Status Updates From The Way We Lived: Californi...

really skimming the readings here due to circumstances (largely poor time management) but I'm really looking forward to catching up and reading the whole thing eventually. an anthology of both native tales, poetry, mythology, and accounts of the genocide they faced from colonization. <--- which is primarily what I've read. it's so daunting when the bring up real locations I know about.

Shock and horrified to learn 1850’s California law allowed the slavery of California indigenous peoples if a white landowner stated they were vagrants. I don’t recall learning this in school at all. I remember to some extent the distancing of California from unjust laws of the south and the acts of Spanish missionaries. Disappointed to discover the level of sanitation of Californian white immigrants and laws.

I really like that individuals’ recounting of their lives, poems, songs, and myths are all in a larger font, while a broad summary and description (e.g., the elements from said story that apply to just that one tribe, all tribes in California, other insights, etc.) is in a smaller font and in short chunks.
It really gives the feeling of oral traditions and valuing the interviewees’ own words and accounts.

It’s so great to learn about the individual differences and similarities in practices between tribes in Northern California. I’ve been slow to read this (really true for any non-fiction for me compared to fiction) but it’s a fascinating read. Getting to see early 1900’s photography of people and structures like the round house really make it real.