Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria

Last updated
Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria
Total population
1,080
Regions with significant populations
United States California)
Languages
English, Pomo, Miwok language
Religion
Roundhouse religion, Christianity, Kuksu
Related ethnic groups
Miwok and Pomo people

The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, [1] formerly known as the Federated Coast Miwok, is a federally recognized American Indian tribe of Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo Indians. [2] The tribe was officially restored to federal recognition in 2000 by the U.S. government pursuant to the Graton Rancheria Restoration Act. [3] [4]

Contents

Early history

Prior to European contact, the residents of Marin and Sonoma Counties were bands of Native Californians belonging to two linguistic and cultural groups: the Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo, living in close proximity to each other and indigenous to Marin and southern Sonoma Counties in Northern California. [5] Occupied at various times during more than thirty centuries, over 600 village sites have been identified in the Coast Miwok territory, stretching from Bodega Bay to the north, eastward beyond the towns of Cotati and Sonoma, and along the Point Reyes National Seashore and the shores of Tomales Bay.[ citation needed ]

The year 1579 was the earliest recorded account made by the Europeans of the Coast Miwok people on the coast of Marin in the Point Reyes area, as documented in a diary by Chaplain Fletcher who was aboard Sir Francis Drake's ship. [6] In 1595, The Coast Miwok came into contact with the crew of the San Agustin, a Manila Galleon, captained by Sebastião Rodrigues Soromenho and crewed by Filipino mariners. [7] During the Mission Period of 1779–1823, Mission San Francisco de Asís (also called "Mission Dolores"), Mission San Rafael Arcángel and Mission San Francisco Solano used Indians, including the Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo people, as a key source of labor.[ citation needed ]

As early as 1830, a Filipino named Domingo Felix married a Coast Miwok woman named Euphrasia Valencia, and they started a family who later settled in Lairds Landing in 1861. [8] [9] The family who descended from this multiracial couple remained there until 1955. [8] Some of the Coast Miwok trace their lineage to this couple. [10]

The territorial lands of the Southern Pomo are in Sonoma County, south of the Russian River to the southern Santa Rosa area.[ citation needed ] The Southern Pomo were the first inhabitants of what is now the town of Sebastopol, with several smaller traditional Southern Pomo villages located southeast of Sebastopol along the Laguna de Santa Rosa.[ citation needed ] California anthropologist Alfred L. Kroeber stated:

Batiklechawi, at Sebastapol at the head of the slough known as Laguna de Santa Rosa, was an important town, and therefore presumably the headquarters of a division [of the Southern Pomo]. Another group tentatively may be inferred as having occupied the bulk of the shores of the laguna. [11]

Recent history

Most of the Coast Miwok continued to live in their traditional lands through the 20th century. They worked in sawmills, as agricultural laborers, and fished to supplement their incomes.[ citation needed ]

The Graton Rancheria was a 15-acre (61,000 m2) Indian rancheria near Sebastopol in Sonoma County. The rancheria was established for Coast Miwok, Southern Pomo, and other Indians living in the region. In 1920, when Indians began to settle the land, they discovered that all but three acres (12,000 m2) were inhospitable.

The US government terminated the trust agreement (federal recognition) of the Graton Rancheria in 1958. Gloria Armstrong (Miwok) privately owned a 1-acre (4,000 m2) lot of the previous rancheria. [12] In 1992, the tribe initiated the procedure to regain federal recognition. [13] Recognition was achieved on December 27, 2000 through the Graton Rancheria Restoration Act passed by the U.S. Congress. [14] On April 18, 2008, the tribe acquired 254 acres (1.03 km2) of land. [15]

Since 2007, the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria has collaborated with Occidental Arts and Ecology in Occidental, California to create workshops called Tradition Environmental Knowledge on organic farming, herbology, native plant restoration, and ethnobotany. [16]

Government

The tribe has approximately 1,438 members (1,438 as of October 1, 2019). The tribe's government offices are located in Rohnert Park, California. Tribal governmental programs and services include sacred sites preservation and protection, Indian housing, Indian education, membership, cultural arts, social services, and tribal health. [17]

The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria are governed by a seven-member Tribal Council who are elected to two-year terms by the adult tribal membership. The current administration includes:

Notable tribal members

See also

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pomo</span> Indigenous Californians

The Pomo are a Native American people of California. Historical Pomo territory in Northern California was large, bordered by the Pacific Coast to the west, extending inland to Clear Lake, mainly between Cleone and Duncans Point. One small group, the Tceefoka, lived in the vicinity of present-day Stonyford, Colusa County, where they were separated from the majority of Pomo lands by Yuki and Wintuan speakers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miwok</span> Members of four linguistically related Native American groups

The Miwok are members of four linguistically related Native American groups Indigenous to what is now Northern California, who traditionally spoke one of the Miwok languages in the Utian family. The word Miwok means people in the Miwok languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coast Miwok</span> Tribe of Native American people

The Coast Miwok are an Indigenous people of California that were the second-largest tribe of the Miwok people. Coast Miwok inhabited the general area of present-day Marin County and southern Sonoma County in Northern California, from the Golden Gate north to Duncans Point and eastward to Sonoma Creek. Coast Miwok included the Bodega Bay Miwok, or Olamentko (Olamentke), from authenticated Miwok villages around Bodega Bay, the Marin Miwok, or Hookooeko (Huukuiko), and Southern Sonoma Miwok, or Lekahtewutko (Lekatuit). While they did not have an overarching name for themselves, the Coast Miwok word for people, Micha-ko, was suggested by A. L. Kroeber as a possible endonym, keeping with a common practice among tribal groups and the ethnographers studying them in the early 20th century and with the term Miwok itself, which is the Central Sierra Miwok word for 'people'.

The Bay Miwok are a cultural and linguistic group of Miwok, a Native American people in Northern California who live in Contra Costa County. They joined the Franciscan mission system during the early nineteenth century, suffered a devastating population decline, and lost their language as they intermarried with other native California ethnic groups and learned the Spanish language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonoma Valley</span> Valley in the North Bay region of California famous for winemaking

Sonoma Valley is a valley located in southeastern Sonoma County, California, in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. Known as the birthplace of the California wine industry, the valley is home to some of the earliest vineyards and wineries in the state, some of which survived the phylloxera epidemic of the 1870s and the impact of prohibition in the early 20th century. Today, the valley's wines are promoted by the U.S. federal government's Sonoma Valley and Carneros AVAs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patwin</span> Indigenous people in Northern California

The Patwin are a band of Wintun people in Northern California. The Patwin comprise the southern branch of the Wintun group, native inhabitants of California since approximately 500.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Miwok</span> Branch of the Miwok

The Lake Miwok are a branch of the Miwok, a Native American people of Northern California. The Lake Miwok lived in the Clear Lake basin of what is now called Lake County. While they did not have an overarching name for themselves, the Lake Miwok word for people, Hotsa-ho, was suggested by A. L. Kroeber as a possible endonym, keeping with a common practice among tribal groups and the ethnographers studying them in the early 20th Century and with the term Miwok itself, which is the Central Sierra Miwok word for people.

Gregory Michael Sarris is the Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria and the current Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian. Until 2022, Sarris was the Graton Rancheria Endowed Chair in Creative Writing and Native American Studies at Sonoma State University, where he taught classes in Native American Literature, American Literature, and Creative Writing. He is also President of the Graton Economic Development Authority. Sarris is currently the Distinguished Chair Emeritus at Sonoma State University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plains and Sierra Miwok</span> Largest group of California Indian Miwok people

The Plains and Sierra Miwok were once the largest group of California Indian Miwok people, Indigenous to California. Their homeland included regions of the Sacramento Valley, San Joaquin Valley, and the Sierra Nevada.

The Graton Rancheria was a 15.45-acre (62,500 m2) property in the coastal hills of northern California, about two miles (3 km) northwest of Sebastopol. The site is about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southwest of the hamlet of Graton, population 1,815 in 2000. The area is a few miles west of Santa Rosa, the largest of Sonoma County's nine cities and the County seat, population 147,595 in 2000. It was a former rancheria for Central Coast and Central valley tribes, including the Southern Pomo, a Hokan-speaking tribe, and Coast Miwok.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Redwood Valley Rancheria</span>

The Redwood Valley Rancheria is a federally recognized Indian tribe located in Redwood Valley, Mendocino County, California. The tribe is primarily composed of Pomo Indians. Redwood Valley Rancheria is a sovereign Indian tribe with the powers of self-governance.

The Advisory Council on California Indian Policy (ACCIP) was created by an act of the United States Congress and signed by President George H. W. Bush on October 14, 1992. It provided for the creation of a special advisory council made up of eighteen members with the purpose of studying the unique problems that California Native Americans face in receiving federal acknowledgment. Additionally, they were given the task of studying the social and economic conditions of California natives, “characterized by, among other things, alcohol and substance abuse, critical health problems, family violence and child abuse, lack of educational and employment opportunities, and significant barriers to tribal economic development.” Under the provisions for the act, the Advisory Council was to make recommendations regarding California Indian policy to the Congress and the Departments of the Interior and of Health and Human Services.

The Manchester Band of Pomo Indians of the Manchester Rancheria, formerly named the Manchester Band of Pomo Indians of the Manchester-Point Arena Rancheria, is a federally recognized tribe of Pomo Indians in California. The tribe is a community of Pomo Native Americans who are native to Northern California. The Bokeya society are enrolled in the Manchester Band of Pomo with the approval of their constitution and by-laws in 1936.

The Cloverdale Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California is a federally recognized tribe of Pomo Indians in California. The tribe is currently considered "landless", as they do not have any land that is in Federal Trust. In 2008 they acquired approximately 80 acres (32 ha) of property on the southern end of Cloverdale, California. The property is currently going through the Fee to Trust process to become the tribe's landbase.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sherwood Valley Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California</span> Ethnic group

The Sherwood Valley Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California is a federally recognized tribe of Pomo Indians in California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California</span> Tribe in California

The Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California is a federally recognized tribe of Pomo Indians, as well as some Wappo and Lake Miwok Indians, in California, headquartered in Middletown, California.

The Miwok are four Native American groups in Northern California.

References

  1. ↑ Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria Archived 2015-03-18 at the Wayback Machine (retrieved 6 Jan 2010)
  2. ↑ Federal Register Notice at 74 FR 40219, dated August 11, 2009 [ permanent dead link ]
  3. ↑ Pub. L. No. 106-568, Title XIV (114 Stat. 2939), 25 U.S.C. § 1300n et. seq. (2000)
  4. ↑ Search Results – THOMAS (Library of Congress)
  5. ↑ Schneider, Tsim D. (2021). The Archaeology of Refuge and Recourse: Coast Miwok Resilience and Indigenous Hinterlands in Colonial California. University of Arizona Press. ISBN   9780816542536.
  6. ↑ Fletcher, Francis (1637). "The world encompassed by Sir Francis Drake, being his next voyage to that to Nombre de Dios formerly imprinted; carefully collected out of the notes of Master Francis Fletcher, preacher in this imployment, and diuers others his followers in the same; offered now at last to publique view ..." Sir Francis Drake. pp. 77–91. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  7. ↑ Rodis, Rodel (26 October 2013). "The Second Coming of Filipinos to America". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  8. 1 2 Curwen, Thomas (2016-04-18). "Reminders of a bohemian artist's past will soon fade at Laird's Landing" . Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2022-10-19. So far as the written record showed, Domingo Felix and Euphrasia Valencia were the first residents of Laird's. He was Filipino, and she, Coast Miwok. They moved here in 1861, a significant step for a family long displaced from ancestral lands by the Spanish, Mexicans and Americans.
  9. ↑ Sobredo, James (July 1999). "Filipino Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area, Stockton, and Seattle". Asian American Studies. California State University, Sacramento. Archived from the original on 29 December 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
  10. ↑ Alfred A. Yuson (6 May 2002). "Fil-Am memoirs: A multicolored fabric". Philippine Star. Retrieved 28 December 2014. The Filipino experience in California is a multiracial one, which has its roots in the 1830 marriage of a Filipino named Domingo Felix and his wife Euphrasia, a Coast Miwok. They were married in Point Reyes and settled at Laird's Landing. Today nearly all the Coast Miwoks are part Filipino...
  11. ↑ Kroeber, 233
  12. ↑ "California Indians and Their Reservations." Archived 2010-09-26 at the Wayback Machine San Diego State University Library and Information Access. (retrieved 6 Jan 2010)
  13. ↑ Pritzker, 134
  14. ↑ "Omnibus Indian Advancement Act." Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine Public Law 106-568, 106th Congress. Page 2867. (retrieved 6 Jan 2009)
  15. ↑ "Land Acquisitions; Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, California." Federal Register (Volume 73, Number 89). 7 May 2008 (retrieved 6 Jan 2009)
  16. ↑ "Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria." Archived 2011-07-26 at the Wayback Machine Occidental Arts and Ecology. 2009 (retrieved 12 May 2011)
  17. ↑ "Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria". Archived from the original on 2015-03-18. Retrieved 2006-09-02.
  18. ↑ "Tribal Council." Archived 2014-01-16 at the Wayback Machine Federated Indians of the Graton Rancheria. (retrieved 6 January 2010)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.