Had a great time this past Saturday night (March 21) at the opening reception and lecture for a small exhibit I was invited to install out at the Maidu Museum, in Roseville. The exhibit is called The Lettered Life of a Mountain Maidu Woman: An Archival Portrait of Marie Mason Potts. I was especially pleased that some of her daughter Pansy Marine's descendants were there and that I was able to chat with them afterwards. The flyer for the show is posted below.
The Federated Indians of California (FIC) formed in 1946 to press a land claims case before the federal government. Inspired by the Indian Claims Commission Act (1946) and the failures of the CA Indians Jurisdictional Act (1928), they sought (unsuccessfully) to unify all California Native nations and landless Indians under a single claim. Although this goal proved unattainable, their political activism fostered important mid-century strides in cultural revivification and self-representation.
