Cross of Thorns: The Enslavement of California´s Indians: Feb 27, 2017

Elias Castillo. A Cross of Thorns:
The Enslavement of California´s Indians
by the Spanish Missions 

Monday February 27, 2017 

11 am and 12: 45 pm 

Room MS 462

San Diego City College 

Elias Castillo. A Cross of Thorns: The Enslavement of California´s Indians by the Spanish Missions

About the Author: Elias Castillo is a three time Pulitzer Prize nominee and winner of 13 journalism awards, working for the San Jose Mercury News and Associated Press. Under a grant from National Geographic, he led the first scientific exploration of Mexico's vast Copper Canyon. The expedition gathered the first geological survey and environmental data of an area that rivals the dimensions of the Grand Canyon. Castillo, who holds two degrees from San Jose State University, was born in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, where his step grandfather, Jose Severo Castillo, was publisher of an influential reformist newspaper. 

Excerpt from A Cross of Thorns: "In a native society controlled by men, it was an Indian medicine woman of the Gabrieleño tribe named Toypurina who, in 1785, organized warriors to attack the missions and kill those who had invaded and now controlled her people's land. Hers would be the only known Indian rebellion in North America to have a woman at its helm. Toypurina was a Tongva Indian living in a village called Japchivit and was probably 9 or 10 years old when the Spanish expeditions arrived in the spring and summer of 1769 to found the first mission in San Diego. As a girl, she lived virtually free of worry. Food was bountiful along the coast and whether it was winter or summer, the coastal weather was always mild." 

For more information: Profe Eduardo Aguilar- eaguilar@sdccd.du