Uploaded December 2020 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
In California there were people who resisted. They
resisted the morality of the killing, the necessity
of the killing.
There were people who knew that this was wrong.
--
Benjamin Madley's talk is based on his extensive research and his award winning book - An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-1873 (The Lamar Series in Western History).
Between 1846 and 1873, California’s Indian population plunged from perhaps 150,000 to 30,000. Benjamin Madley is the first historian to uncover the full extent of the slaughter, the involvement of state and federal officials, the taxpayer dollars that supported the violence, indigenous resistance, who did the killing, and how the killings ended.
He shows the broad societal, judicial, and political support for the genocide. Many participated: vigilantes, volunteer state militiamen, U.S. Army soldiers, U.S. congressmen, California governors, and others. The state and federal governments spent at least $1,700,000 on the killings.
This deeply researched book is a comprehensive history of an American genocide.
Besides evaluating government officials’ culpability, Madley considers how the slaughter constituted genocide and how other possible genocides within and beyond the Americas might be investigated using the methods presented in this groundbreaking book.
Born in Redding, California, Ben Madley is a historian of Native America, the United States, and genocide in world history. He earned a B.A. at Yale University, an M.St. at Oxford University, and a Ph.D. at Yale. He then served as an Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral fellow at Dartmouth College before joining the faculty at UCLA where he is now Associate Professor of History and Interim Chair of American Indian Studies.
--
In 1769 there were ~310,000 Indians living in California. (Spanish, Mexican, Russian)
In 1846 there were ~150,000; (Start of 'Gold Rush' of newcomers - American and people from around the world)
In 1860 there were less than 50,000
In 1870 there were 30,000, and just ten years later,
In 1880 the census 16,277
Before the 'Gold Rush', 1848, there were about 150,000 Indians and not more than 14,000 non-Indians.
- Over ten times more Indian people than non-Indians (See slide and comments at 27:25 )
By 1860 there were less than 50,000 Indian people and over 350,000 non-Indians.
- Seven times more non-Indians than Indians.
This PSA is an excerpt from a longer show:
An American Genocide - The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe - 1846-1873 - aFJ 8973
youtu.be/OhqTp17hgLI
--
Tags: History, Genocide, America, Native American, Indigenous, Government, California, Politics, Race, Relations, Violence, Resistance, Education,
--
YouTube Link
youtu.be/XgIjZqDwMKk
--
Also, this show is available for local public TV stations to broadcast.
Phone your local public TV station (LPTV) to request they broadcast this film to your local community. Your station can download the film in TV broadcast format, HD or SD, from www.PEGMedia.org . This film is available for broadcast from any LPTV station in the country - and world. Stations that use Telvue, DVDs or other media can contact us for instructions.
--
In California there were people who resisted. They
resisted the morality of the killing, the necessity
of the killing.
There were people who knew that this was wrong.
--
Benjamin Madley's talk is based on his extensive research and his award winning book - An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846-1873 (The Lamar Series in Western History).
Between 1846 and 1873, California’s Indian population plunged from perhaps 150,000 to 30,000. Benjamin Madley is the first historian to uncover the full extent of the slaughter, the involvement of state and federal officials, the taxpayer dollars that supported the violence, indigenous resistance, who did the killing, and how the killings ended.
He shows the broad societal, judicial, and political support for the genocide. Many participated: vigilantes, volunteer state militiamen, U.S. Army soldiers, U.S. congressmen, California governors, and others. The state and federal governments spent at least $1,700,000 on the killings.
This deeply researched book is a comprehensive history of an American genocide.
Besides evaluating government officials’ culpability, Madley considers how the slaughter constituted genocide and how other possible genocides within and beyond the Americas might be investigated using the methods presented in this groundbreaking book.
Born in Redding, California, Ben Madley is a historian of Native America, the United States, and genocide in world history. He earned a B.A. at Yale University, an M.St. at Oxford University, and a Ph.D. at Yale. He then served as an Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral fellow at Dartmouth College before joining the faculty at UCLA where he is now Associate Professor of History and Interim Chair of American Indian Studies.
--
In 1769 there were ~310,000 Indians living in California. (Spanish, Mexican, Russian)
In 1846 there were ~150,000; (Start of 'Gold Rush' of newcomers - American and people from around the world)
In 1860 there were less than 50,000
In 1870 there were 30,000, and just ten years later,
In 1880 the census 16,277
Before the 'Gold Rush', 1848, there were about 150,000 Indians and not more than 14,000 non-Indians.
- Over ten times more Indian people than non-Indians (See slide and comments at 27:25 )
By 1860 there were less than 50,000 Indian people and over 350,000 non-Indians.
- Seven times more non-Indians than Indians.
This PSA is an excerpt from a longer show:
An American Genocide - The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe - 1846-1873 - aFJ 8973
youtu.be/OhqTp17hgLI
--
Tags: History, Genocide, America, Native American, Indigenous, Government, California, Politics, Race, Relations, Violence, Resistance, Education,
--
YouTube Link
youtu.be/XgIjZqDwMKk
--
Also, this show is available for local public TV stations to broadcast.
Phone your local public TV station (LPTV) to request they broadcast this film to your local community. Your station can download the film in TV broadcast format, HD or SD, from www.PEGMedia.org . This film is available for broadcast from any LPTV station in the country - and world. Stations that use Telvue, DVDs or other media can contact us for instructions.
--
