Digger
Subtitle: the tragic fate of the California Indians from the missions to the gold rush
By: Jerry Stanley
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: Crown Publishers
Published: 1997
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 103
ISBN-13: 9780517709511; 9780517709528
Subjects: Gold mines and mining; Juvenile literature; Missions; Indians of North America; Antiquities
Description: From the award-winning author of Children of the Dustbowl comes a sobering look at two of the most frequently romanticized events in American history. For the native peoples of California, the period from 1769, when the first Spanish Mission was founded, to the 1850s, when the Gold Rush was at its height, was one of terrible violence and destruction. First, Spanish priests and soldiers sought to convert the Indians to Christianity and a "civilized" way of life. Yet for the Indians the story of the missions was one of hunger, disease, rebellion, and death. Then, during the Gold Rush, Indians were frequently kidnapped, murdered, and sold into slavery by white settlers. By the end of the nineteenth century, the surviving California Indians had been forced onto reservations and their way of life had been largely destroyed. With maps, a timeline, and glossaries on California's Indian tribes and mission history, Jerry Stanley tells the story of modern California from the poignant perspective of the Native American.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 95-97) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: Natural world of the California Indians; title: First Californians; title: Cultures of the California Indians; title: Way of the California Indians; title: Missions; title: Arrival of the Spanish; title: Daily life in the missions; title: Estanislao's choice; title: Gold rush; title: Arrival of the Americans; title: "Good haul of diggers"; title: Kintpuash's choice; title: Epilogue.