s great! What do you make with it at home?” And explain how lots of people use metates, or mortar and pestles, to make their food, and stress how awesome it is that we have something in common. (And it’s even more awesome because it’s food!)
I learned a lot, myself, with the help of the day campers. And I was really just happy to help. It’s been a long time since I stood in front of an interpretive station to make a presentation. And, yeah. This was the beginning of an unofficial collaboration and partnership with the Martinez Historical Society.
Gabriel Duncan, of Alameda Native History Project, showing Martinez Day Campers a mortar and pestle.Looking up to make sure everything’s okay with the second mortar and pestle. … Hearing my mom’s voice yelling at me over the hardwood floors in my head.
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Over the next month, I would work with the Martinez Historical Society to give them some foam-mounted maps to address their historical and cartographic needs and wants. So, that’s where we’ll pick up in the next article.
The City of Alameda, Alameda Museum, and City of Albany all need to know that hyping Corrina Gould so much is really detrimental to the struggles of the actual Ohlone tribe of this area.
As much as you hate to hear me continue to say this, I’m going to be even more clear: The Confederated Villages of the Lisjan “NATION”, INC. is not a tribal government.
CVL is not a confederated group of tribes because there is no other tribal government to confederate with that isn’t already fully incorporated into the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco…
CVL was originally created as a mutual benefit corporation to benefit only one family, those related to Corrina Gould by birth or by marriage.
And, CVL was only created to bolster the illusion that Corrina Gould was a real tribal chairperson; even though her organization held no votes, and isn’t diverse enough to represent Ohlone people as a political group beyond Gould’s immediate family.
As much as you don’t want to listen; don’t want to look; it is necessary to break the black out on this subject.
Because your willful ignorance is what’s actually causing damage. Not my insistence on reiterating the facts of the matter.
I’m not a misogynist like Gould would have you believe. When I say #rematriatetheland, this is what I mean: honor the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area by recognizing their Sovereignty as a Tribal Nation of thousands…
By recognizing the OG Ohlone. The original, indigenous, woman-led resistance.
By not recognizing people like Charlene Nijmeh, Monica Arellano, and Dolores Marine Galvan, you’re only contributing to the indigenous erasure. And disrespecting tf out of the people you should be taking pains to build relationships with.
The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area doesn’t need your #shuumi. They need their Federal Recognition Restored.
That’s how Ohlone People get their land banks, land base, and land back.
Nothing short of Federal Recognition will do this.
Alameda Native History Project releases a new Alameda Shellmound Map Model to show the capability of Augmented Reality, when it comes to virtual classrooms, and independent & remote learning. And to showcase the direction of education, and uses for technology, as we progress further into the 21st Century.
This map is appropriate for use in a K-12 setting; and represents the Alameda Shellmounds, as seen by N.C. Nelson. [“Shellmounds of the San Francisco Bay Region”, Nelson, 1909] This map model was created by Gabriel Duncan, and it was stylized using Adobe Aero.
Alameda Native History Project is not sponsored by, or receiving money from Adobe. This is not a paid product placement. This is an example of how to use the tools already available to you, for free, to make really cool stuff for your class or presentations.
For more information about this model, or how to get a copy, email the Alameda Native History Project.
