People of the West

Gold Rush

California’s mid-1800s transformation is marked by conquest, massacres, and betrayal. Fremont slaughters the Wintu as Su-su-met and Wa’da’s tender love story is suddenly torn apart. The Temecula Massacre unfolds, pitting Native nations against each other under the shadow of the Mexican-American War. In the Sierra foothills, Miwok and Nisenan families are devastated by the Gold Rush through enslavement, famine, and dispossession. While myths later celebrate opportunity and cowboy codes, the reality is genocide and exclusion. Yet Native voices endure, affirming survival, memory, and responsibility to the Earth.