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Foreword to A Land Defender’s Guide, Vol. 1
  • Gabriel Duncan
  • July 12, 2023
  • 12:30
  • 0 comments
The following is the Foreword to A Land Defender’s Guide to: Making the Exploitation of Land Expensive & Unappealing To Would-Be Colonizers, Volume I: Work-Site Blues. Foreword You told them this was Native Land, Indigenous Territory, A Sacred Site, or even the place where your great-grandparents are buried. But they laughed in your face, and… Continue reading Foreword to A Land Defender’s Guide, Vol. 1
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‘A Land Defender’s Guide To Making the Exploitation of Land Expensive & Unappealing To Would-Be Colonizers
  • Gabriel Duncan
  • July 11, 2023
  • 20:05
  • 0 comments
“A Land Defender’s Guide to: Making the Exploitation of Land Expensive & Unappealing To Would-Be Corporate Colonizers” has just dropped–published by guerilla printer Lonely Ocean Press. The 36 page booklet “Volume I: Work-Site Blues” offers a plethora of information about the heavy equipment used to desecrate sacred land, as well as a selection of basic… Continue reading ‘A Land Defender’s Guide To Making the Exploitation of Land Expensive & Unappealing To Would-Be Colonizers
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What is Tribal Recognition, Who is a Descendant, How does the NAGPRA Notification List Work?
  • Gabriel Duncan
  • June 7, 2023
  • 01:23
  • 0 comments
This article will be a very brief primer, touching on three important topics: What is Tribal Recognition? Federal Recognition When the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Federal Acknowledgment, formally recognizes a group (“tribal entity”) as being a separate sovereign government from the United States. This recognition “establishes” a government-to-government… Continue reading What is Tribal Recognition, Who is a Descendant, How does the NAGPRA Notification List Work?
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Shuumi Does Not Benefit Ohlone Tribe
  • Gabriel Duncan
  • May 7, 2023
  • 02:31
  • 0 comments
Most people are familiar with the Confederated Villages of the Lisjan Nation, INC.; and their fundraising (“trust”) corporation known as Sogorea Te Land Trust, INC. Both are fronted by Corrina Gould, an Ohlone woman, who has managed to command the attention and monies from thousands of people in the San Francisco Bay Area, and beyond.… Continue reading Shuumi Does Not Benefit Ohlone Tribe
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SF Bay Area Shellmounds Are Some of the Most Endangered Cultural Resources in the World
  • Gabriel Duncan
  • April 26, 2023
  • 14:07
  • 0 comments
The San Francisco Bay Area had well over 425 shellmounds. Gabriel Duncan, from the Alameda Native History Project, estimates the true number of shellmounds around the S.F. Bay Area’s shoreline is closer to seven or eight-hundred shellmounds, which existed before European invasion and colonization. Shellmounds are ancient burial grounds used by the First People of… Continue reading SF Bay Area Shellmounds Are Some of the Most Endangered Cultural Resources in the World
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Alameda Shellmounds Map

The first, and original, Alameda Shellmound Map, by Gabriel Duncan. This map aggregates the pre-existing work by N.C. Nelson (on the Shellmounds of the San Francisco Bay Region); and Alameda’s own Imelda Merlin (from “Alameda: A Geological History”); and expounds on them, by tying in historical newspaper articles, and City of Alameda records, to create the most detailed, and complete picture of the Alameda Shellmounds to date.
Alameda Shellmounds Map

Map of the Shellmounds of the San Francisco Bay Area

The larger sequel to the Alameda Shellmounds Map. This map was hand-plotted using a specially reprojected version of the N.C. Nelson map showing the distribution of shellmounds in the San Francisco Bay Region. While not all points are completely plotted, this interactive map helps to illustrate the density and prevalence of shellmounds in the Bay Area; and illuminate the concept of “Native Land” in a way which is more immediate, and tangible to contemporary learners.
SF Bay Area Shellmounds Map

Mission

  • To present the Indigenous History of the place we now call the “City of Alameda” with accuracy and respect to Ohlone People.
  • To make space for Ohlone people in their own traditional homeland.
  • To recognize and acknowledge the sovereignty of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area, and their 10,000 year history of continuous habitation of the place we call the San Francisco Bay Area.
  • To update and reimagine the visual aids, diagrams, and infographs from studies and publications near the turn of the 20th century into newer, more nuanced, accurate and relevant material that can be referenced in today’s classrooms, museums, and parks.
  • To provide local institutions the materials, research, and information necessary to update their exhibits.
  • To create impactful graphic designs to educate, inform, and advocate for indigenous issues, as well as other social justice & environmental causes and movements, and some nonpartisan campaigns in solidarity, and to provide material support.

Goals

  • Accurate and meaningful representation of Ohlone people in Alameda (beyond land acknowledgment–which is not representation.)
  • Awareness that:
  • Ohlone people are still alive;
  • The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe is composed of the descendants of the survivors of Missions San Jose, Santa Clara, and Delores, and descendants of the Verona Band of Alameda County, a Federally Recognized Tribe;
  • Muwekma’s struggle for Federal Recognition and Land Back.
  • Public awareness of shellmounds, and the grisly uses of the Alameda (and San Francisco Bay Area) Shellmounds.
  • Foster relationship between local government and tribal government.
  • Protect and preserve shellmounds and sacred sites, establish historical districts, and more, in partnership with local land owners, businesses, agencies and government.
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2201 Shore Line Drive #6334

Alameda, California 94501

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