Nothing to Celebrate: Reconsidering the Legacy of Portolá

In 1769, Spanish soldier and explorer Gaspar de Portolá became the first known European to conduct an overland expedition into what would become California. On October 16 of that year, Portolá passed through Santa Cruz.

While events around the Bay Area will be held in October and November to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the first European sighting of the San Francisco Bay, many indigenous people in California consider this an occasion to mourn and reflect, not to celebrate.

The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and American Indian Resource Center of UC Santa Cruz invite the public to this conference to reflect on the destructive legacies of European colonization, to consider how these legacies continue to this day, and to dig deeper into the stories of early California. Together, we will consider what it can look like to confront difficult truths and to begin to heal.

SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE! Set tentatively as follows:

10:00 AM - 10:10 AM
Welcome - Rebecca Hernandez, PhD, Director, UCSC American Indian Resource Center and Val Lopez, Amah Mutsun Tribal Chair

10:10 AM - 10:20 AM
Opening Remarks - Cynthia Larive, Chancellor, UC Santa Cruz

10:20 AM - 11:20 AM
Steven Newcomb - The Papal Bulls and Doctrine of Discovery

11:20 AM - 12:20 PM
Dr. Martin Rizzo: Portolá's Encounters with the Guachirron and Quiroste: The Real Story of Indigenous Generosity

1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Valentin Lopez: The Portola Expedition and California Mission System

2:00 PM - 2:45 PM
Dr. Alyce de Carteret: The Conquest and Domination of the Mayan Empire

2:45 PM - 3:30 PM
Dr. Donna Schindler: Tears of Our Ancestors: Healing from Historical Trauma

3:30 PM - 4:30 PM
Deanna Rose Von Bargen, Toni Nash, Molly Arthur: Catholic nuns discuss the challenges of confronting legacies of harm