[thechat] Most spoken languages in the world

Erika Meyer emeyer at lclark.edu
Fri Jul 5 17:24:00 CDT 2002


Hugh wrote:
>Could you point me to some reading on this topic? I'd appreciate it.

This will give you an idea of the level of diversity in California:
http://www.epa.gov/region09/air/maps/r9_tribe.html

The area I come from is perhaps the most linguistically diverse as it
is rugged coastal hills and rivers and ocean.  So many language
families represented in a tiny area: Athabaskan (Hupa, Tolowa,
Chimariko, Chilula, Wintun), Hokan (Karuk), Algonquian (Yurok,
Wiyott) -- you can see it on that map in the far northwestern
corner... the Hupa res is the little square and the Yurok extension
the little red line wiggling up to the ocean. Hupas live on the
Trinity River, Yuroks on the lower Klamath.

Prior to white contact the Eastern areas of the US had the densest
Indigenous populations.  California was also very populated.

This page is a California Indian genocide timeline:
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/t/tumminia/MEMORIAL.HTM

It contains a link to my little hometown of Eureka:
http://www.originalvoices.org/PriceOfGoldSeven.htm
I know some of the people in the photo.

This is also near my home:
http://www.trinitycounty.com/stnf-nb.htm

That's just background info, to get a feel of the climate.
Imagine how terrified you would be if this stuff was happening all around...

A very good source on the genocide years is my old prof's book
"Genocide in Northwestern California: When Our Worlds Cried"
http://historyproject.ucdavis.edu/CheckOut2.cfm?RsrcID=1232
Very well documented, but unfortunately doesn't seem that easy to find...

Moving on specifically to boarding schools... that was done in the
US, in Canada, and in Australia (where else) so it was a pretty
common policy... and I do believe techniques were similar in all
those places.

This is a very benign account:
http://content.lib.washington.edu/aipnw/marr/index.htm
(you need to scroll to see content)

and here's another:
http://www.lib.cmich.edu/clarke/indian/treatyeducation.htm

from Canada:
http://www.canoe.ca/CNEWSFeatures9904/28_indians.html

dealing a bit with sexual abuse:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/04/09/60II/main505725.shtml
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_1627000/1627503.stm

Note the different tone in the articles dealing with Canada and those
dealing with the US.  The fact is that things were just as dreadful
in the US.  At some level the Canadian and Australian governments
have admitted that this was wrong, but the United States government
persists in its denial.  If we don't admit it, it never happened,
right?

An excellent Canadian film, fiction, but portrays the boarding school
experience in detail is "Where the Spirit Lives"
http://www.canoe.ca/JamMoviesCanadianW/where_the_spirit_lives.html

Another one to check out (and easier to find) is "The Education of
Little Tree" which should be in the "family" section of your local
video store... there is a bit of a boarding school experience there.

Typical boarding school techniques included:

1.  Removal of child from family home via coersion or kidnapping.
this often occurred if the child needed medical care (there were
epidemics going thru Indian villages and that gave the government an
excuse to remove the children).

My father in law was taken from his family after seeking medical
treatment for a broken leg.  He was about 5 years old.

2.  Physical punishment for children who were disobedient (aka
refused to assimilate).  Yes, sexual abuse was also very common in
these schools.  No one protected Indians.

BTW child molestation travels thru generations and is still a big
problem in these communities.  It is in my daughter's family as well.
I keep her well away from those corners, fortunately it's not been in
her direct line.  But she has several cousins who are scarred for
life because of how screwed up their parents are.

In the 19th century these children would sometimes be "sold" as
"servants" to rich white families.  Essentially, it was slavery.
This was pretty common in California; I don't know how common it was
in other places.

And all of this is only a small slice of the crap that has been
dished out to Indigenous peoples over the past couple of hundred
years... there is much much more... but I stop now.

Erika


>  > -----Original Message-----
>>  On Behalf Of Erika Meyer
>>
>>  About 200 Indigenous languages were once spoken in the state of
>>  California.  The government managed to completely destroy most of
>>  them by kidnapping children and imprisoning them in boarding schools.
>  > Corporal punishment was used on children who spoke their native
>  > tongue.
>
>Could you point me to some reading on this topic? I'd appreciate it.
>
>--
>     Hugh

--



More information about the thechat mailing list