Native American Remembrance of Mission Santa Barbara

The California Missions are places that most Californians know about but know little about their history. In elementary school, 4th graders are often assigned a mission to present to their class. What is often said is that the Franciscans and Native Americans lived in harmony in a thriving mission as they practiced Catholicism. However, the California Mission system is tied back to Franciscans colonization and the Native American conversion to Catholicism that was anything but harmonized. When discussing what occurred during the Mission system both Native Americans and Franciscans will recall a different past. The Natives’ and Franciscans’ remembrance of the missions differ since the Natives’ dealt with death and culture erasing at the hands of the Franciscans. Remembrance is an important key in truly understanding what happened not only in the Mission Santa Barbara but in all the California Missions since they play a pivotal role in California’s history.  

Mission Santa Barabara was founded by Catholic priest Fermin Lasunen on December 4, 1786. The intended purpose of all the missions was for the religious conversion of Native American tribes, and for Santa Barbara, that tribe that would be converted was the Chumash. However, the conversion process of the Natives was extremely cruel as they were, despite complying with the church’s Catholicism, forced into servitude. Soon after the completion of Mission Santa Barbara, the Chumbas began to be forcefully converted to Catholicism. From 1786-1803, 85% of Chumash conversion and movements into the missions took place. In Little Choice for the Chumash by Deana Dart-Newton and Jon M. Erlandson, discusses how the Chumash movement to the missions took place due to ecological factors, and these factors were due to the Franciscans mismanagement of the land to feed their growing livestock.

What came with the California mission system, in particular, Santa Barbara was a change in agriculture. After the establishment of the Missions, there was an increase in livestock. Herd sizes were about 400 in 1784-1790 and by 1806-1810 herd sizes were more than 14,000. This meant that the Chumash people were deprived of acorns, seeds, and any other seed or nut they heavily depended on for their survival. This pattern not only occurred in Mission Santa Barbara but all over the 21 California Missions. Deprivation of food for the Natives meant that they needed to find a solution to their food shortage, and they did so by turning to the missions. The food shortage encouraged not only the Chumash, but other native tribes to seek food in the missions. A possible cause for the food shortage has been thought to be drought, however, the way the Franciscans raised livestock proved to be the true cause when regarding Native American food shortages in California during this time.

After the Natives seek the missions for help they are forced into slave-like labor, as shown in Figure 1, above as they are lined up in slave auction form. During this time, there was constant tension between the Natives and Franciscans as their treatment in the missions worsened. There were revolts in San Diego in 1775, San Gabriel in 1785, Santa Cruz in 1812, and Santa Barbara in 1824 as a result of servitude the Natives that resided in the missions were forced into. The California Mission Document Findings, published on the Santa Barbara Mission Archive Library states how the Franciscans viewed the Natives along with everything they tried doing to limit them from revolting. In the 1790s, there was an increase in runaway Native and military use against them. Paganism, running away, revolts, etc were tactics used to control the Natives and force them into penal servitude. In California’s First Mass Incarceration System by UCLA professor, Benjamin Madley, describes how the Franciscans forced the Native Americans into penal servitude. The Franciscans justified actions by stating their goal was to convert the Natives into Catholic workers. During the time the Natives were forced into penal servitude, the Franciscans repeatedly stated that the Natives were not capable of civilizing on their own. The extent of the treatment of Natives during the mission system is so extreme that historians question whether it was California’s first mass incarceration system. Besides, historians also questioned whether the mission system can be compared to that of concentration camps during World War II. 

Whether Native Americans came freely to the missions, a fact is that the Franciscans left them no choice but to turn to the missions if they wanted to survive. Whether food shortages due to livestock led them to move into the missions, it is evident that the Franciscans had one goal and that was to use the Natives for labor. Since the Franciscans could not legally buy Native Americans, they needed other ways to force them into servitude, despite the Franscicians justifying their actions by stating they wanted to save the Natives from Hell. The Franciscans’ restrictions on cultural and hunting and gathering practices drove the Natives to the missions for survival. This has resulted in Native Americans remembering the missions as a site of confinement, cruelty, and anything but salvation.

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