Background
In the unit that precedes this one, titled “Borderlands,” students learn about the interaction between Amerindians and Hispanic settlers of the Spanish Empire and Mexican Empire. Two geographic populations are the focus, Indigenous Californians, and Spanish (subsequently Mexican) settler colonists. The unit includes an examination of the building of Catholic Missions Santa Clara and San Jose by the quasi-enslaved forced labor of Tamien, and Muwekma Ohlone people. This is compared with the building of the Presidio and Mission Dolores in San Francisco by the forced labor of Miwok people.
The unit described here does not focus on Hispanic or Indigenous Amerindians: their story is contained elsewhere in the class. This is part of our effort in San Jose to foreground a single counter narrative at a time within a particular historical period. We acknowledge the presence and struggles of other groups in every period, but cannot at this time, respectfully do justice to all intersecting narratives at the same time.
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