From Yokuts to Tule River Indians: re-creation of the tribal identity on the Tule River Indian Reservation in California from Euroamerican contact to the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to show the path of tribal development on the Tule River Reservation from 1776 to 1936. It ends with the year of 1936 when the Tule River Reservation reorganized its tribal government pursuant to the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) of 1934. This dissertation also looks at the historical experiences of the Yokuts Indians, who became the main constituents on the Tule River Reservation, and how the IRA affected their political, cultural, and social organization. The Yokuts cultural past tells us that they were living as small, independent political groups, each sharing a common language with various dialects. However, they were eventually placed within a limited geographical area, called Tule River Reservation in 1856. Since then, the people on the Tule River Reservation created a more comprehensive identity as "People of Tule River." The IRA recognized the Tule River Reservation as one political entity, even or as a quasi-sovereign entity, and added them to the list of federally recognized tribes. Under the IRA, the people of Tule River Reservation shared a common political belonging. In practice, the IRA provided a new opportunity for Tule River Indians, who did not have any treaty contract with federal government, to survive as political entities, and to deal with the national authorities up to the 21st century. Having been negatively affected by the rapid growth of the Euroamerican population after the California Gold Rush, tribal depopulation by the disease and warfare in the 19th century, and the confused land policy under the so-called 18 unratified treaties and the reservation system, Native people in California became ignored, and "invisible people." Furthermore, urbanization and economic diversity are all issues which made the Native American experience in California somewhat different from the other Native peoples' experience. However, as recent studies have revealed, contemporary California Natives have been active in maintaining their political, economic and social power through the regional, tribal and intertribal organizations. This study contributes to the historical understanding of how the Yokuts acquired modern tribal autonomy and the building of the Tule River Indian Tribe.