Were going to talk about a very piece of california history which is not ignore ward, but certainly overlook it most of the time and so we have Jean Pfaelzer here with a new book, california a slave state. And were going to go through the history that im going to talk about the ideas behind it a little bit and also her work on the reparation committee. So jeanie, thanks so much for for joining us at the Commonwealth Club. Thank you. Im glad to be back here. Thank you so as i said, lets start with history. So lets go back as far you into this history as we go we wont go all the way back to the native american tribes, but thats a good place to stop it. Lets do terminology first. In your book, you use lots different terminologies. Native americans native indians. How you make that choice. First of all, you use a lot of different. But i know that this is sort of a an important issue because a lot of tribes, like certain names, dont like other names. And i thought, how did you make your academic about that . Well, i think its really important. Start with the idea that california tribes did not have a history of slavery, that there was an occasional somebody who was a victor in a war who was taken, negotiated, but for the most part, especially all the coastal tribes, there just was not a long history of slavery as as think of it. So lets clear that one. Yeah, thats right. One out right away. And in terms of talking about American People, a lot of native american still use and prefer the word indian despite all of the history that think of when we think of that term and i use word native american it was relevant i use the word such as the bazaar to act for the government and protection of the indian which legalized the slavery of california native people. I tried to use the tribes names when they were available. A lot of this history is going on at same time as genocide in california. Many tribes were in flight and congress did not want to give land to california. Native americans, and so they set up very few the very, very remote reservoir where tribes were blended together. So sometimes it was just hard to find out who was where. The reservation and werent well guarded and people were transported under guard and then they fled. So there was a lot of movement of native americans around california during that time. And i just had no way often of knowing who i was talking in terms of tribal origin. And then i use the word native american, or when it would come up, i would use the word indian. Sometimes i would use the word tribal people. Great. So i just think its important because its hard. You cannot make every group happy using the terms because everybody has their preferred term and i wanted your choices. I think its important that the concern that we have for respect for every group be expressed first and then this is how you have to decide in the book. So the the thousands of years of native American History here, california, that preceded this. Well, start with the slavery that came with the spanish. But the Spanish Missions got started at a time where spain had already been had their empire for a long time, more than 100 years in south, in Central America, before california new came along. So so why you tell maybe a couple of the stories of how the spanish decided um include you could talk about fathers sarah to to to come up to california and why they did it it was interesting the first slaves enslaved people were native americans who were enslaved by the franciscan missionaries they were enslaved by spain in the 18th century in 1769 two in a pair of sierra crosses the border of california right at san diego. He comes by land. He was wounded, determined to walk across the border. And he wounded with this seeping for from the the Mother Mission in laredo in baja, california. And he walks north and. He meets up with the contingent of really its tiny a hundred spanish soldiers and a fanatical cross the border at san diego and some come by sea the come i and epa people who are the local people in san diego are appalled at this invasion there a little bit curious by the fancy gold crosses but mostly theyre watching these especially the two ships keep unloading dead sailors. So this isnt a very impressive, attractive conversion moment. The spanish come though. So the soldiers were dead because of the terrors, the travel not not because they were assassinated. No, they werent assassinated and died in route they died in route from disease and hunger and malnutrition and so the first thing the come i see these dead bodies being unloaded from the ships not so persuasive. The spanish come under orders to expand the spanish empire into california. They have two goals. The first goal is to stop the russians who are coming from the north. Nothing i learned at Hamilton High school in los angeles that the russians were in fact from the north. I thought the Russian River was just a vacation or the Bohemian Club hangs out having been invited. Theyre not likely and so theyre supposed to stop. The russians who are coming from the north, they are under a papal bull and order to convert california tribes to catholicism the spanish empire isnt very happy with the jesuits and they hand off the Mission Project to the francis winds. So the order is to occupy and to use the fertile land. The field of california to provide food for the native American People, the Indigenous People who have been captured and are to do the silver in mexico and, in peru. So they want to feed the people they want to extend. And mexicos sovereignty, although they own land in from baja into alta, california, and stop the russians coming from the north. And so the plan is to set slave plantations to grow food. But also with this theory, logical sidebar, which is to convert all of the native American People along the coast of california to catholicism, well, we we have so much cruelty cover in just one hour that think the missions that is is one of the most well known pieces of this. But that was the start of institutionalized slavery in california. I think its real important today to not only focus on the issue of cruelty that every single place there was slavery in california, there were flights escape, space, crazy organized slave revolts that brought the Mission System to end. We didnt learn this. Our kids didnt learn about this. In the fourth grade Mission Project. But the kumari i people within a couple of years of sarah setting the mission in san diego and have entrapped kumari e pi people into the the kumari organized a revolt so this is why i just want to not talk about the revolt because i was just in sacramento actually at, the California Museum and they have a nice one of the people that theyre honoring is thai perennial toy perini corporation. Yeah, well, tell her her story because thats thats a good one. All right, there lots of stories. The kumari people sweep down from the mesas and coastline, the the kumari. I lived in small plan all over San Diego County in what we now think of as Baja California and, they organize a slave revolt and they plan it. They carve the arrows they make new bows and they down and they burn san diego mission. They killed the priest, padre jaime, and they free all of the kulmiye people never to return. So this story with a slave revolt that i didnt know about toy farina was admissions and gabriel was panther in the valley in the valley north l. A. And troy perrine, a teenager. Shes been designated as a shaman. She is totally stocked up on to lot. She t shes pretty much stoned out as far as i can tell. Much of the time. And shes designated a shaman and shes urged lead a revolt at mission gabriel which mission you know in what we now call the valley and a lot of people are encouraging her to do this and she gathers the people together and shes rabbit out and. So just as theyre crossing the wall to free the people at Mission San Gabriel shes captured along with all the other rebels and shes sort one of my heroines because when they capture her they want her to testify and they give her a little witness stool and they she says, i will not sit on your stool. And she stands during testimony and charges them with the captivity of her people. And shes sent to one of the presidio, the presidio four forts or jails. She sent to one of the presidio is forever. Shes banned from her people and her river vault fails. Other revolts succeed. What i also didnt know thinking about the fourth grade Mission Project is that there is an organized slave revolt at Mission Santa barbara. Santa ynez mission semper ma, and they take over the missions and all of the native people who are captured with those flee into the tullys and they escape there chased by the mexican military. To this point, californias owned by mexico. They escape into the tullys and the military military chases them the horses cant make it the tully marshes and they finally roll through with a cannon and blast the people open. Many were slaughtered. Some are forced to return, and most of them into the tully marshes. So the slave revolts go mission by mission. Mission, whether its the kulmiye or the tongva and they bring down the Mission System. What brings down the Mission System is that mexico wants this land. They dont care about the Mission System. Right . Once mexico takes over from spain, yeah. When they get there. Yeah. So a series of forces come together to bring the missions. Then the question is, whats mexico going to do with all of this land . And i found these incredible where the tribal people at the Different Missions demand the land that they have been forced to turn from their land into mission land and they demand their land back. They demand compensation. They demand freedom, and they actually demand the right to vote, which they dont get. The type of story, if she had only been burned at the stake, you know, it would have been joan of arc all again. You know, thats really weird. But very similar story. Uh huh. Oh, okay. I mean, topiary ned never saw herself as a martyr, right you know, she really saw herself as a leader and charisma, attic and divine a spiritual leader. A shame, a leader of her people. And she didnt to lose. They didnt figure it out quite perfectly. No, im sure joan wanted to into. So lets cover russians because thats the part that lot of people dont understand and thought one of your statistics was fantastic which was that one sixth of the russian and russian government expenditures in the year went to trying to set up this trade in otter pelts and and and the other one that was fascinating was how an outer pelt sold in beijing and that this was of their thing. So why dont why dont you tell what motivated the russians come in . Because it wasnt the same motive at all. The spanish totally different it was not land. And it wasnt god. Right. They wanted otter pelt otter. Well, i mean, we think of otter pelts are really otters are really cute, you know, and they lie on their back and, you know, crack crabs. But they also have a million hares per square inch. It is the softest, silky fur in the world. And if we look at pictures now of the chinese mandarin class and we see these huge fur collars and muffs and rings around their robes that fur for the most part, and lot of it came from california. The russians have crossed the bering strait. Theyre thinking theyre going to find a route to. China, just the eternal route, china and they dont find it bering is shipwrecked on a rock. Bering dies and he spends this horrible well, hes dead. But his people, his sailors spend this horrible winter on the rocks and as the ice melts, they find otter fur and they rebuild their broken ship. The ice doesnt melt till may and they take it back to russia and they deliver to the emperor a thousand otter pelts. And the pelts were selling in the currency of the time for 3,500 propelled and theyve taken back a thousand of these pelts and they call it soft gold and this is going to save the broken russian empire. So no route to china but a route to increase wealth and prosperity and to make it work. Russia create the russianamerican company. And in the charter it says that the russian fur are allowed to enslave. 50 of the alaska native men, the alaskan native in their kayaks are the only who are really skillful enough to kill the otter. So theres a different slave triangle of alaska, california, canton that grows out of that when i went to berkeley, we would go to fort ross and we take a bottle of wine, eat the little russian cookies and the little girls with the aprons, the butter cookies. I had no idea that fort ross was a slave plantation and thats where russia bases this trade out of. Theyre scared of the spanish so they deposit the otter hunters on the Farallon Island and they abandon them for six months and. An american actually boston whaling ship sailed by pick up the pelts leave a bag of flour and told to survive. And theyre guarded by a russian. There are also native women who are creating these skin kayaks and increase edible waterproof clothing. Ari, i have nothing on them. They are out of the gut of the usually. Of the sea lion. Mm hmm. Totally. Clothing and those the women. So. And they oil and stitch the kayaks. Hmm. The alaska natives paddle up what you call the river. Now we call the Russian River now. They were scared to go shore because thats where the spanish were. Mm hmm. So. And also, those of you whove spent time on the rather smelly Farallon Islands, theyre surrounded by. So it wasnt an easy escape for the alaskan native people. And theyre far from home. It was amazing how cavalier they were about using these people. And then just leaving them, you know, just like they even even in their own selfinterest. It would seem that they would have taken slightly better care of them. I think self interest and the economics of enslavement dont necessarily really mean to treat these working well ever. Certainly doesnt seem that way. I mean part of the definition of slavery involves forced mobility, violence rape, constriction starvation, fear, threats about the people still at home. So its not a labor that tends to be treated with respect. Right. And the question for the question for me is for you is that thats been going on for all of human in lots and lots places, most times not quite as bad as some of the stuff weve had. But still very bad. Do you have any idea, having studied this so thoroughly why we are so cruel to somebody else . Why would we do that . No, no, no answer. Okay. I ive lived with this book for almost eight years with time for some life, for covered. And at the end of it and maybe its my optimistic that i got from my dad, my politics. I dont have i dont know of any body here. Have an explanation for human and brutality. I can say that it was about profit. It was about conquest of land. It was about. It was about power. But at the end of the day, i dont know. I truly do know how i wrote this book. And i dont. An explanation for human evil. Its interesting that some of the other things that you mentioned, so im going to jump time frame for just a second here to 1850s in San Francisco and you mentioned that the murder rate for the first six years after the gold rush in francisco, the 1200 people were murdered in those six years in that town. And it seems to me i dont have the exact statistics, but maybe the average number of people in the town, 25,000 during those six years. That would be a murder rate of of 800 per 100,000 people. Right now our, murder rate is 6. 9 per 100,000 people and st louis, is that about 65 or Something Like that, which is the highest the United States and the murder rate in San Francisco was 800 per. So its 100 times worse than it is now and it was an all male society as we know are in almost all male society. And it wasnt exactly the highly educated that came. I mean, certainly some. But it was it was the rough crowd and this rough crowd, um, i think it has do with something in psychology that if you feel that youre at the dregs, that you have to make somebody else feel than you are so that you can, youre on top of them. Something. It was i mean, the gold rush brought a lot of greed, a lot of violence, a lot of petty crime, a loaf of bread was selling for 18 for a loaf of bread. People were starving. So and people were violent. And this aura of gold brought, people from all over the world the news of gold traveled the pacific rim very quickly. It was easier to get here in San Francisco from china or from chile or argentina, where there were gold miners, a tradition of gold mining. It was easier get here from latin and south america and asia than it was to either the plains or cross through the jungles of panama to come here to mine. So it was a highly male, but would have to leave out all of the native american women who were here and the chinese girls who were kidnaped from the port cities of guangdong, canton, and brought as enslaved prostitutes to service this very what was called than a bachelor town or a bachelor community. So it was a violent, greedy town, but it wasnt. Oh, i wouldnt construct all of the gold miners as, quote, the dregs society. We know. Well, i didnt know. No no. Now that plantation owners crossed the plains or through the jungles of panama a very wealthy plantation owners, bringing with them two, three or four enslaved africanamerican men who walked across the plains or who carried their owners equipment and gambling tents and Mining Equipment through the jungles of panama up one side, the Chicago River down the other, and on the other side, with thousands of miners competing little ships to bring up to San Francisco and then to go on to sacramento, which was the base for the gold rush. So there were very wealthy people and people are m