Land Acknowledgement

Regardless of our belief systems and worldviews, we are all connected—we live together on this planet, on this continent, in this community. I believe that land acknowledgements are an important component of understanding our place in the historical and ongoing systems that have brought us to where we are.

I operate Bleeding Pen Editing out of my home in Grass Valley, California—on the unceded lands of the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan. The Nisenan—though they were nearly annihilated by the genocide of the California gold rush—maintain a deep spiritual connection to these lands. I am honored and humbled to live in this beautiful area.

I acknowledge the wrongs of my settler ancestors and recognize that the painful displacement and dispossession of cultural lands and traditions has led to ongoing pain and trauma. I celebrate the recent return of some Nisenan land—located on the historic village site Yulića in the Sierra Nevada Foothills—and I continue to mourn that the government has yet to re-recognize the tribe with federal status.

I commit to continued learning and involvement to help heal these wounds. I will take action to interrupt the continued erasure of Indigenous peoples in general, and to supporting the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan in particular. I will strive to assist in upholding and rebuilding Nisenan sovereignty, dignity, and identity.

As part of my individual efforts toward reconciliation, I believe it’s important not only to recognize the lands that I live on, but to acknowledge that my education as a young person in this region was greatly flawed. Having recently returned to the area, I have been reflecting on the stories I learned when I was young—fictitious stories that told a whitewashed history and erased painful truths. I am actively re-learning California history. I know now that the primary people who lived in this region before the genocide of the gold rush weren’t Maidu, or Miwok, or Pomo—they were Nisenan (though territories of these tribes overlapped). I also know that the Nisenan didn’t “just disappear” and leave their lands—the people were nearly exterminated by colonial settlers, gold miners, missionaries, and state officials, and their land was stolen (repeatedly). History has rendered the Nisenan all but invisible—but some people survived, and their ancestors live here still. Today, the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan are actively working to re-gain federal recognition. To learn more about these efforts, please visit the California Heritage Indigenous Research Project.

Attempted Erasure

The region we now call California is home to a painful history of abuse toward Indigenous peoples. The mission system of the Spanish colonial period paved a path of genocide that continued through the gold rush era—when the lands and people were raped and pillaged—through the residential boarding and relocation periods into the 1960s, when state and federal governments stripped federal recognition from California’s Indigenous Rancherias (including the Nisenan). Communities—who had been living here and stewarding the land for 13,000 years—were torn apart.

When I grew up here in the 1980s, elementary school history meant learning about the golden era of the state—"Eureka!” “Sutter’s Mill” and the “Empire Mine.” We learned stories about Native people tangentially—as an aside to the romanticized fictions of the gold mining era. We learned about the discovery of gold, the types of gold mining that happened in our area, and how a few “Maidu” or “Pomo” women “fell in love” with the gold miners and “honored” them by making them baskets or fur clothing. These stories weren’t true.

The real history is grim and painful—and includes stories about enslavement, genocide, and the eradication of culture. However, I believe understanding the truth is vital to repairing past harms and honoring the Nisenan—who live here still.

The Nisenan community shouldn’t shoulder these historical traumas alone.

I invite you to learn more by swiping through these moments below.

  • 1819

    Congress passed the “Civilization Fund Act.”

    Colonial settlers and missionaries received federal funding to “civilize” Native people by eradicating their cultures. The act forbade Indigenous people to use their languages, practice traditions, or observe cultural practices.

  • 1806–1830

    White explorers and colonial settlers decimated populations of fur-bearing animals like the beaver. The exploitation of fur mammals directly impacted local ecosystems and the Indigenous people who depended on them for survival.

  • Winter 1846–1847

    The Donner party was stranded on the Sierra pass. The grim history of cannibalism is well-known.

    However, the tale often neglects to mention two young Native scouts, Luis and Salvador, who were sent to find and rescue the party. After witnessing the group’s cannibalism, they fled for their lives, only to be hunted down, killed, and eaten.

    William Foster—who murdered the boys—was never prosecuted for his crime.

  • 1849

    The discovery of gold brought an inundation of people hoping to strike it rich. Native tribes like the Nisenan, Miwok, Maidu, Pomo, and Washoe suffered the invasion—they were enslaved, raped, and murdered when they stood in the way of explorers.

    The state of California paid bounties for Native body parts.

    The gold subsequently taken from the region impacted the outcome of both the Civil War and the Mexican-American war.

    To date, neither the US government nor the California state government have ever acknowledged this.

  • 1850

    The first session of the California state legislature passed the “Act for the Government and Protection of Indians.” Under the guise of “protecting” Native people, the act legalized forced servitude, and promoted racism, violence, and legal disempowerment. Effectively, it robbed California’s Indigenous people of legal authority to defend themselves, their property, and their families.

  • 1851

    The California state senate falsified treaties with the Nisenan and other tribes. In exchange for reservation lands, tribes signed away portions of their territory.

    In a secret session, the senate chose not to ratify the agreement—but they allowed the tribes to believe they had. Reservation lands were never allotted and historical territories were never returned. Indigenous lands had been stolen.

  • 1860–1979

    Native children were taken from their homes and placed in boarding schools that were authorized to “kill the Indian to save the man.”

    The generational wounds caused by the boarding school era have made it difficult for cultures and traditions to persist. Languages and cultural practices have been lost.

  • 1862

    Congress passed the “Homestead Act,” which forced Native Americans from their territorial homelands onto reservations.

    This forced a sedentary lifestyle on a previously nomadic people. It weakened social structures and led to a deep cultural depression.

  • 1887

    The “Dawes Act” removed reservation lands from communal, tribal ownership and allotted land to individuals. Surplus land was given to whites.

  • 1913

    President Woodrow Wilson gave federal recognition to several California tribes (including the Nisenan). These lands were called Rancherias.

  • 1964

    Congress terminated the California Rancherias and striped Native tribes (including the Nisenan) of federal recognition. Once again, land was stolen and Indigenous people were displaced.

    To date, the Nisenan are still fighting to regain their status.

  • 1977

    Congress began restoring status to some “California Rancherias.”

    To date, at least 5 tribes, the Nisenan of the Nevada City Rancheria included, have yet to re-receive federal recognition.

  • 2023

    California enacted the “Feather Alert System”—a resource to assist in the investigation into the suspicious or unexplained disappearance of Indigenous women and people.

    Indigenous populations face disproportionately wide amounts of violence—especially against women and children. Across Turtle Island, cases of missing and murdered women have received less attention than similar cases in the settler population. Click here for more information.

  • 2024

    The Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan closed escrow on a plot of traditional territory outside of Grass Valley, California—Yulića.

    Though the tribe continues to fight for reinstatement of federal recognition, this allotment of land will help the tribe begin to heal and reconnect with their ancestors on the land.

Learn more about the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan at the California Heritage Indigenous Research Project.

Take Action to Support Your Local Indigenous Communities

I encourage you to learn about the place you call home and support the Indigenous communities on whose ancestral lands you live. You can support your local Indigenous communities in a variety of ways:

  • Learn more by enrolling in an “Indian Country 101” course, such as this one offered by the Native-owned Whitener Group

  • Donate time or money to local Indigenous tribes

  • Support Indigenous-led grassroots change movements and campaigns (and encourage others to do so as well)

  • Commit to returning land

  • Amplify the voices of Indigenous people leading movements of change