Every year, the 4th graders in California’s 5,800 elementary schools study the state’s mission system, traditionally in a somewhat sugar-coated way, minus much of the violence, disease, forced labor, and other aspects of the history that may be a bit much for 9-year-olds. But filmmaker and author Gary Robinson — a 13-year Santa Ynez resident of Choctaw and Cherokee descent who’s made a career out of telling Native-American stories for tribes across the country — wanted to help balance that depiction.
So Robinson, who is engaged to a member of and once worked for the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, wrote Lands of Our Ancestors. The 189-page novel is aimed at those 4th graders and follows a few young Chumash and their families as the Spanish friars and soldiers arrive. We spoke last week.
What led to this book? I became acutely aware of the issues surrounding Father Junípero Serra being named a saint. I’d already become familiar with mission history from a native perspective. I wanted to do something to correct the misinformation and dispel the mythology about the missions. [The 4th graders] are being fed propaganda. [The curriculum] doesn’t address the true impact on California native people, so I wanted to produce something that could be impactful, age-appropriate, and fit within the standards but also just be a good book to read for kids.