Alternative Sources to Improve the Mission Curriculum

The teaching of the mission system has long been a part of California’s fourth grade curriculum. However, because it has been taught for so long, it seems to lack any improvements or new ideas. It has been taught in a certain way that seems to not portray the time period and experience completely accurate. This is because there is a certain ideology about the way the priests, soldiers, and Indians got along. For the most part the horrible treatment and enslavement of the Indians into this lifestyle is glossed over and the Spaniards are looked upon as heroes who came and rescued the poor, savage, Godless people and brought them into civilization. There seems to be this untrue legend that the missions were great gifts to the natives of California and hardly any mention of the atrocities that actually occurred.

In order to help fourth grade teachers learn more about the whole history of California Missions, group 3 of the Missions Project, searched for better sources teachers could use.

Good Resources

1. "The Missions." California History Page. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/cbhtml/cbmissio.html

On this web page there is a quick summary of the Mission System. Even though it is quite brief, it seems to be quite truthful and portrays the system fairly. It talks about how the Californian natives’ lives were reshaped by the mission fathers, the Franciscans. They are said to be not only christianizing the Indians but also preparing them for life in European colonial society. It even states that the process was not voluntary, and they were not allowed to leave the system. They were taught Spanish and new skills that would be useful in their "new" life. They were kept in the systems until they were deemed to be ready to start their new lives in pueblos, so they would be able to carry on the way of Spanish life even after the missionaries had moved on. Yet, the article goes on to say that the Indians were never deemed ready, and these new "Christians" and their descendants lived on the missions until the missions’ abolishment. At the end of the writing, it gives the facts on how many of the Indians died as a result of exposure to Europeans and the reasons for their decline including: warfare, new diseases, and harsh living conditions in the missions.

2. Castillo, Edward D. "Short Overview of California Indian History." 1998. http://ceres.ca.gov/nahc/califindian.html

Professor Edward Castillo presents a very realistic and compelling historical account concerning Indian resistance against the Franciscan’s colonization efforts. His paper begins with historical descriptions of the Native Americans in each major geographical region of the United States. He proceeds to talk about the massive Indian revolts among the Pueblo Indians of the Rio Grande that granted the Franciscans justification against the colonial settlers for why they were establishing the missions. In talking about the history of California’s colonization, he states: "Despite romantic portraits of California missions, they were essentially coercive religious, labor camps organized primarily to benefit the colonizers. The overall plan was to first militarily intimidate the local Indians with armed Spanish soldiers who always accompanied the Franciscans in their missionary efforts." Stock animals were introduced which destroyed the pastures of native foods and diminished the possibilities for the natives to remain self-sufficient. The Franciscans insured their dominance especially through bribes and the intimidation factor due to their immunity of the European diseases. Desperate parents of sick and dying children, as well as many helpless elders, were forced to seek assistance from the newcomers.

The missions are established as institutions authorized by the crown to convert the Indians within a ten-year period; thereafter, they were instructed to surrender control over to the Indians. However, this plan was never followed and the lands and major means of wealth were stolen from the Indians. Among some of the more exploitive missionary practices, the Franciscans forcibly separated Indian children from their parents and imprisoned them from the age of six. This practice also attributed to the rapid spread of suffering and death due to European epidemics. Several forms of well-documented Indian resistance exist. These unrelenting efforts against the Franciscans were the result of arduous labor demands, forced separation of children from their parents, and physical coercion. In fact, more than one out of 24 Indians successfully escaped the plantation like mission labor camps. "Many Mission Indians viewed the padres as powerful witches who could only be neutralized by assassination. Consequently, several assassinations occurred. At Mission San Miguel in the year of 1801, three padres were poisoned, one of whom died as a result."

The author does a wonderful job of pointing out that still today, few Americans know of the widespread-armed revolts precipitated by Mission Indians against colonial authorities. Accounts of how the Indians were desperate to stop the abusive pattern of sexual assaults and abusive labor help present a more realistic perspective of what really took place during the Mission era. Missionaries forced tribes to abandon their native territories and live in unsanitary, disease ridden, and crowded labor camps. Ultimately, we learn that the missions were only supposed to last 10 years, whereby the developed estates were to be distributed to surviving Indians. Nevertheless, the missionaries incessantly gave excuses why they should not surrender the rich pastoral and agrarian empire they had erected. The impact of the mission system on the Indians was devastating, and contrary to what many fourth-graders learn in California History, it must be noted that Indian resistance was justifiably due to the Franciscans abusive efforts.

This really is one of the best sources we found that condenses a vast and controversial history into an objective and very informative piece. The reader is exposed to the abuses and betrayals suffered by the Indians at the hands of the Franciscans. We learn why the Spanish felt so driven to colonize modern day California and we recognize that Spain felt the need to compete with other colonizing nations by exploiting native resources on Indians’ native soil.

3. Cary, Diana Serra. "California Indians: On the White Man’s Frontier". Wild West. http://ceres.ca.gov/nahc/califindian.html

This article also talks a lot about the Franciscans intentions to convert the natives, and how the Indians were neither placid nor compliant to such efforts. It adds descriptions of how proud spirits among the Indians fueled resistance against becoming subservient copies and laborers of their intruders. The author mentions, "In sharp contrast to the textbook version, the reportedly tranquil mission era was actually rife with conflict. Indian rebels fled the coastal missions, secretly plotted and led revolts." At the outset of the mission era, there was a shortage in food supply due to drought and disease, so missionaries had to periodically allow Indians to make brief trip back to their native habitats (those of which remained) in order to gather food to prevent starvation. However, starvation in the missions was a political concept due to unruly treatment of Indians by the Franciscans. Miners hired Indians men to do their backbreaking labor and while the Indian women were left home alone, they were raped and driven into prostitution in order to survive.

The mission system initiated a vicious cycle for Indian way of life: slave labor, chronic alcoholism, and early death. Despite the heroic scenes of Father Junipero Serra’s arrival to rescue the helpless Indians, a bittersweet depiction from Indian accounts proves that Indian resistance was alive and well as the result of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. This source helps supplement mission history by explaining the political injustices of the Franciscans against the Indians and the colonizing motives derived from their royalty back in Spain.

4. "Mexican Period: 1821-1846". California History. http://www.ccnet.com/~laplaza/calhist3.htm

This source gives a historical account beginning with the Mexican Revolution, from 1810 to 1821, and links the institution of the missions to Spain’s desperate colonizing efforts. The loss of Spanish nationality in 1821 meant that Royal support of the missions would no longer exist, and starving soldiers consequently grew more desperate for the wealth of the mission system. This began the weakening of the mission system, but not before the worsening treatment of Indians led to conditions so bad that they were quoted for preferring death to mission life. The unmentioned author notes "Certainly it is no longer necessary to try to reconcile injustice to Indians with apparent Indian docility, since the Indians could no longer be described as docile". Once again, (as mentioned in the above sources) we see how the natives revolted against abusive efforts to take away their land, culture, pride, and opportunities. The Indians were forced to become a servant class subject to the authority and abuse of a white merchant class.

This source gives us a little more insight into Spanish life before the mission system and Mexican ways afterwards, so we get a better picture as to what motivated both the Franciscans to be so dominant and why the natives were so resistant. The Indians were forced to abandon their families and culture for an unstable abusive life. Often, they found themselves overworked, underfed, and abused. Men were taken away from their families and hopelessly forced to work for the Franciscans while their wives were raped and abused, and their children were imprisoned. Many social studies and history books used in today’s fourth grade curriculum do not even mention the notion of a child’s separation from their family and consequential incarceration.

This source presents a valuable historic account of Indian resistance to a take-over of their lives and shows both the means of aggrieve resistance through revolts and passive resistance by means of secret religious and cultural practices.

5. Thomas, David Hurst (editor). Spanish Borderlands Sourcebooks. New York & London. Garland Publishing, 1991.

This is one of the first books we came across that actually gave a historical emphasis on the perspective of the indigenous peoples. It serves as a contrast to most other sources, which depict the missions’ history through the eyes of the colonists, as is the traditional method of studying this era. The book starts off with first hand accounts from ancestors of the actual natives that survived the missions. They offer a much different perspective as one can imagine. They reflect, through this oral history, about the authoritative structure of the missions. There are also slave narratives included in these stories, which look upon the guards and friars as good and benevolent, while they are starven, enslaved, and maltreated. They do tell the more accurate history of the missions speaking of, in brutal honesty, the cruelty, sexual assault and murder that was rampant. The book also contains a few interesting studies on the impact of the mission system on the indigenous people. The initial and most important study that was undergone about the impact of the missions on the Indians lives brought to light truths that people had never been taught before. The study came to the conclusion that the, "missionaries’ legacy to the California Indians was destruction of their native societies and massive suffering and death. The studies come to the conclusion that the work force was slavery." I hope that California teachers read this book and many more like it to bring in question their syllabuses. They should, when teaching about the mission which seems mandatory, try to present the true history and think about what they are doing the their children.

6. "Spanish America." Mission Years in California. http://www.oriflamme.net/ABDSP/Indians/Missions/mission.html

We felt this was a helpful article in describing Mission San de Alcal in a realistic, unromantic description. It tells when it was built, how many churches existed within it along with the most important part of the article, how the mission obtained their labor. The article goes into a few interesting stories from the perspective of the natives. The stories tell of how all the men would be forced to hide when they heard friars were approaching. Another story told of how these expeditions would often turn violent, with the friars and their guards acting in a more militaristic manner. This article was also useful for giving the specific tribes, where they were located as well as the approximate date they began to interact with the Mission. This is what teachers should be teaching their children and this is the kind of website they should be using in their classrooms.

7. Behrens, June. California Missions. Minneapolis, Mn: Lerner Publications co., 1996.

Behrens wrote a series of books that go from region to region up the California coast offering information about the California mission system. These books have been written more recently so that already gives the idea that it will be more up to date and more accurate. The books do not lye about the friars but give a realist, historical reading on the missions. They do talk about the hardships the Indians were forced to endure. The books include everything from the diseases to the slavery. These books are also helpful because they are easy reading and can be used at a younger level. They include larger font and many colorful pictures. We thought these would be ideal learning material for younger kids and for teachers.

8. Almquist, Alan J. and Robert R. Heizer. The Other California. London: University of California Press, Ltd. 1971.

This book offers a start to understanding the hardships that the missions imposed upon the Indians. Instead of portraying Indians simply as ignorant neophytes, they are shown as an independent people fighting against conversion by the Spanish. It tells about how the Spaniards rounded up tribes, killed those that argued, and took them back to their camps. There, until Indians accepted Christianity, they were kept in prison cells where there was hardly fresh air. It actually mentions that the Indians sometimes ran away due to food shortage, which is unlike many texts that say they were provided with plenty of food. When this occurred, Indians were hunted down and punished severely. They were ruled by coercion, not persuasion like they were used to. Unlike most other children’s texts, this book goes into detail on the living arrangements of Indians in the missions (and it wasn’t always pretty). Teachers can use this to better describe the mission/Indian relationships as they really were, not as friars wanted others to see them as.

9. Lavender, David. California: A Bicentennial History. The States and the Nation. (series). New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1976.

This book shows how ruthless some padres were. If Indians ran away, Spaniars would go out and search for the fugitives with no respect for other Indians that were never converted. The mission system was so dependent on Indian labor that they were desperately willing to do anything for Indians. Many Indians were kidnapped and brought to camp as slave labor. This is a very different story compared to those told by the other books I found. It also tells that when criticism of the friars’ treatment of the Indians was publicized, the friars said that the "charges were exaggerated." They claimed that how could only a few men keep 20,000 Indians held captive if the majority of converts were "unhappy?" Teachers can use this source as help in explaining that the friars even lied to the public to save themselves and avoid getting scolded for their unjust treatment of the Indians. They were mostly much different than the pure and saintly figures as depicted in children’s texts. There was a lot of corruption in the missions involving Indian slave labor and many didn’t know about it. The truth should be taught.

Conclusion

The books our group found portrayed the missions’ role in Indian life more realistically than those found by group one. They offer alternative stories of Indian conversion, treatment, and life in the missions. This view is contrary to what fourth grade curriculum teaches- that the Spanish were far from being paternal and loving father figures to the Indians. The Indians didn’t like being corralled and treated like servants, contrary to many teachings as ridiculous as it sounds. They were often hungry from al lack of food, and many died of epidemics that the Spanish brought over from Europe. They weren’t totally willing to accept Christianity and when they revolted severe punishment was enforced. The Indians played a big role in the development of the missions but the surface is barely scratched in school today. It is essential that this history not be deleted, but retold to further understand the Indian plight today. Children ought to be taught about the oppression, slavery, capture, and injustice, no matter how ugly it is. By neglecting to teach the wrongs committed in the past that could ultimately lead to change in the future, society fosters stereotypical thinking in children, which hinders their cultural growth. Hopefully this list of books can be, and will be, used by to teachers to make mission curricula more culturally diverse and accurate.