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The Pomo are a Native American people of California. Historical Pomo territory in
Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California, spanning the northernmost 48 of the state's List of counties in California, 58 counties. Northern Ca ...
was large, bordered by the
Pacific Coast Pacific coast may be used to reference any coastline that borders the Pacific Ocean. Geography Americas North America Countries on the western side of North America have a Pacific coast as their western or south-western border. One of th ...
to the west, extending inland to Clear Lake, mainly between Cleone and Duncans Point. One small group, the Tceefoka ( Northeastern Pomo), lived in the vicinity of present-day Stonyford, Colusa County, where they were separated from the majority of Pomo lands by Yuki and Wintuan speakers. The name ''Pomo'' derives from a
conflation Conflation is the merging of two or more sets of information, texts, ideas, or opinions into one, often in error. Conflation is defined as 'fusing blending', but is often used colloquially as 'being equal to' - treating two similar but disparate c ...
of the Pomo words and . It originally meant "those who live at red earth hole" and was once the name of a village in southern Potter Valley, near the present-day community of
Pomo The Pomo are a Indigenous peoples of California, Native American people of California. Historical Pomo territory in Northern California was large, bordered by the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast to the west, extending inland to ...
,
Mendocino County Mendocino County (; ''Mendocino'', Spanish language, Spanish for "of Antonio de Mendoza, Mendoza") is a County (United States), county located on the North Coast (California), North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United S ...
. The word may also have referred to the local deposits of red
magnesite Magnesite is a mineral with the chemical formula ( magnesium carbonate). Iron, manganese, cobalt, and nickel may occur as admixtures, but only in small amounts. Occurrence Magnesite occurs as veins in and an alteration product of ultramafic r ...
(mined and utilized for making red
bead A bead is a small, decorative object that is formed in a variety of shapes and sizes of a material such as stone, bone, shell, glass, plastic, wood, or pearl and with a small hole for threading or stringing. Beads range in size from under 1 ...
s) or to the reddish, earthen clay soil of the area, rich in
hematite Hematite (), also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils. Hematite crystals belong to the rhombohedral lattice system which is designated the alpha polymorph of . ...
(also mined for use). In the Northern Pomo dialect, ''-pomo'' or ''-poma'' was used as a
suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...
after the names of places, to mean a subgroup of people of the place. By
1877 Events January * January 1 – Queen Victoria is proclaimed Empress of India by the Royal Titles Act 1876, introduced by Benjamin Disraeli, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom . * January 8 – Great Sioux War of 1876: Batt ...
, the meaning of the word ''Pomo'' had been broadened, at least in the
English language English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a English as a lingua franca, global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles (tribe), Angles, one of the Germanic peoples th ...
, to refer to not only the Pomo language but the entire group of people speaking it, as well—the people known as Pomo, today.


History

The people called Pomo were originally linked by location, language, and cultural expression. They were not socially or politically linked as a unified group. Instead, they lived in small groups or bands linked by lineage and marriage.


Precontact

According to certain
linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
hypotheses, the Pomo descend from Hokan-speaking peoples; per this theory, a Hokan-speaking people migrated into the upland valley regions near Clear Lake ca. 7000 BCE, where their language evolved into Proto-Pomoan. Another theory places the Pomoan ancestral community in the Sonoma region, where coastal
redwood Sequoioideae, commonly referred to as redwoods, is a subfamily of Pinophyta, coniferous trees within the family (biology), family Cupressaceae, that range in the Northern Hemisphere, northern hemisphere. It includes the List of superlative tree ...
(''Sequoia sempervirens'') forests met with inland
valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...
s and mixed
woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...
s, bolstered by Clear Lake and its abundant natural resources. Around 4000 BCE to 5000 BCE, some of these people relocated into the areas of today's Russian River Valley and northward, near present-day Ukiah. Their language diverged into western, southern, central, and northern Pomoan, respectively. Another people, possibly Yukian speakers, lived first in the Russian River Valley and Lake Sonoma areas prior to being displaced by the Pomo, who subsequently took over the region. Modern archaeological analyses and discoveries have suggested that the local economy, which was based on women processing acorns by
mortar and pestle A mortar and pestle is a set of two simple tools used to prepare ingredients or substances by compression (physics), crushing and shear force, grinding them into a fine Paste (rheology), paste or powder in the kitchen, laboratory, and pharmacy. ...
, and first observed by the Spanish upon their arrival in
Central California Central California is generally thought of as the middle third of the U.S. state of California, north of Southern California (which includes Los Angeles and San Diego) and south of Northern California (which includes San Francisco and San Jose, ...
, may have developed during the Mostin culture period (ca. 8500 BP–6300 BP) in the Clear Lake Basin.


Tolay Lake site

More than a thousand precontact charmstones and numerous
arrowheads An arrowhead or point is the usually sharpened and hardened tip of an arrow, which contributes a majority of the projectile mass and is responsible for impacting and penetrating a target, or sometimes for special purposes such as signaling. ...
have been unearthed at Tolay Lake, southern Sonoma County, attributed to both Pomo and Coast Miwok people. A sacred site, the lake is a ceremonial gathering and healing place.


Lake Sonoma sites

*At the "broken bridge" site, researchers using
radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for Chronological dating, determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of carbon-14, radiocarbon, a radioactive Isotop ...
of artifacts determined it was inhabited ca. 3280 BCE, the oldest human habitation documented in the valley. They consider it part of the Skaggs Phase (3000– 500 BCE). *"Oregon Oak Place" was dated at 1843 BCE; surveyors suggested that, compared to the lower river valleys, this remote area was only sparsely inhabited before the Pomo arrived. Both of these Skaggs-Phase sites contained millstones and other handstones for grinding seed and nuts. The villages may have been used for hunting or temporary camps.
Obsidian Obsidian ( ) is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extrusive rock, extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Produced from felsic lava, obsidian is rich in the lighter element ...
was used, albeit rarely, from Mount Konocti, in present-day Lake County. There were no
petroglyphs A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...
. The population lived only along major creeks. The "Dry Creek" Phase lasted from 500 BCE to 1300 CE. During this phase, the Indigenous people settled the lands more extensively, and permanently. Archaeologists believe a Pomo group took over the lands from earlier peoples during this phase. They founded 14 additional sites in the Warm Springs and Upper Dry Creek areas. Bowls, mortars, and pestles appeared in this phase, probably used by women to pound acorns (as opposed to the milling stones used for seeds). The sites were more settled and, likewise, more "complex". Trade took place on a larger scale beyond the region. Decorative beads and ornaments were made in this phase, and approximately half of the artifacts were made of obsidian. Steatite or
soapstone Soapstone (also known as steatite or soaprock) is a talc-schist, which is a type of metamorphic rock. It is composed largely of the magnesium-rich mineral talc. It is produced by dynamothermal metamorphism and metasomatism, which occur in sub ...
objects were also found, which must have been imported into the region through trade, as the rocks do not exist locally. Relatively soft and easy to carve, soapstone was used to make beads, pendants, as well as mortars. The largest and only substantial steatite mine in California existed on Catalina Island, one of the
Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...
off the coast of what is now
Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...
. The existence of steatite in Pomo and Northern California Native sites is a strong indicator of the size and complexity of Native California trade networks. The next phase, named the "Smith Phase" after the Pomo consultants, lasted from 1300 CE to the mid-19th century. Researchers mapped 30 sites in this era, showing a gradual evolving and intensification of trends. Archery, and its associated applications, was a major technological advancement which greatly benefited the population. The production of shell beads (and drills to create holes in beads), remained important, with drills being found in high numbers. Numerous clamshell beads, a major currency among the peoples of Central California, were also found, also suggesting a vast trade network.


Post contact

There were an estimated 8,000 to 21,000 Pomo among 70 tribes speaking seven Pomo languages at the time of European contact. The way of life of the Pomo changed with the arrival of Russians at Fort Ross (1812 to 1841) on the Pacific coastline, and Spanish missionaries and European-American colonists]coming in from the south and east. The Pomo who lived on the coastline and near Fort Ross were known as the Kashaya language, Kashaya. They interacted and traded with the Russians. The Spanish missionaries stole or enslaved many of the southern Pomo from the Santa Rosa Plain to Mission San Rafael, at present-day San Rafael, between 1821 and 1828. Only a few Pomo speakers went to Mission Sonoma, the other Franciscan mission, located on the north side of San Francisco Bay. The Pomo who remained in the present-day Santa Rosa area of Sonoma County were often called '' Cainameros'' in regional history books from the time of Spanish and Mexican occupation. In the Russian River Valley, a missionary colonized and baptized the Makahmo Pomo people of the Cloverdale area. Many Pomo left the valley because of this. One such group fled to the Upper Dry Creek Area. The archeology surveyors of the Lake Sonoma region believe that European and Euro-American encroachment was the reason why Pomo villages became more centralized; the people retreated to the remote valley to band together for defense and mutual support. The Pomo suffered from the infectious diseases brought by the Euro-American migrants, including
cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...
and
smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...
. They did not have immunity to such diseases and fatalities were high. In 1837 a deadly epidemic of smallpox, originating in settlements at Fort Ross, caused numerous deaths of native people in the Sonoma and Napa regions. Mission treatment of Pomo was similar to that of slavery, and many Pomo died due to inhospitable living conditions. The Russian River Valley was settled in 1850 by the 49ers, and the Lake Sonoma Valley was homesteaded out. The US government forced many Pomo on to reservations so that the European-Americans could homestead the former Pomo lands. Some Pomo took jobs as ranch laborers; others lived in refugee villages. During this time, two white settlers named Andrew Kelsey and Charles Stone enslaved many Pomo people in order to work as cowboys on their ranch. They forced the Pomo Indians to work in very intense and unorthodox conditions and sexually abused the Pomo women. The Pomo men were forced to work in harsh conditions and were not given any respect by the settlers. Exasperated with the violence and oppression of Stone and Kelsey, they rebelled. The Pomo men set up a sneak attack and killed both Stone and Kelsey. Because of the deaths of Kelsey and Stone, United States lieutenant J. W. Davidson and captain Nathaniel Lyon sent an army to retaliate against the Pomo people. During the Bloody Island Massacre of 1850, on an island in Clear Lake the 1st Dragoons US Cavalry slaughtered between 60 and 100 people, mostly women and children of the Clear Lake Pomo and neighboring tribes. Shortly after the massacre, during 1851 and 1852, four reservations for the Pomo were established by the United States government in California. Pomo were also part of the forced relocation known as the "Marches to Round Valley" in 1856, conducted by the U.S. federal government. By using bullwhips and guns, white settlers demanded relocation to reservations of the Pomo Indian. The justification given was that to protect their culture, the Pomo Indians had to be removed from their ancestral land. Richerson & Richerson stated that before the European conquests there was an estimated 3,000 Pomo Indians that lived at Clear Lake; after all of the death, disease, and killings, there were only about 400 Pomo Indians left. One ghost town in the Lake Sonoma Valley excavations was identified as Amacha, built for 100 people but hardly used. Elder natives of the region remember their grandfathers hid at Amacha in the mid-1850s, trying to evade the colonizing settlers. They tell that one day soldiers took all the people in the village to government lands and burned the village houses. From 1891 to 1935, starting with ''National Thorn'', the artist Grace Hudson painted more than 600 portraits, mainly of Pomo individuals living near her in the Ukiah area. Her style was sympathetic and poignant, as she portrayed domestic native scenes that would have been fast disappearing in that time.


Population


Demographics

In 1770 there were about 8,000 Pomo people; in 1851 population was estimated between 3,500 and 5,000; and in 1880 estimated at 1,450. Anthropologist Samuel Barrett estimated a population of 747 in 1908, but that is probably low; fellow anthropologist Alfred L. Kroeber reported 1,200 Pomo counted in the 1910 Census. According to the 1930 Census there were 1,143 Pomo, and by the 1990 Census there were 4,766. According to the 2010 United States Census, there are 10,308 Pomo people in the United States. Of these, 8,578 reside in California.


Languages

Pomo, also known as Pomoan or less commonly Kulanapan, is a language family that includes seven distinct and
mutually unintelligible In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between different but related language varieties in which speakers of the different varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. Mutual intellig ...
languages, including Northern Pomo, Northeastern Pomo,
Eastern Pomo Eastern Pomo, also known as Clear Lake Pomo, is a nearly extinct Pomoan language spoken around Clear Lake in Lake County, California by one of the Pomo peoples. It is not mutually intelligible with the other Pomoan languages. Before contact ...
, Southeastern Pomo, Central Pomo, Southern Pomo, and Kashaya language, Kashaya. John Wesley Powell classified the language family as Kulanapan in 1891, using the name first introduced by George Gibbs in 1853. This name for the language family is derived from the name of one Eastern Pomo village on the south shore of Clear Lake. Stephen Powers (1877) was the first to refer to this entire language family with the name "Pomo", and the geographic names that have been used to refer to the seven individual Pomoan languages (e.g. Southeastern Pomo) were introduced by Samuel Barrett (1908). The Pomoan languages became severely endangered after European-American colonization of their native territory. Contacts with Russians, the Spanish, and Euro-Americans have impacted these languages, and many are no longer spoken due to
language shift Language shift, also known as language transfer, language replacement or language assimilation, is the process whereby a speech community shifts to a different language, usually over an extended period of time. Often, languages that are perceived ...
to English, accelerated by policies such as the 1887 ban on the teaching in Native American languages put into place by John DeWitt Clinton Atkins. There are about twelve Pomo language varieties that are still in use by Pomo people. One, , which is spoken by Elem Pomo, is in the process of revival due to efforts by Clear Lake Pomo Cultural Preservation Foundation.


Culture

The Pomo Indian cultures are several ethnolinguistic groups that make up a single language family in Northern California. Pomo cultures originally encompassed hundreds of independent communities. Like many other Native groups, the Pomo Indians of Northern California relied upon fishing, hunting, and gathering for their daily food supply. They ate salmon, wild greens, gnats, mushrooms, berries, grasshoppers, rabbits, rats, and squirrels. Acorns were the most important staple in their diet. The division of labor in Pomo Indian communities typically involved gathering and preparation of plant-based foods by women, while men were hunters and fishers.


Religion

The Pomo people participated in
shamanism Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...
; one form this took was the Kuksu religion, which was held by people in Central and Northern California. It included elaborate acting and dancing ceremonies in traditional costume, an annual mourning ceremony, puberty
rites of passage A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society. In cultural anthropology the term is the Anglicisation of ''rite ...
, shamanic intervention with the spirit world, and an all-male society that met in subterranean dance rooms. The Pomo believed in a supernatural being, the ''Kuksu'' or ''Guksu'' (depending on their dialect), who lived in the south and who came during ceremonies to heal their illnesses, along with spirits from six cardinal directions, and
Coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans''), also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the Wolf, gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the c ...
as their ancestor and
creator god A creator deity or creator god is a deity responsible for the creation of the Earth, world, and universe in human religion and mythology. In monotheism, the single God is often also the creator. A number of monolatristic traditions separate a ...
. Medicine men dressed up as ''Kuksu'', their interpretation of a healer spirit. In 1872, the first Ghost Dance was introduced to the Pomo by a Wintun dreamer and quickly spread. The initial introduction was of the Earth Lodge cult derivation which had begun in Wintu lands, with Bole Maru appearing in
Patwin The Patwin (also Patween and Southern Wintu) are a band of Wintun people in Northern California. The Patwin comprise the southern branch of the Wintun group, native inhabitants of California since approximately 500. Today, Patwin people are en ...
lands and spreading to the Pomo as well soon after. In 1874, the Big Head cult grew out of Bole Maru, but with less of a focus on dreamers and their visions, which spread all the way north to the Shasta. While the Earth Lodge cult and Big Head cult died out pretty quickly, Bole Maru stuck around and has continued to be practiced since, though Mabel McKay, the last Pomo dreamer, died in 1993.


Traditional narratives

The record of Pomo myths, legends, tales, and histories is extensive. The body of narratives is classed within the Central California cultural pattern.


Ethnobotany

Carex ''Carex'' is a vast genus of over 2,000 species of grass-like plants in the family (biology), family Cyperaceae, commonly known as sedges (or seg, in older books). Other members of the family Cyperaceae are also called sedges, however those of ge ...
roots are used to make baskets, and used to tend fishing traps. They are also used to make torches.


Basket weaving tradition

Pomo baskets made by Pomo Indian women of Northern California are recognized worldwide for their exquisite appearance, range of technique, fineness of weave, and diversity of form and use. While women mostly made baskets for cooking, storing food, and religious ceremonies, Pomo men also made baskets for fishing weirs, bird traps, and baby baskets. Making the baskets required great skill and knowledge in collecting and preparing the needed materials. Materials for weaving baskets changed with the seasons and years. The Pomo usually covered a basket completely with the vivid red feathers of the pileated woodpecker until the surface resembled the smoothness of the bird itself. With the feathers, 30–50 to every inch, beads were fastened to the basket's border and hung pendants of polished abalone shell from the basket itself. Pomo women sometimes spent months or years making such gift baskets. The materials used to make the baskets—including, but not limited to, swamp canes, saguaro cactuses, rye grass, black ash, willow shoots, sedge roots, the bark of redbud, the root of bulrush, and the root of the gray pine—were harvested annually. After being picked, the materials are dried, cleaned, split, soaked, and dyed. Sometimes the materials are also boiled over a fire and set in the sun to dry. Women traditionally wove Pomo baskets with great care and technique. The three different techniques of Pomo basket weaving are plaiting, coiling, and twining. One drying method was wrapping maiden fern in blue clay and placing underground for several days. This prevented fading in the sun or when cooking mush. There are many different designs that are woven into the baskets that signify different cultural meanings. For example, the Dau is a pattern woven into a basket by creating a small change in the stitching to create a small opening between two stitches. The Dau is the design that is also called the Spirit Door. This Spirit Door allows good spirits to come and circulate inside of the basket while the good or bad spirits are released. Although baskets were made for decorating homes and as gifts, they were centrally used in Pomo daily life as well. Basket weaving is considered sacred to the Pomo tribe and baskets were produced for a variety of purposes. Pomo children were cradled in baskets, acorns (a major food staple to the Pomo) were harvested in great conical burden baskets, and food was stored, cooked, and served in baskets—some even being watertight. There were even "baskets" that were made as boats to be pushed by men to carry women across rivers.


Post-contact

A commercial market for authentic baskets developed in the latter part of the 19th century, lasting from about 1876 to the 1930s. Two Pomo people who capitalized on this market were William Ralganal Benson and his wife, Mary Knight Benson and the Bensons may have been the first California Indians who supported themselves solely by crafting and selling their baskets to collectors and museums. Even though most of their original land was taken over, this was the first turning point for the Pomo people. They had finally escaped the harsh road they were once a part of, and even though they had to settle on poor, isolated land, they finally got to make a stride towards tradition and basket weaving. From 1852 to 1878, many Pomo Indians tried to rekindle their cultures and find peace to what had happened to them. Many people let this time be a learning and spiritual time, where they could have visions and see what the future would have in store. It was a time to build, a time to connect, a time of hope, and a time of change. The Pomo Indians did not have enough money to buy land. The Pomo men decided to work for ranchers and the woman went back to making baskets. The "white" people loved the baskets, especially the designer, feathered ones, which led to a basketry movement. Finally, in 1878, the Pomo Indians bought their first piece of land in California. Paula Giese noted, "In 1878, a group of Northern Pomo people bought 7 acres in Coyote Valley. In 1880, another Northern Pomo group bought 100 acres along Ackerman Creek (now known as Pinoleville)". In 1881, Yokaya Rancheria was financed by central Pomo people. Once the Pomo Indians had bought the land, it was time to make money. Baskets were in so much demand at this point, even though they were once used for trade and bartering with other tribes and people, they now became the Pomo people's way to make money and build their newly found empires. Women had preserved Pomo basket weaving traditions, which made a huge change for the Pomo people. The baskets were wanted all over California; it was a piece of art that traders wanted. Grandmothers and daughters taught other Pomo women, who had lost the tradition of basket weaving, how to make the all-powerful baskets. Within this time period in addition to basket weaving, the Pomo also manufactured elaborate jewelry made from abalone and clamshells. Assembled during the winter, during the summer the Pomo would travel from various sites along the coast where they would fish and gather all of their materials needed to create their jewelry. The Pomo Indians would create stunning, beautiful, and intricate forms of jewelry that were worn during celebrations and rituals, and even given as gifts. Both of these traditions of creation and culture have slowly dispersed and have become less common over the history of the tribe but more evident in today's culture.


Basket weaving today

Pomo basket weaving is still valued and honored today, not only by the Pomo Indians themselves, but also by amateur enthusiasts, buyers for curio dealers, and scientific collectors. The Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria are a federally recognized American Indian tribe of Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo Indians. During the past 30 years, the appreciation for American Indian art has been on the rise, and the art has become in demand – specifically Pomo Indian basketry. Dr. Joallyn Archambault, director of the American Indian Program at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History says: "Since the 1880s, when Pomo baskets first became sought after, the Pomo have changed their lifestyles enormously." Pomo today live normal modern lifestyles, but the basket weavers are still heralded and praised within the community for their artistic ability and skill. One of those basket weavers is Julia F. Parker. She is a master weaver, having woven under Lucy Telles. Her childhood was rough, constantly moving around until boarding school after her parents' death at 6. Lucy had taught Julia because of her perceived interest in preserving Indian culture and specifically basketry. Julia Parker became a cultural demonstrator after Lucy Telles died in 1956. She continued in her studies and later studied Pomo basketry with Pomo master weaver Elsie Allen (1899–1990) at Ukiah and several others. Julia belongs to the Miwok Pomo and Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria. Many of her baskets are in museums in Yosemite, Mono Lake and other museums; she even presented her baskets to
Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
. They wove baskets from sedge root, willow shoots and roots, bulrush or blackroot, redbud shoots, and sometimes bracken fern and a variety of colorful bird feathers, abalone and other types of shells, or magnesite beads and sometimes glass beads. Redbud shoots, used for the darker reddish colors in basket designs are gathered in October. Good redbud is hard to obtain around Ukiah, so it is usually found at Clear Lake. All these materials are gathered with a thankful heart and the gatherers talk continuously to the plants. They were, after all, living things that were giving themselves for something useful and beautiful. In order to preserve the soil and creek banks, sedge gathering was done with care. The commonly held decision would be leaving behind about half of what was found. Dyeing of the bulrush root takes about three to six months in a concoction of black walnuts, rusty metal and ashes in water. Today, new Pomo baskets might sell for as much as $1,000, and the more historical ones might sell for more than $10,000. Dealing of these baskets has not always been so lucrative and many have tried to exploit the artists and communities. Dealers and collectors may have exploited the lucrative basket market, but it still paid well enough to provide income to Pomo women where hunting and gathering were no longer feasible and money was needed for survival. Today you will see rare baskets being sold for the prices mentioned above. Due to the time and preparation necessary to weave these pieces of art; basket weavers today have more requests than they can fulfill, and many customers wait months before receiving orders. The rarity of the baskets and the skill are required in making them in what makes them valuable. The demand is greater than the supply, and collectors facilitate a high demand for these artistically made baskets.


Villages and communities


Federally recognized tribes

Today,
federally recognized tribes This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes are legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United States.
have sovereignty and relations with the United States federal government. Classified as "domestic dependent nations," these tribes are under the jurisdiction of the federal government, but with some autonomy from their respective states, including California. Federally recognized Pomo tribes are based in Sonoma,
Lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...
, and Mendocino counties. They include the following tribes: * Big Valley Band of Pomo Indians of the Big Valley Rancheria * Cloverdale Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California * Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians of California * Dry Creek Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California * Elem Indian Colony of Pomo Indians of the Sulphur Bank Rancheria * Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria (a tribe of Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo) * Guidiville Rancheria of California * Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake * Hopland Band of Pomo Indians of the Hopland Rancheria * Kashia Band of Pomo Indians of the Stewarts Point Rancheria * Koi Nation of the Lower Lake Rancheria * Lytton Rancheria of California * Manchester Band of Pomo Indians of the Manchester Rancheria * Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California * Pinoleville Pomo Nation * Potter Valley Tribe * Redwood Valley Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California * Robinson Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California * Round Valley Indian Tribes of the Round Valley Reservation (a confederation of several tribes, including Pomo) * Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians of California * Sherwood Valley Rancheria of Pomo Indians of California Other self-identified Native American groups are not federally recognized.


California Rancheria Termination Acts

Many Pomo were impacted by the California Rancheria Termination Acts and lost lands due to lack of understanding the tax system, along with predation by merchants who took advantage of land-rich but cash-poor tribal members. Along with losing their lands, the tribes lost their status as federally recognized tribes and the ability to access federal clinics that served other federally recognized tribes. In a decision dated July 19, 1983 the
United States District Court for the Northern District of California The United States District Court for the Northern District of California (in case citations, N.D. Cal.) is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, De ...
restored the status of 17 California rancherias in '' Hardwick v. United States''.''Hardwick v. United States''
No. C-79-1710-SWslip op.
at 2 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 2, 1983)


Historical groups

The Pomo people were traditionally divided into several large groupings, each speaking its own language. While these had no overarching governance structure and villages were politically independent, they had some cultural differences and were recognizable as units to those who lived in them: * Kashia (Southwestern Pomo) * Southern Pomo * Central Pomo * Northern Pomo * Tceefoka (Northeastern or Salt Pomo) * Eastern Pomo (Clear Lake Pomo), spoke Bahtssal * Elem Pomo (Southeastern Pomo) The following historical list of Pomo villages and tribes is taken largely from John Wesley Powell, 1891: * Balló Kaì Pomo, "Oat Valley People"(Potter Valley, Mendocino County) * Batemdikáyi * Búldam Pomo (Rio Grande or Big River) * Chawishek * Choam Chadila Pomo (Capello) * Chwachamajù * Dápishul Pomo ( Redwood Canyon) * Eastern People (Clear Lake about Lakeport) * Erío (mouth of Russian River) * Erússi ( Fort Ross) * Gallinoméro (better Kainameah, Kianamaras or Licatiuts) (Russian River Valley below Cloverdale and in Dry Creek Valley) * Gualála (better Ahkhawalalee) (northwest corner of
Sonoma County Sonoma County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 488,863. Its seat of government and largest city is Santa Rosa. Sonoma County comprises the Santa Rosa-Petaluma ...
) * Kabinapek (western part of Clear Lake basin) * Kaimé (above Healdsburg) * Kai Pomo (between Eel River and South Fork) * Kastel Pomo (between Eel River and South Fork) * Kato Pomo, "Lake People" (Clear Lake) * Komácho ( Anderson and Rancheria Valleys) * Kulá Kai Pomo ( Sherwood Valley) * Kulanapo (Clear Lake) * Láma (Russian River Valley) * Misálamag u or Musakak u (above Healdsburg) * Mitoám Kai Pomo, "Wooded Valley People" (Little Lake) * Poam Pomo * Senel (Russian River Valley) * Shódo Kaí Pomo ( Coyote Valley) * Síako (Russian River Valley) * Sokóa (Russian River Valley) * Yokáya (or Ukiah) Pomo, "Lower Valley People" ( Ukiah City) * Yusâl (or Kámalel) Pomo, "Ocean People" (on coast and along Usal Creek) Non-Pomo villages and tribes considered "Pomo" in Powell, 1891: * Batemdikayi (name of a Cahto/Kato Athabaskan band) * Kai Pomo ('grass people', the Cahto/Kato Athabaskan band of Long Valley) * Kamalel Pomo ('ocean people', Coast Yuki people, possibly also the Sinkyone Athabaskan people of Usal Creek area) * Kastel Pomo ( Wailaki Athabaskan bands, possibly including some of the northern Cahto bands) * Kato Pomo ('lake people', the Cahto/Kato Athabaskan band of Cahto Valley) * Yusal Pomo ('Usal people', the Sinkyone Athabaskan people of Usal Creek area)


Notable Pomo people

* William Ralganal Benson (1862–1937) * Mary Knight Benson (1877–1930) * Elmer Busch (1890–1949) * Laura Somersal (1892–1990), basket weaver * Elsie Allen (1899–1990) * Essie Pinola Parrish (1903–1979) * Mabel McKay (1907–1993) * Julia F. Parker (born 1928) * Luwana Quitiquit (1941–2010), basket weaver who created a program to revive the craft * Susan Billy (born 1951), basket weaver * Chuck Billy (born 1962), singer of the metal band
Testament A testament is a document that the author has sworn to be true. In law it usually means last will and testament. Testament or The Testament can also refer to: Books * ''Testament'' (comic book), a 2005 comic book * ''Testament'', a thriller no ...
* Danielle Forward, software engineer and Indigenous activist


See also

* Point Arena Rancheria Roundhouse, also known as "Manchester Rancheria Roundhouse", listed on the National Register of Historic Places * Frog Woman Rock * Lake Mendocino * Santa Rosa Creek


Notes


References


Books, reports

* Catalog of an exhibition held at the Grace Hudson Museum in 1993 and the
Oakland Museum of California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...
in 1996. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Journal articles, book chapters, encyclopedia entries

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Magazine & newspaper articles, web sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading


Newspaper articles

* and *


Books for primary & secondary school students

* * *


External links


Gold, Greed & Genocide: The Pomo & The Paiute




as part of a virtual tour for the
National Museum of the American Indian The National Museum of the American Indian is a museum in the United States devoted to the culture of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas. It is part of the Smithsonian Institution group of museums and research centers. The museum has three ...
exhibit ''All Roads Are Good''. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Pomo People Indigenous peoples of California Mission Indians History of Colusa County, California History of Napa County, California History of Sonoma County, California Native American tribes in Mendocino County, California Native American tribes in Sonoma County, California Native American tribes in Lake County, California