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Edward D. Castillo, of the
Luiseño The Luiseño or Payómkawichum are an indigenous people of California who, at the time of the first contacts with the Spanish in the 16th century, inhabited the coastal area of southern California, ranging from the present-day southern part of ...
- Cahuilla tribes, is a Native American activist who participated in the American Indian occupation of Alcatraz in 1969. Former
professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professo ...
and director of Native American Studies at the
Sonoma State University Sonoma State University (SSU, Sonoma State, or Sonoma) is a public university in Rohnert Park in Sonoma County, California, US. It is one of the smallest members of the California State University (CSU) system. Sonoma State offers 92 Bachelor's ...
in
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, he wrote several chapters in the
Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Found ...
's ''Handbook of North American Indians'' and in ''Mission Indian Federation: Protecting Tribal Sovereignty 1919-1967'', published in the ''Encyclopedia of Native Americans'' in the 20th Century. He is editor of Native American Perspectives on the Hispanic Colonization of Alta California and The Pomo, A Tribal History. Castillo was a regular contributor of book reviews to historical journals such as Indian Historian,
Journal of California Anthropology The ''Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology'' is a leading regional source of scholarly information on the ethnography, archaeology, linguistics, and Native American history of the Western United States created by Harry Lawton. It ...
,
Western Historical Quarterly The Western History Association (WHA), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was founded in 1961 at Santa Fe, New Mexico by Ray Allen Billington et al. Included in the field of study are the American West and western Canada. The Western History ...
,
American Indian Quarterly The ''American Indian Quarterly'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering studies on the indigenous peoples of North and South America. It is published by the University of Nebraska Press The University of Nebraska Press, also k ...
and California History.


Early life

Castillo was born in 1948 in California. He was raised on a rancheria outside San Jacinto.Eagle, Adam Fortunate., and Tim Findley. Heart of the Rock: the Indian Invasion of Alcatraz. Norman: University of Oklahoma, 2002. Print. To Edward and Betty castillo and has two brothers Billy and Randy. After high school, he enrolled in the
University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban dist ...
with a major in American frontier history and a minor in
Latin American studies Latin American studies (LAS) is an academic and research field associated with the study of Latin America. The interdisciplinary study is a subfield of area studies, and can be composed of numerous disciplines such as economics, sociology, history ...
. After graduating in 1969, Castillo took a minority counseling position at the
University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...
. In that same year he was hired as a graduate student instructor in
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
’s newly established Native American Studies program. Ed is the recognized father of Suelumatra with his wife Luwana Quitiquit, and Cassandra and Andrew Castillo (second marriage), although he may have other children.


Participation at Alcatraz

Castillo first got involved with the American Indian occupation of Alcatraz when Richard Oakes, the foremost organizer of the demonstration, gave a speech at UCLA attempting to get more support for the protest in mid-November 1969. Oakes had been giving similarly effective speeches at
San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different ...
,
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...
, and University of California, Riverside. Castillo, along with about two-thirds of the Native American studies class he was teaching, agreed to take leave from his position at UCLA and join the occupation. He was 21 years old at the time. When he arrived at Alcatraz, Castillo was one of the original members on the island council, along with Richard Oakes and a number of other college students. The island council oversaw everything that occurred on the island. Castillo also worked in the makeshift mail room of the island. Early on during the occupation, Castillo was voted as security chief of the island, but soon resigned from the difficult position after numerous threats from much larger young Indian males. When Richard Oakes left the island due to the death of his daughter, Castillo began to notice the burgeoning of inner conflicts within the island's population. He believed the original
idealism In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to ...
of the island was faltering, and many of the island's leaders were focused more on the political and financial benefits of the protest. After nearly three months of participating in the occupation, Castillo decided to return to UCLA to fulfill his teaching duties.


Later life

Castillo is currently the director of the Native American studies program at
Sonoma State University Sonoma State University (SSU, Sonoma State, or Sonoma) is a public university in Rohnert Park in Sonoma County, California, US. It is one of the smallest members of the California State University (CSU) system. Sonoma State offers 92 Bachelor's ...
. He has worked on numerous books, usually dealing with the history of California Native American tribes. The majority of his scholarly works focus on the impact of Spanish
colonization Colonization, or colonisation, constitutes large-scale population movements wherein migrants maintain strong links with their, or their ancestors', former country – by such links, gain advantage over other inhabitants of the territory. When ...
on Native Americans in the 17th and 18th centuries. He shocked the mission studies world by publishing an oral history by Lorenzo Asisara given in 1878 which explained how the Indians at Santa Cruz murdered the missionary Andres Quintana in retaliation for whippings the friar had given with a barb-tipped whip, and then set the girls free for a night of sex.Edward Castillo (1989), “The Assassination of Padre Andrés Quintana by the Indians of Mission Santa Cruz in 1812: The Narrative of Lorenzo Asisara” in California History 68. He coauthored ''Indians, Franciscans, and Spanish Colonization: The Impact of the Mission System on California Indians'' with Robert H. Jackson.


Notes


References

*Castillo, Edward D.
California Indian History
" CERES. 1998. Web. 23 Sept. 2010. *Irvine, Keith. ''Encyclopedia of Indians of the Americas''. St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly, 1974. Print. *Wasp, Jean.

Sonoma State University. 17 Sept. 2003. Web. 23 Sept. 2010. *Vigil, Delfin.
Disputed Alcatraz Invasion Flag on Block - SFGate.
Featured Articles From The SFGate. 24 Jan. 2008. Web. 23 Sept. 2010. *Castillo, Edward D.

" *Castillo, Edward D.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castillo, Edward Native American activists Living people Luiseño people Cahuilla people Activists from the San Francisco Bay Area Sonoma State University faculty People from San Jacinto, California Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Native Americans Native American studies