The
Spanish had a long history of slavery in the New World, beginning with
Christopher Columbus. Spaniards began
raiding the Athapaskans (the ancestors of the Navajos and the Apaches), the Yumas,
the Pimas and the Papagos. They took
their slave raids further into Utah, Nevada and Colorado. Through the 17th
century Pueblo Indian villages were continually raided by the Spanish
government. The captured people were
usually sold in El Paso and they became servants without liberty for life.
The
Spanish government directed the Franciscan monks to build missions in
California to stop the Russians from moving farther south. Twenty-one missions were built from San Diego
to Sonoma on the most fertile land.
Friars and soldiers captured Chumashes and put them on the missions. Once they were baptized, they were tied to the
mission and the authority of friars.
The
friars closely regulated the lives of the Native Americans: family life, work, sexual relations,
celebrations and clothing. The Native
Americans received only food and clothing.
Although they did all the physical work required to keep the mission
running, the missions received all the profit.
The
Native American people lived in barracks.
Physical discipline was common. Despite
being paid in food, they were malnourished.
Native women exchanged sexual favors with Spanish soldiers for food,
thus creating a new generation of Spanish-Indian people. There was a high rate of venereal disease.
The
number of Native American deaths exceeded the number of births. After people died they were buried in unmarked
group pits. When the missions began,
there were 70,000 Native Americans. As the
missions ended between 1833 and 1835, there were only 15,000. Those who survived lost their language,
religion and culture. Almost all
Californian Indians today descend from those who escaped to or lived in the
California interior.
Native
American slave labor opened up California to Spain, to Mexico and then to
Americans. Native American slaves were usually
laborers in silver mines and on Mexican ranches and plantations of the Yucatan
where they were treated no better. The
U.S. Congress outlawed the enslavement of Navajos by Americans and Mexicans
through a joint resolution of 27 July 1868.
The slavery of Alaskan Natives still continued.
From 1850 to 1869 Los Angeles had Native
Americans in slave markets on Mondays. The
Mayor’s Court sold the labor of Native Americans convicted of offenses. An Anglo or Mexican could require him to work
twice as long as the prison sentence. He
couldn’t leave without repaying for his keep and was then entered into debt
peonage. In 1884 in Elk v. Wilkins the Supreme Court ruled the 14th
amendment didn’t grant citizenship or constitutional rights to Native Americans. This practice continued on and off ranches
and reservations until 1924 when citizenship and full constitutional rights
were given.
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