Free Expression-Stories of Peoples
Indians 101: A very short overview of the California missions
In 1769 Father Junípero Serra leads a group of Franciscan friars from Baja California to establish a series of 21 missions, starting with San Diego de Alcalá in the south. The group is accompanied by a column of Spanish soldiers under the leadership of Captain Gaspar de Portolá. As with other Christian missionaries throughout the world, there was little concern for aboriginal lifeways: to become Christian required abandoning aboriginal traditions and fully assimilating to European way of life.
Indians 201: Indian Rebellions at the California Missions
While it is not uncommon for some textbooks to give the impression that the California Native Americans passively accepted the missions, Spanish domination, and conversion to Christianity, this was not the case. In fact, the initial reception of the Franciscans by the California Indians was anything but hospitable. Resistance to the Spanish Franciscans was organized by village chiefs and influential shamans and this resistance was expressed through attacks on both the Spanish soldiers and the Franciscan missionaries. During the first years of the Franciscan mission program the overt hostility of the Indians slowed the rate of the establishment of the new missions and created a reliance on soldiers to protect the Franciscans.
Indians 201: The death toll in the California missions
Indian people did not come joyously or freely to live and work at the new missions. In his book Where the Lightning Strikes: The Lives of American Indian Sacred Places, Peter Nabokov writes:
by Ojibwa 6/10/22 DAILY KOS
In 1821 Mexico obtained independence from Spain. In the Plan of Iguala, Mexico did away with all legal distinctions regarding Indians and reaffirmed that Indians were citizens of Mexico on an equal basis with non-Indians.
Indians 101: American Indians and Mexico 200 years ago, 1825
Mexico obtained its independence from Spain in 1821. Mexican territory as this time extended into the American Southwest (the present-day American states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California). Under the Treaty of Córdobav between Spain and Mexico all Indians were granted Mexican citizenship. In the Plan of Iguala which outlined Mexico’s political and social structure Mexico did away with all legal distinctions regarding Indians and reaffirmed that Indians were citizens of Mexico on an equal basis with non-Indians.
Indians 201: American Indians and the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
While Mexico declared its independence from Spain on September 16, 1810, it did not actually obtain its independence until September 27, 1821. In the Plan de Iguala, Mexico did away with all legal distinctions regarding Indians and reaffirmed that Indians were citizens of Mexico on an equal basis with non-Indians. In other words, Mexico, unlike the United States, gave Indians full citizenship and recognized that Indians had rights to their land.
Indians 101: The Franciscans in the American Southwest
"you must explain to the natives of the land that there is only one god in heaven, and the emperor on earth to rule and govern it, whose subjects they must all become and whom they must serve."
Indians 101: The California treaties of 1851-1852
In 1850, California became a U.S. state. The American system, unlike the Spanish and Mexican systems, viewed Indians not as an economic asset but as an impediment to civilization, to the ability to acquire individual wealth.
Juneteenth Means Protecting Our History and Safeguarding Our Joy
by Jazmyne Owens 18/6/25 NEW AMERICA
On June 19, 1865, a Union army under the leadership of General Gordon Granger rode into Galveston, Texas, and announced that all enslaved African Americans were free—two years after the Emancipation Proclamation had been signed, and two months after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered, ending the Civil War. Despite the enormous economic and social impact of the Transatlantic Slave Trade in the United States, Juneteenth only became a federal holiday in 2021. The first Juneteenth celebration, however, took place in 1866 and Black communities have been celebrating it on a yearly basis ever since.
Juneteenth is the most widely known US emancipation celebration – but it’s not the only one
by Adria R Walker 19/6/25 The Guardian
In Galveston, Texas, it wasn’t until 19 June 1865 that people who were enslaved found out about the declaration. Though Robert E Lee had surrendered in April, people continued fighting for the lost cause for months.
The Midnight Cry
After all, there are now almost 19 million Seventh-Day Adventists and 8 million Jehovah’s Witnesses. Both groups came from just a handful of stubborn Millerites after the majority of the movement had decamped in disgust. The Millerites were a protestant group that had gone from zero to 100,000 members in a decade. They were named for William Miller, a farmer and Bible enthusiast from that fabulous generator of new faiths, the "burned-over district" of New York. Miller, like many Americans around the time of the Revolution, had spent his early life as deist, believing in a remote God who had little to do with human beings. But following a "foxhole conversion" during the War of 1812, in which he had survived while men all around him died, Miller began to study the Bible, looking for signs and portents. Starting in 1832, Miller published a series of letters in a local Baptist paper. In these letters, Miller first laid out his unique theories about prophetic statements found in the Old Testament book of Daniel. In particular, Miller latched on this verse.
