Native American Diversity Padlet by Kyeesha Maxey

The Social Structure of the Tongva Tribe.

abeasley4_1 — 2025-10-15 13:55:39 UTC

The Gabrieleno tribe was a tribe that valued community, equity, and morals. They spoke in the language Kizh, which is a part of the Uto-Aztecan family, and their dialect was influenced by neighboring tribes. They lived in villages, which would consist of large circular multifamily pole houses covered with a type of bulrush mat called tules. These houses would have a main house, and temporary camp shelters for food journeys, in the summer families who lived near grasslands collected roots, seeds, flowers, and fruit. The winter families who lived near shrubs would collect nuts, acorns, yucca and hunt deer. The Gabrieleno people would gather together for numerous reasons, they would come together to trade, engage in ceremonies, share food, and basket weave. They were one of the California tribes notorious for their basket weaving. The workload amongst them is even, both genders share balanced responsibilities and power. Women would collect plants and animal food, they would make baskets, pots and clothing. The men were expected to hunt and protect the village. When they would turn old, they cared for the young and taught them the lifeways of the Tongva.

The Goverment Structure and Political Views of the Tongva

abeasley4_1 — 2025-10-15 13:55:49 UTC

In Gabrieleno Tribe, they held power amongst the villages, they didn't really follow a ‘one person leads all’, one or two clans would lead a village. Regardless, they still did have a chief, the chief would ‘rule’ over a village or tribe which is a main village with satellite villages. The chief's power is hereditary, meaning it’s passed down through bloodline/family. The chief in a village would have the largest kiche (house), and had almost all authority over the village.The capital crimes in their tribe are murder, incest, and disrespect for elders.

ljack23 — 2025-10-16 12:25:23 UTC

For the ideological view on the Gabrieleno tribe, we can see what they believed in. They were polytheistic, meaning they believed in more than one god. They believed the sun, moon, and creating power were gods. They believed in animalism, meaning they believed spirits of animals were deities too, the raven, crow, eagle and owls were the well known ones. They would have rituals like the ritual drinking of toloache. Toloache is made from a type of weed. They had a young men group and still have their traditional dances today. They have passed down their traditions over generations to keep them alive. In 1785, a woman called Toypurina was believed to have supernatural powers. She had fended off from attacks, using her magic, to protect the tribe.

ljack23 — 2025-10-16 12:28:05 UTC

The Gabrieleno tribe didn’t use money to survive, they had a world where money didn’t take over. Instead they traded the things they made with other tribes. They were able to make soup stones, one thing they were known for. They also made clam shell dishes and strung on a cord. They did trade money but they didn’t use it nor need it. They knew how to fish and harvest foods to eat. They had hunting games in the forest.

The Great Makings of the Gabrielino

kmaxey6 — 2025-10-16 12:58:35 UTC

The Gabrielino tribe gathered many materials to help their culture and population thrive. They used whale ribs for the framework to support many structures in their civilization. These ribs were needed so that their structures/buildings don't break apart. They gathered sea lion skins for coverings. The sea lion skins were a part of their everyday lives since they needed coverings for harsh environments and possibly be safer from sicknesses. This tribe created a ritual called tolache. This was a hallucinogen made from jimsonweed. This ritual could appear in their lives during certain times. The Gabrielino held male youth initiations into secret societies so that traditions are kept sacred and remembered into the near future. Back to their materials, they built plank canoes that were named te'aat. They were made from driftwood to be safe for sea travel.

Sites used : https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:13c2a0f5-7d63-4913-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongva#Colonization_and_the_mission_period_(1769%E2%80%931834)

Economics of the Gabrielino Tribe

kmaxey6 — 2025-10-17 11:47:21 UTC

Heredity chiefs ruled the villages or the tribelet. The tribelet is a main village with satellite villages. The Gabrielino tribe were known for soap stones called steatite and clam shell disks. These soap stones and disks were used in trade. They were some sort of money. Most of those clam shell materials were perishable. Aside from the disks, from the quarries in Catalina Island, the soapstone was used to make cooking implements, animal carvings, pipes, ritual objects, and ornaments.

Sites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongva#Material_culture

https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:13c2a0f5-7d63-4913-b504-2eab43b30f9a

The Gabrielino Environment

kmaxey6 — 2025-10-17 12:05:40 UTC

The Gabrielino tribe lived in the region of what is currently known in Los Angeles. The drainage area of the San Gabriel river, the Santa Catalina Island, and probably the San Clemente Island! The territories inhabited by the Gabrielino bordered many other tribes in the region. In 1962, the northern boundary was somewhere between Topanga and Malibu. Maybe even near Malibu Creek. Other than that, in the 1990s, the Gabrielino Springs Foundation revived the Tongva Sacred Springs(Kuruvunga Springs), for sacred ceremonies. These springs were located on the site of a former Tongva/ Gabrielino village. This site is now known as the campus of University High School in West Los Angeles. Those sites, however, were regularly the centerpiece of ceremonial events.

Sites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongva#Land_use_issues

https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:VA6C2:13c2a0f5-7d63-4913-b504-2eab43b30f9a

Kyeesha's Reflection

kmaxey6 — 2025-10-17 12:15:22 UTC

I liked how Ms.Cook directed our focus to pre-colonization. It made me think a bit more about how when talking about the origins of the Americas, whether it be the colonization of the Native Americans or slavery, people never think about that without the negative attributes. Of course it is important to acknowledge the hardships but Native Americans are not hardships. I see Native Americans as survivors. Though some tribes may not be active, other Native Americans try to keep their memory alive rather than giving up to the cruel people who tried to keep them down. Unfortunately, society only focuses on colonization. Even I, as an African-American, only focused on colonization at one point. This project was more eye-opening to reveal how Native Americans contributed to the modern world. Without Native Americans, there might not be an America to call home.

Arianna's Reflection

abeasley4_1 — 2025-10-17 23:34:00 UTC

Personally, I think this was fun project.I loved learning about a new tribe that I literally never heard about before and being able to learn all of ways their customs influenced us today, honestly the most frustrating part tho was finding genuine history of them that didn't highlight violence or genocide. All of the Wikipedia is talking about how the Spanish came and ruined their lives, and nothing else, not even the official Tongva website goes into more detail on what else they did in the political field, besides they're government structure, which I think is very interesting. I thought it was interesting they were able to maintain peace and order despite having little to no 'real leader', or anyone who imposed a major sense of authority, knowing this also makes me wonder how the hereditary chiefs are raised. Their form of leadership is very lenient, so are they taught to be strong opposing leaders? and if so who is doing that teaching if that method isn't really what they go by. What's the criteria that the hereditary chief has to meet to be considered 'real'. OR do they just believe that the blood/heirloom of the chief is perfect in everyway and entrust the roles to them in thought that they're just born to do it? so many questions, so little answers.