We are not savages

By Joel Hyer, Joel R. Hyer

Subjects: Cupeno Indians, Luiseño Indians, Relocation, Indians of North America, Treatment of Indians, Social conditions, History, Government relations

Description: "On a cool, autumn day in October 1902, a group of Indians, known as Cupenos, noticed a white man approaching their village of Agua Caliente, located in a beautiful mountain valley in southern California. The unexpected guest was a farmer, a federal employee assigned to teach Native Americans how to raise crops. The stranger had come to assist the Cupenos and other local Indians in preparation to leave their homelands and remove to the Pala Reservation, more than fifty miles away. On the following day, Cupenos, along with their Luiseno and Kumeyaay neighbors, gathered together to discuss the stranger's demands. One person stood up and declared with firm resolve, "We do not need a farmer to help us, we are not savages." Others agreed. The assembly of Indians then invited the white man to depart." "In "We Are Not Savages," Joel R. Hyer traces the history of the Cupenos, Luisenos, and Kumeyaays, recounting how the federal government ultimately forced more than one hundred of their numbers onto the Pala Reservation. He also considers the diverse and complex methods the U.S. government used to Americanize these Indians. Yet, this is much more than a study in federal Indian policy. Hyer places local Indians in the center of his work. Basing his research on reservation records, government documents, interviews, and other sources, he demonstrates the strategies the Cupenos used to respond to pressures and problems created by outsiders. Hyer's sympathetic account offers new insight into such issues as Indian health and education, acculturation, and cultural persistence. "We Are Not Savages" is a tale of survival, resistance, and accomodation."--BOOK JACKET.