Saturday, June 5, 2010
Saying Good-Bye
I had the opportunity of turning my blog into a paper for my Modern Latin American History class which challenged me further by driving me to find a point to my blog. Most of all, I was able to prepare a presentation on my paper which I feel went well only because while I presented my paper I felt that I had a solid handle on my subject and argument. I know this is due to my blog research.
Anyway, Thanks Professor for guiding us through this real cool experience. You have helped me to ask questions that enabled me to look for a deeper meaning in my research. I know there is more I could have done and looked for and perhaps I'll have another opportunity to do so. For now, Adios and Good-bye.
Milly
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Last Words and Thoughts
I got my break when I found the Peralta House in Oakland but quickly became disappointed when I was only able to obtain information on her brothers and father. I repeatedly asked myself, "Why is there nothing on her, her mother or any of the Peralta women?" That was strange to me. This started me on a long journey to piece together a composite character for Maria Luisa. I have used the lives of Californio women to infer what Maria's life could have been like.
I discovered that the social station of Maria and the Californio women was greatly influenced by hundreds of years of Catholic influence, political laws that supported the ideologies of the Church and by cultural customs that had been perpetuated, not only by the men, but, more importantly, by the women themselves. In the Centennial Yearbook of Alameda County, it speaks about the " strict code of laws" for "maintaining order" among the Californios. I believe that the Californio women believed in and were proud of their way of life, as strict as it might have been. For instance, this is evident by their view on birth control. In the nineteenth century, although primitive and unreliable in most cases, birth control was used by the middle-class white American women. Indigenous women had methods of birth control as well. The Hispanic women were taught that large families were a blessing from God. For the Californio woman it went a step further, for them, it was necessary to produce large families who would populate Alta California as well as help run a rancho. It was commonplace to see a mother walking to mass while herding her twenty-four children along. Many felt that, "sterility [had] become very common because the American women [were] too fond of visiting doctors and swallowing medicines. Este es un delito que Dios no perdona. (That is a crime that God does not forgive.)" (Rosaura Sanchez, Telling Identities. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1995), 191-192).
Women like Maria were the forerunners for the Mexican-American women of today's California. Many of their ideals and beliefs have lingered into the present day, some have taken different forms, others are done away but many, such as the mother being the matriarch of the family, still exist in today's Hispanic families and emphasis on the family is still a priority.
The Bear Flag Revolt and the takeover of California by the United States, left many Californios embittered and resentful towards the Americans. Felipa Osuna who lived with her husband at Mission San Luis Rey, was involved in the battles between the Californios and the Americans. Josefa Carrillo-Fitch struggled to come to terms with the changes the Americans introduced. She lost much of her land to squatters and suits. She learned to speak English but that was not the case with all the Californio women. Rosalia Vallejo had strong opinions and was angry with the Americans due to the way they mistreated her husband and brothers during the Bear Flag Revolt. She was so resentful that she refused to learn the English language, it was her way of spiting the Americans. On the other hand, Maria Antonia Rodriguez of Monterey told Cerruti, when he questioned her about the takeover, that it had happened before, "in every conquered nation." (Beebe and Senkewicz) I think it is very possible that their feelings towards the Americans were passed on to their descendents contributing to their present-day prejudice, as well as, acceptance of one another.
Would I be pushing it if I added that the Califronios were immigrants? Hah! I guess those who orginately came in the Anza and Rivera y Moncada expeditions from Mexico to populte Alta California were being that they left their homes and came to a foreign land, a land that was completely different from what they knew. They encountered strange peoples and customs eventually making this land their country. You decide.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
What is My Story?
This video captures the changing world of the Spanish-Mexican women who settled Alta California. From the Anza expeditions through the mission era, the short period of the Mexican government and on to the takeover of the United States. Through all this, these women adapted to the changes in their sphere remaining faithful to their families and way of life. Their stories, while not written personally by them, have been captured by others who unknowingly preserved the history of these Californio women.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Marianismo, Part 3
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Pulling Things Together, Part 2
Okay two love stories then I'll move on to marianismo. So hang in there!
Pulling Things Together
Religion and Women
We are all familiar with the plan to build missions then lure the Indians into the missions using beads or food. Once in, the Indians would be baptized and expected to forsake their old ways. The priests were convinced that with long-term exposure to a Christian life the savage Indians could be converted. In the essay, "Sifting the Evidence: Perceptions of Life at the Ohlone (Costanoan) Missions of Alta California," by Russell K Skowronek, he claims that after "more than sixty years of missionary efforts," comprehensive studies reveal that the Ohlone, "maintained aspects of their precontact culture."
Eulalia Perez: Life of a Llavera
Eulalia Perez is significant to the story of the Californio woman because she was an eyewitness to the life of the neophytes living in the missions. She presents a female perspective on mission life. She lived in a house by Mission San Gabriel(in present day Los Angeles) and was keeper of the keys for tweleve to fourteen years. She described the "nuts and bolts" of mission life to Thomas Savage who interviewed Californios for the Bancroft Project in 1876. At the time of the interview, she couldn't remember how old but did remember when San Diego had "no other houses at the presidio except the comanders house and the soldier's barracks." (Beebe and Senkewicz, 100) Some say she was older than Spanish Alta California and others claim that she lived to be 140 years old.
- Example from the personal letters of Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton
Marianismo: See next post
- What is this? and How did this affect the lives of Spanish-Mexican women
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Focus on Maria Luisa Peralta
- Fibel, Pearl Randolph. The Peraltas: Spanish Pioneers and the First Family of the East Bay. Oakland: Peralta Hospital. 1971.
- Fox, Frances L. Luis Maria Peralta and His Adobe. San Jose. Smith-McKay, 1979.
Mission Santa Clara in 1848. Painted by A.P. Hill in 1180.
http://www.http//faculty.fairfield.edu./hodgson/courses/city/losangeles/early_images/laviews.html
Her father Luis Maria Peralta was an educated man who believed that only men should be educated and women should stay home "protected" and remain there until they were married or died (whichever came first). He believed that his daughters should spend their days praying, therefore, two of his unmarried daughter lived with him until his death. Neither one of them ever learned to write their names, they used a "cross to sign legal documents." (Fox, 22)
Peralta was thought of as a strict but kind man. Because they lived in a patriarchy society, the children never challenged their father on any issue. He ruled their home and family; his children were completely obedient to him. He taught his family importance of family and the value of owning land rather than hunting for gold. He instructed his sons to leave the gold to the "Americans" claiming that God had put it there for them. (Fibel, 16) He further "commanded" his children to remain united and to educate their children. (Fibel, 11)
The following tells us a little more about the different things Maria Luisa learned to do at home.
Maria would have learned to make candles out of tallow. Wax candles like this one would have been saved for special occasions
Maria would have known how to ride horses. She would have learned while practicing on a stationary saddle such as this one. She would have made her own dolls and toys out of corn husk.
As a young girl, Maria would have wore shawls. These are plain ones that she would wear everyday but she would also have fancier ones for special occasions.
This gives you a better picture of what Maria Luisa's life as a child could have been like. A very strict and traditional father. A mother who is swamped with housework and babies at her feet. A girl who can't read or write and is well protected by her father and brothers, I'm sure. Growing up in a quickly changing world. what must have it been like to finally leave home and start her life away from that well-guarded nest she grew up in?
On my next post I will continue her story into her young adult and married life. Stay tuned....