Unrecognized: California Indians and Federal Recognition

The National Steinbeck Center will host an important panel featuring members of Monterey regional Indian Communities from 6-8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 22 at the National Steinbeck Center, located at One Main Street, Salinas.

Unrecognized: California Indians and Federal Recognition will focus on three historically, federally recognized Native American groups in the region – the Esselan Nation, the Amah Mutsun, and leaders from the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. Noted San Jose State University ethno historian Alan Leventhal will serve as the panel mediator.

The program is an accompaniment event to the Center’s recently closed exhibit, The Sacred Expedition: Father Junipero Serra, the Californian Indians, and the Legacy of the Franciscan Missions. The public is invited to this Free event.

Short bios on the Monterey Bay regional Indian tribes:

The Ohlone/Costanoan-Esselen Nation is the aboriginal people of the Greater Monterey Region, with direct decendency from aboriginal villages and districts extending from Fort Ord to Big Sur and beyond, as well as from Monterey to Soledad. Today there are approximately six hundred Indians enrolled in OCEN who trace their Native lineages to Missions San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo and Nuestra Señora de la Soledad.

The present-day Muwekma Ohlone Tribe is comprised of all known surviving Native American lineages aboriginal to the San Francisco Bay region who trace their ancestry through the Missions San Jose, Santa Clara, and Dolores as well as the historic, federally recognized Verona Band of Alameda County.

The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band is one of three historic Ohlone tribes. The Amah Mutsun is comprised of the documented descendants of Missions San Juan Bautista, near the town of Hollister, and Santa Cruz. The Amah Mutsun is currently working to have its Federal Recognition Status restored as its members were illegally terminated by the federal government on or around 1929. The Amah Mutsun are very active in conservation and protection efforts within its traditional tribal territory.

Short bios of Panel Participants:

Valentin Lopez is the Chairman of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. Lopez is a Native American Advisor to the University of California, Office of the President on issues related to repatriation. He is also a Native American Advisor to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology.

Louise J. Miranda-Ramirez was appointed as Tribal Chairwoman in October 2006. Miranda-Ramirez received the support of Tribal Membership in 2013 with a vote of continuity by the Government of the Ohlone/Costanoan-Esselen Nation. Chairwoman Miranda-Ramirez works to build Government to Government relationships with Monterey County, the Dept. of Army, FORA, BIA, CSUMB, Board of Education and others. She and other tribal members work to educate students at schools within Monterey County.

Rosemary Cambra is the elected chairwoman of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. For the past 26 years, she has helped organize the Muwekma Tribal government and has been involved in the Reaffirmation of Muwekma as a Federally Recognized tribe. Rosemary helped coordinate statewide meetings for all of the California terminated and unrecognized tribes that culminated in the passage of HR 2144 by the U.S. Congress in 1992. HR 2144 created the Advisory Council on California Indian Policy (ACCIP) which Rosemary sat on the Unrecognized Tribal Task Force.

Alan Leventhal is a trained archaeologist/anthropologist/ethnohistorian. For the past 34 years he has worked with the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Region as a tribal ethnohistorian and archaeologist. Presently, Alan works as on the administrative staff (IT) in the Office of the Dean, College of Social Sciences at SJSU. He also lectures about contemporary Native American Issues and topics on advanced methods and theory in archaeology in the Anthropology Department.