Senior Thesis Paper

Imagine living in a very culture based family, and an outside group of people with a
different culture enter and rip apart your culture including religious practices, and social status.
Since the beginning of time societies have conquered and oppressed others of different culture in
attempt simply to gain power, land, or spread religion. The outcome of many of the cases is the
oppressor taking control and converting the people being oppressed and their culture. What gives
these oppressors the right to try and conquer these other societies? Whether it be religious
freedom, or power, in most cases the oppressors are more advanced in warfare and technology,
giving them the upper hand against those they are conquering.
As we know, before Christopher Columbus founded the Americas, there were
Indigenous Native Americans dwelling. In California the indigenous people were the Ohlone. In
order to colonize this new land which would later be known as California, Junipero Serra built
the first twenty one California mission in 1769, then few more were built along the coast of
California. Serra's followers were called Franciscans. They controlled the missions. The Spanish
are the outside group of people referred to earlier on, while the the culture based family is
represented by the Ohlone.
The culture rich people of Mbanta in Nigeria -like the indigenous people- were oppressed
by the Americans, in the novel Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. The oppressors in this book
were missionaries on a mission to conquer foreign land for power by using the religion of
Christianity, using it to try and convert the polytheistic people of the Mbanta tribe.
In order for the Franciscans to conquer and oppress the Native Americans of their culture,
they had to first convince the Natives that they mean no harm, so the priests of the the missions
offered the Natives beads, food, clothings, blankets, and much more. These free necessities

attracted the Natives to mission life and convinced them to move into the missions. Many of the
Natives also believed these Spanish possessed supernatural powers over animals which also
intrigued them. Later on in the missionization process, the Franciscans forced women and
children into missions which would lure the rest of their families. When the Natives began living
in the missions, they noticed embedded skulls on the chapel walls, which were used to prove that
death is near for all and that all should work hard to earn entrance into Heaven.
These Spanish missions were built to convert Natives from their practices to the
Franciscans distant practices. The Franciscans believed the Natives were "the most unhappy
people in all the worldin fine, they are so savage, wild and dirty, disheveled, ugly, small and
timid that only because they have the human form is it possible to believe that they belong to
mankind". In missions men worked on fields, women made clothes, cooked and cleaned and
everyone was taught to speak Spanish. The everyday life in missions distracted the Natives from
their original life, making this new life in these missions their default. Early in the missionization
process, the Natives were thrilled to join the missions because of the benefits they gained from
living there, then time passed and while most of the Natives grew accustomed to their new
customs, about 15% of the oppressed Natives ran away. The Franciscans became more strict with
Catholic practices and lifestyle; beating and punishing the Natives that broke the rules. When life
in the missions turned for the worst, more and more Natives grew exhausted of the treatment.
The Native Americans of California had a rich culture before being terrorized by the
Spaniards. There were over 100 different tribes in california during the late 1700s. The tribes
usually had a cheiftain -a leader of the tribe- it sometimes was a female. The cheiftain was
responsible of organizing the community events and settling conflicts between the tribe
members. In their social hierarchy, assisting the cheiftain, was the crier. One of the most

respected individuals in the tribe were the Shaman. Shamans were the doctors and conducted
rituals and used herbs to help the ones in need of treatment. The Natives stressed living in
harmony with their environment and spoke Athapaskan, Penutian, and Hokan. They practiced the
religion of Kuksu. This religion included ceremonial dances which linked them to the spirit
world and ensured good health, fertility, successful hunts, good weather and bountiful harvests.
Some Natives tribes built prayer houses called sweat lodges. Basket weaving, tattooing, body
piercing and ornamentation made up their cultural arts. Most indigenous tribes consisted of
hunter-gatherers and harvesters. The culture of the oppressed Nigerians was a thorough contrast
to that of the Native Americans.
In the igbo culture, women don't have as much rights as the women in the Native
American women have. Women could not be leaders of the tribe, and most of the men in the tribe
had numerous amounts of wifes. Womens duties were to clean and take care of their husband
and children. The Mbanta people were polytheistic, meaning they worshipped more than one
God, and they sacrificed animals and people to pay homage to the Gods. The tribe had oracles
who were supposedly able to see into the future. The people of the tribe went to the oracle when
I need of guidance. Physical strength determined the leader of the tribe.
The people of Mbanta were against the American missionaries since they first arrived on
their land. The missionaries attempted to convert the Igbo people into Christianity but were not
very successful at first. They then built a church on the Igbo people's land and attracted a few of
the weak spirited people of the clan and as time passed the missionaries tactics became more
convincing and their followers increased to nearly all of its population. Just like the Native
Americans the people of the Mbanta tribe were forced to adopt the Christian religion.

The mistreatment from the Franciscans led to revolts by the Native Americans in the
missions. In the missions if a Natives doesn't follow instructions, they were usually whipped.
When enough of the Natives reached the peak of tolerance, the first revolt of the Natives
occurred. It was in 1785 at the San Gabriel Mission in Los Angeles, but perhaps the greatest
Native rebellion, was the 1824 revolt at Missions La Purisima and Santa Barbara. The Natives
burned a large part of the mission buildings. As a result, the leaders of the rebellion were
punished. 7 were sentenced to death and and many more were imprisoned.
The revolt in San Gabriel was led by a 24-year-old medicine woman named Toypurina.
She joined forces with two Chiefs of traditional tribes and a baptized captive named Nicolas Jose
from the mission and raided the San Gabriel mission in Los Angeles.
Okonkwo, the strongest warrior of the Mbanta clan in Things Fall Apart, was not with his
clan when the missionaries began their oppression. When he did return he tried to spawn a revolt
against the missionaries but by this time, the Igbo people converted by the missionaries
outnumbered those who followed Okonkwo. Instead of resisting to the persuasion of the
missionaries like rest of his village, Okonkwo chose to rather commit suicide.
In a few years the missionaries modernized a large portion of West Africa, using
religion and enforcement. Meanwhile, the Native Americans were were still oppressed in these
controlled camps called missions for a total of sixty two years until the Mexican government
secularized the missions, and land was given to the Natives as atonement. Soon after, those
Native Americans who were given land, were swindle out of their belongings. At the conclusion
of the Franciscans process, the Native Americans population reduced from around 30,000 early
1700s to less than 1,000 after mid 1800s.