The Tongva People

An image of Tongva and Chicana activist Gloria Arellanes dressed in her Brown Beret cap.

Our knowledge about the Tongva’s presence in the LA basin and Southern Channel Islands has shifted over time, particularly through the contributions of Tongva community members and scholars. In their section on the Santa Ana River Delta, UCLA’s Mapping Indigenous Los Angeles project notes that the “layers of culture evidenced in the archaeological record confirm their presence in the area from time immemorial and are analogous with layers of meaning to Tongva people today." 

This photo is of Gloria Arellanes in 1970, a Tongva and Chicana activist who has been living in El Monte since childhood. As Aurelie Roy describes in chapter 1 “The Tongva People” in the book East of East:

“[Gloria’s] identity was nipped in the bud at home because her family told her about the threat of discrimination and violence should she be identified as Tongva. As a result, she was taught to blend in and speak Spanish or English, not Tongva” (21).

This discrimination against the Tongva has a long history dating back to 1769 when the Spanish first began settling in the area. In 1769 the Spanish began exploiting the Tongva by making it illegal to speak their native Tongva language, renaming the Tongva as Gabrielinos, separating their families, and forcing the Tongva to become Christian and build Spanish mission churches. Tongva who escaped were either killed or brutally punished. The Tongva villages in the El Monte area were called Yangna, Sheevangna, Houtngna, Jaboneria, and Houtngna (or Hautngna).

In light of this, Tongva individuals in the 21st century like Gloria Arellanes are incredible guides for preserving indigenous identity and culture.

To learn more about Gloria Arellanes and her activist work, listen to this 15-minute audio clip. In it, Gloria describes how she became introduced to activist work through race riots at El Monte High School, how she dealt with sexism in the Chicano movement, and her work with the activist group the Brown Berets in creating the Barrio Free Clinic.

To learn more about the construction of the original San Gabriel Mission and how it was moved to the modern-day location, listen to this clip. The clip is from a SEMAP interview with the Kizh-Gabrielino band of Mission Indians.

To listen to the full 2-hour oral history interview with the Kizh-Gabrielino band of Mission Indians, listen to this two-part audio recording.