Early California Laws and Policies related to California Indians
“Did the State of California enact laws that prohibited California Indians from practicing their religion, speaking their languages or practicing traditional ceremonies and customs? Senator John L. Burton requested that the California Research Bureau research this question.”
This report focuses on early California laws and policies that significantly impacted the California Indians’ way of life. Laws facilitated removing Indians from their traditional lands, separating at least a generation of children and adults from their families, languages, and cultures. Laws apprenticing Indian children and adults to non-Indians reinforced by the criminal justice system was slavery except in name.
Kimberly Johnston-Dodds, Early California Laws and Policies related to California Indians (California Research Bureau, California State Library 2002).
Contact The City Project via email at info@cityprojectca.org to receive a free PDF copy of this report (52 pages 22 MB).
