Assimilation Is Surrender (An Amah Mutsun History of Resistance)

From a leader in the fight for sovereignty and visibility in Native California, a long-overdue corrective to California's colonial history, and a vision for healing and truth-telling.

The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, one of the original peoples of California, has been at the forefront of restoring Indigenous cultural traditions, telling the truth about the disastrous consequences of colonial history, and regaining stewardship over sacred lands. Valentin Lopez, who served as tribal chair for over 20 years, has worked tirelessly in the cause of Native visibility on local and international levels, and he has passionately supported efforts to help tribal members heal from the long-term wounds of colonialism and genocide.

Assimilation Is Surrender is Lopez's long-awaited history of his tribe, one of the first communities of California's Central Coast. Drawing on original research and Lopez's own experiences, this essential addition to California and Native history recounts Amah Mutsun tribal life before Europeans, the atrocities of the Spanish missions and the American invasion, and the generations-long work of recovery and cultural restoration.

With emphasis on the tribe's high-profile fight to protect its ancestral home, as well as the urgent need to address history's emotional costs, Assimilation Is Surrender is a must-read for reckoning with the recent past and imagining a more just future.