Julia Louise Gaitan Bogany (July 16, 1948 – March 28, 2021) was an American community leader. She was an educator, and cultural consultant, who identified as being

Tongva The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous peoples of California, Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Channel Islands of California, Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . In the precolonial era, the peop ...

Early life

Julia Louise Gaitan was born in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

. Her mother was Josphine Gaitan, who Bogany identified as being

Gabrielino The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . In the precolonial era, the people lived in as many as 100 villages and primarily identified by ...

and

Acjachemen The Acjachemen () are an Indigenous people of California. Published maps often identify their ancestral lands as extending from the beach to the mountains, south from what is now known as Aliso Creek (Orange County), Aliso Creek in Orange County, ...

. She stated that her maternal grandmother Julia Lassos was a full-blood Tongva. Her uncle Julius registered her to the Gabrielino Tongva of San Gabriel Mission.

Career

Bogany taught preschool for 35 years. From 2000 to 2021, Bogany was cultural affairs officer of the Gabrieleño-Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians, an

unrecognized tribe These organizations, located within the United States, self-identify as Native American tribes, heritage groups, or descendant communities, but they are not federally recognized or state-recognized as Native American tribes. The U.S. Governmental ...

in California. She taught

Tongva language The Tongva language (also known as Gabrielino, Gabrieleño, or Kizh) is an extinct and revitalizing Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Tongva, a Native American people who have lived in and around modern-day Los Angeles for centuries. It has n ...

, beading, and basket-weaving classes, and conducted cultural workshops throughout southern California. She worked on

fetal alcohol spectrum disorder Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) are a group of conditions that can occur in a person who is exposed to alcohol during gestation. FASD affects 1 in 20 Americans, but is highly misdiagnosed and underdiagnosed. The several forms of the ...

awareness in Native American communities. She was the founding president of Kuruvungna Sacred Springs, president of Residential Motivators, and vice president of Keepers of Indigenous Ways, all

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

s. She was active in the Children Court L.A. Round Table, the Santa Monica Conservancy 21st Century Task Force, and the California Native American College Board.“With RESPECT: Julia Bogany.” 2021. ''News from Native California'' 34 (4): 49–52. via EBSCO Connect She was Elder in Residence at

Pitzer College Pitzer College is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was founded in 1963 as a women's college in the Claremont Colleges consortium and became coeducational in 1970. Pitzer enrolls approximately 1000 students. Pitzer off ...

and

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalism in the United States, Congregationalists ...

. Bogany received the Heritage Award from the

Aquarium of the Pacific The Aquarium of the Pacific (formerly the Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific) is a public aquarium on a site on Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach, California, United States. It is situated across the water from the Long Beach Convention Center, Sho ...

in 2010. The National Indian Child Welfare Association named her Champion for Native Children in 2019. Los Angeles City/County Native American Indian Commission recognized her with the Spirit of Tradition Award in 2020. In 2021, she received the California Missions Foundation's Chairman's Award.“With RESPECT: Julia Bogany.” 2021. ''News from Native California'' 34 (4): 49–52. via EBSCO Connect Bogany wrote a children's book, ''Tongva Women Inspiring the Future'', and contributed to the compilation of a Tongva dictionary. At

California State University Dominguez Hills California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH, CSU Dominguez Hills, or Cal State Dominguez Hills) is a public university in Carson, California. It was founded in 1960 and is part of the California State University (CSU) system. In 2020, ...

, there is a mural depicting Bogany under an oak tree, by artist iris yirei hu. Bogany was also featured on a billboard as part of artist Erin Yoshi's "Land of We" installation, and is depicted with her great-granddaughters in a mural by

Audrey Chan Audrey Chan (born 1982) is a Chinese-American Los Angeles–based artist, writer, and educator known for her research-based projects that articulate political and cultural identities through her allegorical narrative and the feminist construct of "t ...

, at the Little Tokyo/Arts District metro station in Los Angeles.

Personal life

She had four children. When her children were grown, she married Andrew Bogany.

Death

Bogany died in 2021, after a stroke. She was 72 years old.

References

External links

Julia Bogany, Megan Dorame, iris yirei hu, ''Pakook koy Peshaax (The Sun Enters the Earth and Leaves the Earth)''
Institute of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (ICALA); an installation in memory of Bogany, at Los Angeles State Historic Park {{DEFAULTSORT:Bogany, Julia 1948 births 2021 deaths American people who self-identify as being of Tongva descent People from Santa Monica, California Schoolteachers from California Women beadworkers American beadworkers