"Protecting The Settlers", illustration by J. R. Browne for his work The Indians Of California, 1864 [27]

The genocide and mistreatment of Native Americans throughout California’s history is gravely underrepresented in both local and state history. A general example of how the histories of Native Californians are read are described something like this:

“The Franciscan fathers intended to convert the Indians to Christianity and teach them the manners, morals and crafts of Europe so they could settle on the land and become loyal subjects of the church and the Spanish crown. Despite the padres’ best intentions, the venture came to grief. Although Indian men were trained in farming, and construction skills, they did not become self sufficient. The women found the European household arts tedious and useless, and the work of the garden and poultry yard sheer drudgery. Once in a while the mission Indians were allowed to scatter into the countryside to gather food, or to stage their dances and game ceremonies, but it was not enough to preserve their culture. … Disease also made rapid inroads in the Indian population, and fewer than 70 years between 1769 and 1836, Costanoan culture and society simply perished. … When control of the missions passed from church to civil authorities between 1834 and 1836, most of the surviving Indians drifted to ranchos or town fringes, homeless as well as landless. In the Palo Alto area, some lived on sheep and cattle ranches. Southeast of Palo Alto, three villages specializing in cloth manufacturing existed for a time under Chief Lopez Ynigo. .. By 1848, over 800 California land grants had been recorded, but most came after 1840, and nearly half were claimed by Americans and Europeans swarming into the area. Although the law permitted Indians to seek grants, few did. Why? Because land ownership was alien to their tradition”[1].

While this is a very brief overview of the history of the Indigenous community which lived in the Palo Alto area, summaries such as these promote common misconceptions such as the “disappearance” of Native peoples, and that the greatest impact to the Native community was by Spanish missionaries. In reality, though the Native people from the Palo Alto area were greatly impacted by Spanish missions, they were also greatly impacted by state and federal laws which promoted the extermination of Native Californians, and the racism of white American settlers.[2] Additionally, despite these devastating blows to Indigenous people across California, many Native Americans including the Ohlone are alive, still practicing their languages and culture today. (To learn more about the Muwekma and Ramaytush Ohlone from Palo Alto click here).

As bad as Spanish and Mexican rule was for Native Californians, the commencement of American rule no better news for Native Californians. Looking at the broader history of Indigenous people in California and the mistreatment and horrors many faced shapes a fuller picture of Californian history, and negates the idea that California was ever really a “Free State”.

The state of California spent approximately $1.7 million to murder 16,000 Native Californians from 1840 to 1870 –– wiping out about 80 percent of California’s Native American population. [3] However, many deaths were due to starvation and disease as Native Californians hid in some of the most inaccessible and inhospitable places to escape white American settlers. [4]

In 1850, when California became a state, the state and federal government believed it was necessary to create space for new settlers and claim the gold from tribal lands–the “Indian Problem” was a threat to American sovereignty. [5] At the first session of the state legislature, officials gave white settlers the right to: take custody of Native American children, arrest Native people for minor offenses (such as loitering or possessing alcohol), and forcibly put Native Americans convicted of crimes to work to pay off their fines; additionally, no white man could be convicted based on testimony of a Native Californian. [6] Further, through the Act for the Government and Protection of Indians, as many as 10,000 Native Californians were kidnapped and sold into slavery before Emancipation in 1863. [7]

In 1851, California’s first state governor, Peter Hardenman Burnett, set aside state money to arm local militias who were tasked with killing Native people. [8] Both states and local militias raided tribal outposts, shooting and scalping Native Americans. [9] Some local governments set bounties on Native American heads and paid settlers to steal the horses of Native people. [10] For example, in Shasta City, in 1851, officials offered a bounty of five dollars for every Californian Indian head turned in. [11] Unsuccessful miners found murdering and severing Native people’s heads as an easier way to make a living, and turned to freelance killing, receiving payment by the state government. [12]

These violent massacres wiped out large populations of Native Californians, including: approximately 100 Pomo at Clear Lake (north of San Francisco) in 1850, 150 Wintu at Hayfork in 1852, 450 Tolowa at Yontocket in 1853, 42 Winnemen Wintu at Kaibai Creek in 1854, and more. [13][14] More commonly, and near-daily, Native Californians were killed in small random attacks.[15]

By the mid-1870s, white Californians lost interest in exterminating Native Californians and turned to forced assimilation, which had already been taking place across the United States through the Civilization Fund Act created in 1819.[16]

As described by the US Army’s Richard Henry Pratt in 1892: “A great general has said that the only good Indian is a dead one. In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him and save the man.”[17]

From 1860 until 1978, Native children were forcibly removed from their families and sent to live and attend classes at boarding schools. [18] California’s first off-reservation boarding school, Sherman Indian School, was founded in 1892 in Perris, California. [19] Students ranged from age 5 to 20 and were not allowed to return home so as to prevent cultural knowledge from being passed down. [20] Due to the poor conditions and abusive nature of Sherman Indian School, many children died while at school and were buried in campus cemetery. [21] Sherman Indian School was then relocated to Riverside, California in 1903 and continues to enroll Native American children and now goes by the name Sherman Indian High School (SIHS). [22]

Today, California has the most people of Native American heritage in the nation with 109 federally recognized tribes from across the United States and another 78 tribes still petitioning for recognition (this includes the Muwekma Ohlone from the Bay Area). [23] In 2019, California governor, Gavin Newsom made a first-of-its-kind apology to the state’s Native peoples and established a “truth and healing council” to provide Native perspectives on the historical record. [24] This council will include tribal representatives and others to issue a report on the historical relationship between Native Californians and the state of California. [25] If state and local governments truly wish to support all their citizens, there has to be more of an effort to represent, acknowledge, and educate people about the Native Californian history of survival and oppression.

In an effort to highlight the history of slavery in California, the ACLU of Northern California, KQED, the California Historical Society, and the Equal Justice Society created the public education project, Gold Chains: The Hidden History of Slavery in California. To learn more, and to understand how this history shaped California’s racial landscape today, visit their website click here.[26]