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East Los Angeles College, including its Corporate Center in Monterey Park, California and the South Gate Educational Center are located within the of the �Ҳ������������ñ��, Tongva, and/or Kizh people. Historical sources name the village site closest to ����ֱ��as Apachiangna.

This Acknowledgement should serve as a reminder that the �Ҳ������������ñ��, Tongva, and/or Kizh people are the original caretakers of the vast region that includes the , an area which some contemporary people refer to as . We give gratitude to the �Ҳ������������ñ��, Tongva, and Kizh people as the original caretakers of the land in which we work, live, and learn. We also acknowledge that while various actions of Spanish colonial forces, the Catholic mission system, the Mexican Government, the United States Federal Government and the state of California have dispossessed �Ҳ������������ñ��, Tongva, and Kizh people of their land, they are present and are an active part of our communities and landscape.

�Ҳ������������ñ��, Tongva, and Kizh History

Native people have inhabited the Los Angeles basin for thousands of years, hunting and gathering wild foods for much of that time and eventually establishing a vibrant network of villages connected through marriage, culture, exchange and a shared Takic language. No traditional term is agreed on for this group as a whole. Historians, ethnographers, and contemporary Indigenous people have applied the names �Ҳ������������ñ��, Tongva, or Kizh to refer to the Native people who lived in this region. We respect the right of descendants to choose their name, and so we have chosen to include all of these names and to refer to them collectively as Indigenous and/or Native.

In the late 18^th century, Spain established 21 missions throughout Alta California. Native Californians endured horrific forms of exploitation and abuse under the Spanish-Catholic mission system in the form of enslavement disguised as essential labor for the construction and maintenance of the San Gabriel Mission (founded 1771) and the San Fernando Mission (founded 1787). Thousands of Indigenous people died at Mission San Gabriel, many from European diseases. The expansion of the Catholic missions under the protection of the Spanish crown diminished much of the traditional resource base, as land was turned into grazing grounds for the benefit of the mission system. Once baptized, “mission neophytes,” as they were called, were not allowed to leave the missions without permission and were forced to live and work according to a directed program of religious and cultural conversion.  Many Native Californians actively resisted the missions’ attempt to eradicate their respective cultures and customs in a variety of ways. Among these included an against Spanish missionaries over the continuous abuse on Native bodies and land theft in 1785 at Mission San Gabriel led by a baptized chief, Nicholas Jose, and Toypurina, an unconverted spiritual leader who lived in a nearby village. The plot was discovered by mission authorities and eventually crushed, but mission neophytes continued to resist by running away, leading rebellions, or by preserving traditional customs concealed from authorities.

Following Mexican independence from Spain in 1821, the newly formed Mexican government initiated the secularization of Spanish missions that further dispossessed Indigenous people of their ancestral lands. While the new Mexican government declared “Indians” free to move at will, the lands seized by the Mexican government, including the domains of secularized missions were transferred to private citizens as land grants. Following the Mexican American War (1846-1848), the ceded California to the United States. While Article I of the Treaty of Guadalupe assured the protection of all people in the annexed territory, in California, the actual outcome was a series of state decrees known as the that furthered displaced �Ҳ������������ñ��, Tongva, and Kizh people from their ancestral lands. A proposed treaty to set aside 8.5 million acres of land for Native Californians (1.2 million acres promised to Los Angeles’ Indigenous population) failed to materialize as Californian business interests persuaded the United States Senate to reject and deem the treaties as an “injunction of secrecy.” In 1850, California enacted , which legalized the forcible servitude of California Natives and furthermore facilitated their removal and displacement. During the 19^th century, American policies contributed directly to the dramatic reduction of Indigenous populations throughout the state of California, which is estimated to have been reduced to 30,000 from upwards of 150,000.

In 1994 the state of California recognized the Gabrielino-Tongva people as the aboriginal tribe of the greater Los Angeles basin. Federal recognition would afford local Indigenous nations the right to self-government and federal benefits, but unfortunately, �Ҳ������������ñ��, Tongva, and Kizh people have yet to be recognized by the United States Federal Government as one of the . Today, there are approximately two-thousand �Ҳ������������ñ��, Tongva, and Kizh descendants living in Los Angeles and the surrounding cities.

Historical Sources and Further Reading

• Mapping Indigenous LA
• Gabrielino Language Resources
• A Brief History of the Tonga People
• Indian Resistance to Mission San Gabriel
• The “Toypurina” Revolt
• Federal and State Recognized Tribes
• California Tribal Communities Link
• The Gabrielino, Bruce W. Miller (Sand River Press; Los Osos, California, 1991).
• Yaraarkomokre'e 'Eyoo'ooxono -We Remember Our Land:The Tongva People of present-day Los Angeles County
• LA’s Tongva Descendants: We Originated Here

Connect with Native organizations and movements here

�Ҳ������������ñ��, Tongva, and Kizh Communities and Organizations

• Gabrielino-Tongva Indian Tribe
• Gabrieleno (Tongva) Band of Mission Indians 
• Kizh Nation
• Chia Café Collective
• Friends of Puvungna (Long Beach, CA):

Native American Organizations and Action Groups

• Native Organizers Alliance
• Southern California Indian Center
• Lakota People’s Law Project
• American Indian College Fund
• National Indian Education Association
• California Native Vote Project

Current Issues Affecting Native Americans:

• Native American Issues Today (2022)
• Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States
• Protecting Native American History in schools
• Voting Rights
• Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
• Challenge to the Native American Child Welfare Act
• HR 1374 (Would criminalize Native pipeline protesters)
• Standing Rock Dakota Access Pipeline (“DAPL”)
• Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women 

Indigenous-centered Arts Organizations

• Native Voices at the Autry
• Meztli Projects, East Los Angeles
• Native Arts and Cultures Foundation
• Forge Project
• Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico:
• Indian Arts and Crafts Board:

�Ҳ������������ñ��/Tongva Artists and Writers

•  
• Gabrieleno/Tongva Writers
• Frank LaPena and Mark Dean Johnson with Kristina Perea Gilmore. When I Remember I See Red, exh. cat. Crocker Museum of Art, Sacramento, California, 2019. Past exhibition at the Autry Museum of the American West:

Places to Visit and Respect

• To Be Visible. A Website that includes information on the Tongva, Tongva Art and Cultural Sites, Julia Bogany and more:
•  was once home to a thriving Tongva village. Artifacts and ancestors have been unearthed at the site and these items, along with historical documents, photographs, and other resources, are now on permanent display at the Kuruvungna Springs Nature Center:
• “Tongva Exhibit” at Heritage Park (Santa Fe Springs, CA):
• “State Parks and Museums Interpreting California Indian Culture and Heritage,” California Department of Parks and Recreation:
• California Native Plants Digital Garden, Autry Museum of the American West:
• Becoming Los Angeles, permanent exhibition at the Natural History Museum Los Angeles. “L.A. Reimagined” by Jessica Porter (accessed May 5, 2022):
• LA Starts Here!, permanent exhibition at La Plaza de Cultura y Artes:

Dialogues and Presentations

• “Gloria Arellanes oral history interview conducted by David P. Cline in El Monte, California, 2016 June 26.” Library of Congress:
• “Solidarity with the Original Caretakers of the Land: Tongva, Ajachemen and Chumash.” Virtual Event dedicated to Indigenous land relations in Southern California, and communal, BIPOC solidarity for others dispossessed from their own homelands (published April 16, 2021): Video, 2:04:55.
• “You are on Tongva Land: Dialogue with Mercedes Dorame, Angela R. Riley and Wendy Teeter.” June 6, 2018. Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA. Video, 1:26:48.