preview

Asistencia San Antonio De Palla Analysis

Better Essays
Open Document

The museum of “Asistencia San Antonio de Pala” was very interesting due to the rich history and historical artifacts it contains. What I learned was not so much about the museum itself but about an individual named Ambrosio Ortega. Although unnoticed by the public, he was a great and elevating man, known to the southern California Indians. Ortega was a tribal man from the Ka-wee-as tribe. Ortega experiences the sad tragedy of his country being taken away from them by a white man under the protection of the flag; by due process of “law’. But it was clearly robbery just the same-bare faced, shameless, cold-blooded robbery under the law of the “manifest destiny”. Ortega was just one of the thousands of southern Indians to be taken away from their …show more content…

One great artifact that is a must see is the bell tower. It is the only freestanding one of its kind in the Alta California mission chain. It draws its inspiration from an older bell tower at Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Another interesting and inspiring view was the cemetery. This is the original Mission cemetery. There is buried the remains of hundreds of Native American converts to Catholicism as well as other early California pioneers. When walking through the cemetery I noticed most of the graves were old wooden crosses and very few headstones were erected. While walking I began to realize I was walking where hundreds if not thousands of Indians were killed, tortured, raped and abused. My thought process after this was very humble. I believe it is something worthwhile to remember why the Mission was there in the first place which was to conquer and keep conquering rather it came from the Spanish or any other nation. It was both an honor and a humble experience to be able to walk where my ancestors were buried and are

Get Access