Located on the bottom left of the mural a scene of two young men belonging to the Ohlone nation playing the clapper sticks. The Ohlone are a people who lived (and continue to live, although under very different circumstances) in the central California coastal region for thousands of years prior to the arrival of Spanish missionaries in the 1700s. The Ohlone once numbered as many as 15,000 on lands stretching from the San Francisco Bay to Big Sur. But following years of enslavement under the Spanish mission system and, later, persecution by settlers, they are now largely a people in exile.
Today, in the Pomona area in east Los Angeles, the Costanoan Rumsen Carmel Tribes considered the largest contemporary Ohlone group in the state. This group, consisting of about 2,000 people, is leading the push for cultural recognition in the city of San Francisco. Specifically, they're asking the city for land to build a cultural center as part of a proposed shoreline redevelopment project in the Hunters Point Shipyard area. The area was once the location of a historic Ohlone village and burial site—one of over 425 in the San Francisco Bay region. *Click on the orange texts to visit maps, articles, and more. |
Protesting the Canonization of Junipero Serra by Pope FrancisVincent Medina visits a mural by artist Jean LaMarr which celebrates the history and culture of Ohlone Indians, at Ohlone Park in Berkeley, Calif. on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2015. Medina was chosen to read a passage in the Ohlone language of Chochenyo during the canonization ceremony of Junipero Serra by Pope Francis next week in Washington, D.C.
What kind of message is transmitted to descendants of the indigenous Americans and the rest of the world when Junipero Serra is canonized and labeled as a saint ? The missions ended up killing about 90% of the California Indians present at the time of missionization, creating all kinds of cultural and emotional baggage that we still carry to this day." said Deborah Miranda, a literature professor at Washington and Lee University in Virginia and a member of the Ohlone Costanoan Esselen Nation of California. She wrote "Bad Indians: A Tribal Memoir," a book about her ancestors' experiences in the Spanish missions. Click here to learn more: http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/23/us/pope-junipero-serra-canonization/ |
Ohlone Languages and Regions
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The ShellmoundsThe Ohlone Culture was established in these parts as far back as 400 AD. For thousands of years, the Ohlone people lived, fished and hunted along the shores of Temescal Creek where it flowed into San Francisco Bay. The Ohlone Shell mounds were a massive man-made “Mound” of shells, tools, bowls, animal bones and human burials created over the course of 2,500 years that rose 60 feet above ground and was as wide as a football field. The mounds weren’t religious sites while in use but served as community cemeteries for the Ohlone population.
Click here for a short documentary on protest against the Emeryville Shopping Center built on the Ohlone Shell mounds: http://evilleeye.com/history/2005-shellmound-documentary-exposes-the-truth-behind-and-under-bay-street-developement/ |