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
On April 17th, I attended an Honors College thesis presentation by Barbara Armeta, an American Studies major here at UMass Lowell. Throughout her presentation, she explains the research she did on a ranch owned by her family and the history of the land. Armeta started her presentation by going all the way back through her family line to the end of the Spanish - American war. She introduced Electa Ousley, who was one of the first women in Gilroy, CA to be granted the right to claim her own land. Ousley and her husband were one of the early pioneers in Santa Clara County who made the wagon train journey during the Gold Rush.
In David Vine’s, Island of Shame, he discusses the impoverishment of expulsion and reveals the harsh truth about what happened to the residents of Diego Garcia. He does this by living with and interviewing families that have been deeply affected by their exile, which aided him in obtaining a new perspective to help develop clear and concise evidence for the lawsuit established by the Chagossians who are fighting for their rights as human beings and their land.
This piece of evidence strongly supports Bosmajian’s point about redefinition because it provides a first-hand account of the horrors, as opposed to a second-hand account, where the account would be considered less accurate, and therefore, less reliable. Also Bartolome de las Casas is an outside observer, a bystander, of these horrors, which makes his account more unprejudiced, and therefore more trustworthy, because he is neither the oppressor nor the oppressed. The shock value of this piece also helps in making the argument more unprejudiced, and therefore more trustworthy, because he is neither the oppressor nor the oppressed. The shock value of this piece also helps in making the argument more persuasive since it appeals to the emotions. The reader becomes disgusted and horrified at the acts described in the eyewitness account, and this reaction pushes the reader to see how redefining the American Indians into “savages” can lead to such acts (Bosmajian 348).
In this paper, I will be summarizing the following chapters: Chapter 3: "A Legacy of Hate: The Conquest of Mexico’s Northwest”; Chapter 4: “Remember the Alamo: The Colonization of Texas”; and Chapter 5: “Freedom in a Cage: The Colonization of New Mexico. All three chapters are from the book, “Occupied America, A History of Chicanos” by Rodolfo F. Acuna. In chapter three, Acuna explains the causes of the war between Mexico and North America. In chapter four, Acuna explains the colonization of Texas and how Mexicans migrated from Mexico to Texas. In chapter five, Acuna explains the colonization of New Mexico and the economic changes that the people had to go through.
For this essay we will be analyzing and reviewing the article, “How Cabeza De Vaca Lived with, Worked among, and finally left the Indians of Texas.” By Nancy P. Hickerson. This article illuminates the fact that without the help of the so called Native “savages,” Cabeza wouldn't have been able to continue on his journey of this new world and would have probably faced death without the kindness of the Indigenous peoples. “In this article I temporarily bypass the issue of the route and turn my attention to the sociocultural setting of the Relacion and Cabeza De Vaca’s activities in that setting, I shift emphasis to to the resources- social, economic, and cultural available to Cabeza De Vaca as he charted the course that eventually led him, along with three other companions, from coastal Texas towards New Spain. It was after all, while living among and interacting with the Native populations of Texas that he was able to develop and execute the successful strategy for his journey.” She
For the longest time, Americans have celebrated Columbus day, commemorating the admiral’s supposed discovery of America. But, in “The Inconvenient Indian”, Thomas King shatters this idea and develops a new thought in the mind of the reader about natives. By using excellent rhetoric and syntax, King is able to use logos, ethos and pathos in his chapter “Forget Columbus”, where he develops the argument that the stories told in history aren’t always a true representation of how it actually happened.
In his 1998 narrative Knights of Spain, Warriors of the Sun: Hernando de Soto and the South’s Ancient Chiefdoms, Charles Hudson reconstructs the route taken by Hernando de Soto in his 1539 - 1542 exploration of southeastern North America. Hudson places this reconstruction within a historical context, using firsthand accounts to detail the people encountered as well as the social and political circumstances of de Soto’s army. He also succeeds in weaving in his person knowledge of the archeology and geography of the area to add further depth. Hudson possesses the rare ability to tell this historic tale in such a way as to bring forth the humanity of the players involved - it is easy to become lost in the dramatic storytelling, especially in the case of certain battles or massacres. All in
One of the earliest forms of resistance against the American occupation of the Greater Southwest was social banditry. As individuals realized through personal experiences that the promises in the treaty were not being upheld they resisted through banditry. Acuna describes social bandits as individuals who rebel against an injustice and through that rebellion gain the popular support of their race. They are not necessarily social revolutionaries with goals of transforming society. These individuals have just had enough (71). Citing the work of British social historian Eric Hobsbawn, Gilberto Lopez y Rivas explains that “social banditry is one of the most primitive forms of organized social protest and [that it is] a phenomenon almost universally [identified] with rural conditions where the oppressed has neither developed a political awareness nor acquired more effective means of social agitation” (Lopez y Rivas, 1979, 100). Mexicans living in Texas and the Greater Southwest after the Mexican- American War fit into this description of a rural environment. Moreover, any access they had to US courts and politics was undermined by
A more terrible scene in history has never presented itself to me, your presidente, than those of the last days I have witnessed in the village of Aguacaliente. Tormented by nameless fears and paranoia, the delirium of tyranny seized him and took him over, drove him to the verge of madness, and he himself taken up by the rumor and gossip found the urge to make pilgrimage to Aguacaliente, even, perhaps, to pay homage to the norteamericano said to having taken refuge in a tree and providing cure for any number of ailments. After he had made attempt at any number of remedies, all proving fruitless for those ailments that had overtaken him and bent him cripple. Feddermann had reigned thirty-seven years, but now his rule was numbered, the hour having
In Deborah Miranda’s memoir “Bad Indians”, she uses documents, images, and drawings to expose colonial violence and provides evidence of a history of conquest. There are different types of colonial violence that are depicted throughout her memoir, such as: physical, emotional, sexual, and cultural violence. Additionally, Miranda exposes the nature of colonial violence by providing evidence by implementing particular sources to contribute in confirming the history of conquest throughout the lives of California Mission Indians.
Mariano Guadalupe Vallejo was an influential man from California who unlike Vigil y Alarid, was in support of Americans coming to California. He thought that it would be strong, positive and economically smart to develop unoccupied lands. But what he did not realize was that the Americans were not interested in adapting to the culture of Mexicans. They wanted the Mexicans to adapt to the Anglo ways of life. On June 14, 1846 a group of 35 or so American men led by John C. Fremont invaded Sonoma expecting to go to war with the Mexicans but found nothing but a sleeping town (Padilla, 53). Vallejo writes “Doubtless God had decreed that June 1846 was to be the blackest month of my life” (Padilla, 53). The Americans that Vallejo had befriended had turned against him: “…who seems to have struck a bargain with the devil: he had been friendly toward the same American immigrants who were now about to seize him as a prisoner of war” (Padilla, 54). The irony was there was no war in Sonoma at the “Bear Flag Revolt” but because of this
As a new and mysterious world awaits to be discovered, daring conquistadors leave their home country of Spain in a journey of exploration. Two men by the name of Narvaez and Cabeza de Vaca set sail to thwart the untrustworthy Cortez who, behind the backs of Narvaez and Cabeza de Vaca, sailed to the New World with half of Narvaez’s crew in search of treasures. However, the journey would prove to be treacherous as the conquistadors would have to encounter hostile Native Americans and strange terrain they have never seen before. Throughout the expedition, future encounters between the Native Americans and conquistadors were heavily influenced by the personalities of the individuals and past experiences the Native Americans faced.
"In Hispanic history, as in every variety of Western history, one never has the luxury of taking point of view for granted. Hispanics -- like Indians, Anglos, and every other group -- could be victims as well as victimizers, and the meanings of the past could be seen, at times, to be riding a seesaw" ( Limerick, 257).
From Reséndez’s foundation of European enslavement and its far-reaching impact on Native American populations, Reséndez examined racial components in the southwest. It is impossible to separate racial tension from the study of Indian slavery. Christopher Columbus’s journals as contemporary letters show the Spanish perception of
In the book The Conquest of America by Tzvetan Todorov, Todorov brings about an interesting look into the expeditions of Columbus, based on Columbus’ own writings. Initially, one can see Columbus nearly overwhelmed by the beauty of these lands that he has encountered. He creates vivid pictures that stand out in the imagination, colored by a "marvelous" descriptive style. Todorov gives us an interpretation of Columbus’ discovery of America, and the Spaniards’ subsequent conquest, colonization, and destruction of pre-Columbian cultures in Mexico and the Caribbean. Tzvetan Todorov examines the beliefs and behavior of the Spanish conquistadors and of the Aztecs.