California Humanities Launches Reclaiming Our Stories: Voices of Indigenous Peoples of California

Recognition, Rights, and the Space Between—Law & Policy Now

What happens in the space between recognition and justice? In Episode 5, Recognition, Rights, and the Space Between—Law & Policy Now, host Victorio L. Shaw speaks with Michelle Lee (Pit River, Cahuilla) and Nicole Myers-Lim (Pomo) about the realities Native communities face when law, policy, and lived experience do not align. The conversation explores federal and state recognition, consultation versus consent, urban Indigenous experiences, and the challenges Native communities encounter within systems that were never designed to fully recognize Indigenous sovereignty. Listeners will also hear reflections on some of the most pressing policy issues affecting California Native communities today, including the defense of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), sacred site protection, land stewardship, cultural preservation, and educational representation. Throughout the episode, Michelle Lee and Nicole Myers-Lim remind us that sovereignty is not only something negotiated through governments and institutions—it is something practiced daily through relationships, responsibilities, and collective care. An artistic interlude offers space for reflection before the conversation returns to questions of protection, accountability, and the future of Indigenous self-determination. This episode invites listeners to consider not only what recognition provides, but what justice requires beyond acknowledgment. Listener Takeaways • Sovereignty is lived and practiced every day, regardless of whether legal systems fully recognize it. • Recognition alone does not guarantee protection, accountability, or justice for Native communities. • Indigenous communities continue to protect culture, land, children, and future generations through collective responsibility and community care. Reflection Question Where do we see the limits of recognition, and what would justice require beyond acknowledgment? Music Featured in This Episode “Mok'e š' ališaw” (It's already day) Composed and performed by traditional Indigenous musicians. Featured during the episode's artistic interlude as a reflective transition that invites listeners to pause, breathe, and sit with the conversations shared. Acknowledgements Reclaiming Our Stories: Voices of Indigenous Peoples of California is made possible with support from The 11th Hour Project and the Weingart Foundation. Reclaiming Our Stories is a part of By the People: Conversations Beyond 250. By the People: Conversations Beyond 250 is a series of community-driven programs created by humanities councils in collaboration with local partners. The initiative was developed by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Listen + Subscribe Episode now streaming. Listen. Reflect. Share. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Join us in listening deeply.

The City Is Native Land (Present)

What happens when we stop imagining cities as separate from Indigenous land? In Episode 4 of Reclaiming Our Stories: Voices of Indigenous Peoples of California, host Victorio L. Shaw speaks with Cindi Alvitre (Tongva) and Corrina Gould (Lisjan Ohlone) about Native presence, belonging, and responsibility within urban California. Together, they challenge the assumption that Indigenous identity exists only in rural or historically distant spaces. Instead, they reflect on cities as layered homelands—places where Native communities continue to live, organize, teach, create ceremony, sustain kinship, and practice care. The episode explores migration, relocation, urban Native community-building, cultural continuity, and the everyday labor that sustains Indigenous life in cities. Through reflections on Los Angeles, the Bay Area, Sacramento, and beyond, listeners are invited to recognize the city itself as Native land. An artistic interlude woven through the episode offers space for reflection through sound, rhythm, and movement—allowing the city to speak in another register. This conversation is ultimately an invitation toward accountability: to place, to community, and to the layered histories that continue beneath streets, neighborhoods, and gathering spaces across California. Listener Takeaways * Indigenous presence in cities is ongoing, rooted, and deeply connected to land, culture, and community. * Urban Native communities continue practices of care through ceremony, organizing, education, language work, and mutual support. * Recognizing cities as Native land changes how we understand belonging, responsibility, and place. Reflection Question Knowing the city you live in is Native land, how does that change the way you move, gather, or show care for that place? Music Featured in This Episode “Hu l-molmoloq’iwaš – The ancestors.” Composed by Deborah L. Sanchez. Featured during the artistic interlude reflecting movement, gathering, and the rhythms of urban Indigenous life. Acknowledgements Reclaiming Our Stories: Voices of Indigenous Peoples of California is made possible with support from The 11th Hour Project and Weingart Foundation. Reclaiming Our Stories is a part of By the People: Conversations Beyond 250. By the People: Conversations Beyond 250 is a series of community-driven programs created by humanities councils in collaboration with local partners. The initiative was developed by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

We Tell Our Own Stories

Episode 3, We Tell Our Own Stories, centers on Indigenous narrative sovereignty and the ongoing work of carrying the story forward. Hosted by Victorio L. Shaw, this episode creates space for reflection on what it means for Indigenous peoples to speak for themselves, protect cultural knowledge, and shape public understanding on their own terms. Terria Smith (Cahuilla) opens the conversation by reflecting on how story lives within everyday responsibilities and relationships—through family, community care, cultural continuity, and lived experience. Cristina Gonzales (Chumash) continues the dialogue through reflections on leadership, land, art, and the ongoing work of protecting Indigenous knowledge while reshaping public narratives. Together, they speak about resisting simplification and erasure while honoring the responsibilities that come with carrying the story into public spaces. The episode also explores tensions between visibility and protection, asking how communities decide what stories can be shared publicly and what knowledge must remain held within community, ceremony, and relationship. An artistic interlude creates space to pause and listen deeply before the conversation turns toward future generations and the responsibilities of carrying the story forward. Throughout the episode, listeners are invited to consider their own relationships to place, memory, listening, and responsibility. Music Featured in This Episode “Kip’i suniyuw klek’en hi ’i’ti” (“Right now, I have to stay here.”) Composed by Deborah L. Sanchez Acknowledgements Reclaiming Our Stories: Voices of Indigenous Peoples of California is made possible with support from The 11th Hour Project and Weingart Foundation. Reclaiming Our Stories is a part of By the People: Conversations Beyond 250. By the People: Conversations Beyond 250 is a series of community-driven programs created by humanities councils in collaboration with local partners. The initiative was developed by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Listen and Subscribe Episode now streaming. Listen. Reflect. Share. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Whose 250 Years?

In “Whose 250 Years?”, Story Weaver Victorio Shaw (Hoopa Valley Tribe) is joined by Georgiana Sanchez (Chumash, O'odham) and Judge Abby Abinanti (Yurok) for a conversation that challenges dominant historical timelines and asks a central question: Whose years are being counted? Through reflections on layered colonialisms in California, Indigenous governance, constitutional contradiction, and the endurance of Native communities, the episode explores how Indigenous peoples have carried truth, memory, and responsibility across generations. Listeners are invited into conversations about Spanish, Mexican, and U.S. colonial impacts in California; regional differences between Northern and Southern California experiences; Indigenous sovereignty and legal invisibility; and the ways truth has survived through family, ceremony, story, land, education, and art. An artistic interlude offers space for reflection and breath, holding the episode's emotional and historical weight without explanation. Reclaiming Our Stories offers a living archive for present and future generations — rooted in narrative sovereignty, deep listening, cultural continuity, and the enduring presence of Indigenous peoples across California. Listener Takeaways * Indigenous peoples have lived on these lands since time immemorial, beyond the limits of colonial timelines. * California Native communities have survived and resisted multiple waves of colonialism while carrying forward culture, language, memory, and responsibility. * Truth lives not only in official histories but in family, ceremony, land, story, and intergenerational teaching. Reflection Question What truths have been buried beneath the stories we were taught? What do you feel called to unearth, remember, or make right? Music Featured in This Episode “Šiy' antikič hu l-momloloq' iwaš” (The Ancestors Are Alive) Composed by Deborah L. Sanchez Featured as the opening theme for the series. “Kušičiš na kʰutiwun” (I’m Happy When I See Them) Composed by Joe Calderon Featured as the reflective artistic interlude in Episode 2. Acknowledgements Reclaiming Our Stories: Voices of Indigenous Peoples of California is made possible with support from The 11th Hour Project and Weingart Foundation. Reclaiming Our Stories is a part of By the People: Conversations Beyond 250. By the People: Conversations Beyond 250 is a series of community-driven programs created by humanities councils in collaboration with local partners. The initiative was developed by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

Introduction to Reclaiming Our Stories

Welcome to Reclaiming Our Stories: Voices of Indigenous Peoples of California. In this opening episode, Story Weaver Victorio Shaw invites you to arrive—not just to listen, but to enter into a relationship with story, land, and truth. As conversations around the United States Semiquincentennial begin to take shape, this series asks a different question: Whose stories are being told—and whose have been left out? This is not a traditional history podcast. This is an invitation into narrative sovereignty—where California Native voices speak on their own terms, grounded in lived experience, cultural continuity, and self-determination. In this episode, you’ll explore: * Why this podcast exists—and why now * What it means to reclaim narrative authority * How storytelling functions as responsibility, not content * The role of art as a living form of knowledge and memory * The richness and diversity of Native communities across California * What it truly means to listen—deeply and with intention This series is for: * Native listeners seeking reflection and recognition * Non-Native listeners ready to engage with humility * Future generations who will inherit these stories You’ll also experience an artistic interlude, reminding us that story is not only spoken—it is felt, embodied, and carried through sound, rhythm, and memory. A Question to Carry With You Before you move on to the next episode, we invite you to sit with this: Why are you here? What brought you to this story, in this moment? About the Series Reclaiming Our Stories centers the voices of Indigenous peoples across California—past, present, and future. This is a living archive, shaped by those who continue to carry culture, community, and connection forward. About the Music S’aximay hi sulkuw – Black is the night. Composed by Deborah L. Sanchez In this song, we sing one round in Šmuwič, another round in English, and then cap it with another round in Šmuwič. It’s about the beauty of the natural world. Stay Connected Follow, subscribe, and share to continue the journey. Next episode: Whose history have we been given—and whose has been buried? Acknowledgments This series is made possible with support from The 11th Hour Project and Weingart Foundation. Reclaiming Our Stories is a part of By the People: Conversations beyond 250. By the People: Conversations Beyond 250 is a series of community-driven programs created by humanities councils in collaboration with local partners. The initiative was developed by the Federation of State Humanities Councils and the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.