The Native People: Miwok, Miwuk, Mi-Wuk, or Me-Wuk

Chaw'se Indian Grinding Rock State Historic Park
Source: https://sites.google.com/site/californiaindianshistory/miwok-indians 

What are a couple actions can you take to begin to understand how you can help your Miwok Tribe not matter how you spell it; Miwok, Miwuk, Mi-Wuk, or Me-Wuk?

A couple of first steps would be to understand some Native American history and who we are as a people.

Native American History Snapshot

You may know that in California prior to the European’s arrival and the later Gold Rush of 1848, some 300,000 natives lived in small villages what is now known as California (A.E., n.d). After the Gold Rush in  1873 only 30,000 natives remained out of about 150,000 who existed just prior to the Gold Rush (Blakemore, 2020). Yet you and we as a people remain, we haven’t vanished (Gershon, 2020).

California Miwok: 3,500 Natives (approx.)

But what of the California Miwok who are we? One way to start answering this question is to consider a legal point of view from the U.S. Federal Government.

Federally Recognized Miwok Tribes

References

American Experience (A.E.). (n.d.). The Gold Rush Impact on Native Tribes. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goldrush-value-land/

Blakemore, E. (2020). California’s Little-Known Genocide. History, A&E Television Networks, LLC. https://www.history.com/news/californias-little-known-genocide 

Gershon, L. (2020). Wounded Knee and the Myth of the Vanished Indian. JSTOR Daily. https://daily.jstor.org/wounded-knee-and-the-myth-of-the-vanished-indian/ 

PeopleGroups.info. (n.d.). Miwok of United States. https://www.peoplegroups.info/site/PeopleGroupHighlight/id/313/name/Miwok

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