SSU Native American Studies Professor Edward Castillo has co-edited the the latest issue of the scholastic publication California Chronicles with long time friend and colleague Jim Rawls of Diablo Valley College's history department. This issue of California Chronicles focuses on the role of Native Americans in the California mission development. "We hope that this project will raise awareness about the truth of the missions and why Native Americans are rarely mentioned in mission history," said Castillo.
California Chronicles is a monthly scholastic publication which is intended for public school social science teachers and their students. According to Castillo, this particular issue will be aimed at fourth graders and will help them to understand the biased history of the California missions that is sometimes presented in schools. "I hope that this issue will make teachers and students explore the reasons why the padres and missionaries were mentioned in mission history more than the Indians. Our purpose with California Chronicles is to write the Indians back into history and tell the events as they really happened," said Castillo.
According to Castillo, the Native Americans erected the missions by manual labor, although children are taught that the padres and missionaries did all the work. "All Californians deserve a balanced history of the missions, and through California Chronicles we hope to shed some light on these issues," remarked Castillo.
