Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian's Historic Unveiling of Gold Rush Era Treaty Held Secret by U.S. Senate Leading to Ethnic Cleansing of American Indian Nations in California

WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Media Advisory.

WHAT: The unveiling to the general public, for the first time in history, one of 18 treaties negotiated between the United States and the American Indian Nations in California during the Gold Rush that were secretly and unanimously unratified by the U.S. Senate, leaving American Indians in California without land to live on or legal rights to protect them, and led to their ethnic cleansing.

WHEN: Thursday, Sept. 22
9:30 a.m.–10:30 a.m.

WHERE: The Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian
4^th and Independence Street, S.W., Washington, D.C.
Fourth Floor, at the entrance of the critically-acclaimed exhibition, "Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations"

WHO: Remarks by, and interview opportunities with:
Kevin Gover, Museum Director, Smithsonian Institution
Jeff Grubbe, Chairman, Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians
Mark Macarro, Chairman, Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians
William Satti, Chief of Staff, San Manuel Band of Mission Indians
Joseph D. Hamilton, Chairman, Ramona Band of Cahuilla

BACKGROUND
The Treaty of Temecula is one of 18 treaties negotiated between the United States and American Indian Nations in California and submitted to the United States Senate on June 1, 1852 by President Millard Fillmore. Unbeknownst to the American Indian signatories, the U.S. Senate rejected the treaties and ordered them to be held in secrecy for over fifty years.

In the meantime, Native Americans in California were forced off their national lands and made homeless without any local, state or federal legal recourse. Vulnerable to abuse and subjugation at the hands of white settlers, state and local militias, and undefended by United States armed forces, it led to an ethnic cleansing in which the American Indian population in California plunged from perhaps 150,000 to 30,000 between 1846 and 1870. The 1880 U.S. Census recorded only 16,277 American Indians in California, a 90% decrease in their population at the onset of the Gold Rush.

Representatives from the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, San Manuel Band of Missions Indians and Ramona Band of Cahuilla, four of the American Indian Nations affected by the treaty, will be present to witness the installation of the original document more than 150 years after it was secretly rejected by the U.S. Senate. Treaty K will be in the exhibition "Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations," which opened on Sept. 21, 2014 and will stay open through Spring 2020. The full text of the treaty is available on the Nation to Nation project website.

The National Museum of the American Indian is committed to advancing knowledge and understanding of the Native cultures of the Western Hemisphere—past, present and future—through partnership with Native people and others. For additional information about the National Museum of the American Indian, visit AmericanIndian.si.edu. Follow the museum via social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Press Contact:  Eileen Maxwell, Director of Public Affairs, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, [email protected], 202-633-6615; cell 202-436-6805 

SOURCE Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian

Related Links

http://www.americanindian.si.edu/